Tanzania leader tells off parliamentarians on Magufuli comparison

DODOMA, Tanzania 

Tanzania’s President Samia Hassan has warned the country's parliament to stop debates comparing her with her predecessor John Magufuli.

She said she was disappointed that the parliament was discussing her differences with the former president, who died on 17 March, rather than focusing on the government’s agenda.

The president, who has been hailed for being unafraid to take the country in a new direction, said she and and her predecessor were “one thing” – and that she was focused on continuing the work that Magufuli had started.

She said it was worrying that “something that is trending on social media is what now guides the debate in parliament”.

Most members of opposition parties and activists have been active on social media debating on the country's leadership and Magufuli's legacy forcing the parliament to take the same debate in the chambers and pay less attention on budget debate.

“We are supposed to be discussing and passing the government budgets…Let’s work the way parliament is supposed to…,” she warned, speaking at a national conference organised by religious leaders in memory of the late president and to pray for the new leaders.

President Hassan who was country's Vice-president, became Tanzania’s first female president after the death of President Magufuli. 

There have been notable changes including the setting up of the team to advise on Covid-19, whose severity had been downplayed by the predecessor. She’s also allowed some media outlets that had been censored to reopen.