18/03/2021
R.I.P JOHN POMBE MAGUFULI 29th OCTOBER1959- 16th - MARCH 2021
AS THE WORLD WENT THROUGH 2020 LOCK DOWNS OVER THE DREADED COVID-19, MAGUFULI REFUSED TO LOCKDOWN TANZANIA SAYING, "COVID IS A MERE FLU"
"We Tanzanians have not locked ourselves down, and I don't expect to announce even a single day that we are implementing a lockdown because our God is still alive, and he will continue protecting us Tanzanians," the late president once told a crowd.
"But we shall also continue taking precautions, including steaming. You steam, at the same time pray to God, and going on with your daily activities so that you eat well and your body builds immunity against the coronavirus."
AS OTHER COUNTRIES MADE PREPARATIONS FOR A VACCINE, BULL DOZER SAID "I CAN'T WASTE TAX PAYERS MONEY ON FAKE DRUGS" NOW THE PRESIDENT DIES OF THE VIRUS.
"Fellow Tanzanians, Our beloved president passed on at 6 p.m. this evening," said Vice president shamim Suluhu while announcing the president's death on national TV.. "All flags will be flown at half-mast for 14 days. It is sad news. The president has had this illness for the past 10 years.''
She added that the late president died at a hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's largest city.
Following the announcement of his death, opposition leader Zitto Kabwe said he'd spoken with the vice president to offer his condolences.
"The nation will remember him for his contribution to the development of our country," he said in a statement posted on Twitter.
The 61-year-old leader nicknamed "the bulldozer" has died of heart failure, after weeks of speculation he was infected with COVID-19. Many will remember him for his controversial handling of the pandemic in Tanzania.
Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli has died at the age of 61, the government announced on Wednesday.
Announcing his death in a live television address, Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan said Magufuli had died of a heart condition.
Since the pandemic was declared in March 2020, Magufuli had downplayed the severity of the virus.
A staunch covid-19 skeptic, Magufuli at one point, made fun of the country's coronavirus testing facilities, saying he had secretly sent samples of papaya and goat and that they came out positive.
Though he never provided proof of that claim, he warned that those results could mean that people were getting false positive results.
Shortly afterward, Tanzania stopped sharing updates on the number of people infected and killed due to COVID-19.
The country's last coronavirus figures were given in May last year. At that time, 509 people were confirmed to have contracted the virus and 29 had died.
In Tanzania, President Magufuli was a popular figure. His lean government and cost-cutting measures greatly earned him respect among citizens.
For example, in 2015, he suspended the country's independence celebrations, instead urging citizens to clean up their communities to fight a cholera outbreak.
He also embarked on major infrastructure projects such as the port of Bagamoyo, a new railway, and upgrading the Dar-es-Salaam International Airport.
His hands-on war against corruption was admired not just in Tanzania — but the entire continent.
"Magufuli came in on the platform of fighting corruption and empowering the masses," Martin Adati, a Kenyan political analyst, told DW.
"It is the people who have been benefiting from corruption and all these other funny things who are not very happy with him."
