Tanzania’s President John Magufuli is reportedly in India for further treatment for Covid-19, the country’s main opposition leader has said.
John Magufuli this week was said to be on admission at a Kenyan hospital undergoing medical treatment for Covid-19.
Opposition leader Tundu Lissu who said Magufuli had coronavirus and a cardiac arrest has also revealed that the Tanzanian leader has now been flown from Kenya to India.
He insisted that Mr. Magufuli is in a serious condition due to the Covid-19, a disease the president has denied existed.
Tundu Lissu lost last year’s presidential election to President Magufuli and has been on a campaign for the government to come public on the whereabouts of the President.
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Without giving any evidence, Lissu wrote on Twitter that “Latest update from Nairobi: The Man Who Declared Victory Over Corona “was transferred to India this afternoon.”
Kenyans don’t want the embarrassment “if the worst happens in Kenya.” His COVID denialism in tatters, his prayer-over-science folly has turned into a deadly boomerang!”
Latest update from Nairobi: The Man Who Declared Victory Over Corona “was transferred to India this afternoon.” Kenyans don’t want the embarrassment “if the worst happens in Kenya.” His COVID denialism in tatters, his prayer-over-science folly has turned into a deadly boomerang! pic.twitter.com/DyXYYbIvdd
Tanzania’s President John Magufuli is on admission at a Kenyan hospital undergoing medical treatment for Covid-19.
Opposition leader Tundu Lissu revealed in an interview with the BBC that Magufuli had coronavirus and a cardiac arrest.
Sources at the hospital he is currently on admission at said the Tanzanian leader had breathing challenges.
Magufuli was flown to the Nairobi hospital this week after his condition deteriorated. He had not been seen in public for days.
On Tuesday, opposition leader Tundu Lissu questioned the whereabouts of the Tanzanian leader.
He wrote on Twitter that “The President’s well-being is a matter of grave public concern. We’re informed when Kikwete had prostate surgery. We’re told when Mkapa went for hip replacement.
We’re not kept in the dark when Mwalimu fought leukemia. What’s it with Magufuli that we don’t deserve to know?”
It’s a sad comment on his stewardship of our country that it’s come to this: that he himself had get COVID-19 and be flown out to Kenya in order to prove that prayers, steam inhalations and other unproven herbal concoctions he’s championed are no protection against coronavirus! pic.twitter.com/n1qQHgWnSA
On Wednesday Mr. Lissu confirmed to the media that Mr. Magufuli who denied the existence of Covid-19 was in critical condition.
He claimed that officials are “planning to sneak him out to India to avoid social media embarrassment from Kenyans.
They feel that it’ll be more embarrassing if the worst happened in Kenya.” The most powerful man in Tanzania is now being sneaked about like an outlaw!”
The latest update from Nairobi: “They’re planning to sneak him out to India to avoid social media embarrassment from Kenyans. They feel that it’ll be more embarrassing if the worst happened in Kenya.” The most powerful man in Tanzania is now being sneaked about like an outlaw!
The 61-year-old president of Tanzania has refused to accept the fact that Covid-19 is real and deadly, in order to protect his citizens.
Instead of following science, he didn’t encourage the adherence to safety protocols, urging people to pray and consider the virus devilish.
A top presidential aide of Mr Magufuli died hours after the vice-president of the country’s semi-autonomous islands of Zanzibar died from Covid-19.
Last year, President Magufuli declared his country “coronavirus-free” saying the success was due to prayers by citizens.
He told worshippers in a church that “The corona disease has been eliminated thanks to God.”
President John Magufuli warned health officials in his country against acquiring coronavirus vaccines.
Magufuli had said that the vaccines could harm the population, but he didn’t provide any evidence to back that claim.
“The ministry of health should be careful, they should not hurry to try these vaccines without doing research, not every vaccine is important to us, we should be careful. We should not be used as ‘guinea pigs’,” Mr Magufuli said.
Tanzanian President John Magufuli said Friday that freedom and democracy have limits, after a disputed election which saw scores of opposition members arrested and his main rival leave the country.
Magufuli was declared the victor of October 28 election with 84 percent of the vote, but the opposition and diplomats have dismissed the process as a sham.
In the wake of the vote, leading opposition members, including main presidential candidate Tundu Lissu, were among around 150 arrested.
Lissu eventually sought refuge at the German embassy before returning on Wednesday to Belgium, where he had previously received medical treatment after being shot 16 times in a 2017 assassination attempt.
Planned protests against the election result were quickly quashed with a string of arrests and heavy police presence.
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“The purpose of freedom and democracy is to bring about development, not chaos,” Magufuli said Friday, inaugurating the new parliament dominated by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party.
“Freedom, rights and democracy go with responsibility and each has limits. I hope I’m well understood.”
Magufuli laid out his priorities, such as infrastructure including the building of a key railway and a controversial hydropower plant in the Selous Game Reserve.
He also said wants to accelerate economic growth — which stood at a pre-Covid-19 average of about six percent — to an average eight percent annually over the next five years.
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Aside from a landslide win in the presidential race, the CCM took 97 percent of the 264 seats in parliament, with the most popular opposition MPs losing their seats.
Aside from Lissu, who said he was leaving both for medical reasons and over concerns for his security, another leading former opposition MP Godbless Lema sought refuge in Kenya.
John Magufuli was sworn in Thursday for his second term as president of Tanzania after a landslide election victory dismissed by the political opposition as a sham.
His inauguration in Dodoma, the Tanzanian capital, proceeded despite opposition demands that fresh elections be held after reporting widespread irregularities in the October 28 poll, allegations the US and others described as credible.
The president urged national unity and promised to work for all Tanzanians, after taking the oath of office and waving a ceremonial spear and shield before a crowd that included regional leaders and ambassadors.
“Elections are now over,” Magufuli said, repeating the line twice more before a packed stadium of spectators, many wearing the green and yellow of the ruling party. Outside, his address was beamed on large screens for crowds of onlookers.
“The biggest and most important task ahead for us all is to build the nation together. I assure Tanzanians that I will honour the oath, and implement what we promised to build the nation. I will work with you all.”
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Magufuli won a crushing 84 percent of votes while his Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party took 97 percent of parliament seats up for grabs.
Magufuli’s main challenger, the Chadema party’s Tundu Lissu, officially won just 13 percent of the vote, while popular opposition MPs lost seats in key strongholds.
Tanzania’s opposition parties called for mass street demonstrations against the results, but their leaders were swiftly detained and a heavy security presence deterred potential protest action.
Even before the vote, few had believed the polls would be free and fair, after what they condemned as a steady decline into autocracy under Magufuli’s rule.
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The 61-year-old, nicknamed “The Bulldozer”, was in his first term accused of flouting due process and brooking no criticism in the East African country once held up as a stable democracy in an often-volatile region.
Opposition figures faced violence and police intimidation, press freedom was squeezed, and political rallies banned in a steady crackdown that international rights watchdogs said was a steady erosion of freedoms.
Most foreign media were not allowed into Tanzania to cover the election, while local and international observer missions were also not present.
The US and UK expressed concern over the arrest of political leaders and election-related violence, and called for investigations into the allegations of fraud which the opposition said included ballot box stuffing.
President of Tanzania John Magufuli has been declared winner of the country’s October 28 presidential election.
The electoral commission declared Mr Magufuli winner saying he secured over 12.5 million votes, with opposition leader Tundu Lissu coming in second with almost 2 million votes.
Over 15 million out of some 29.7 million registered voters participated in the election which also say the ruling party winning 218 of the 220 seats.
Just in: President Magufuli of Tanzania declared winner of 28th October elections. Acc to electoral commission Mr Magufuli secured 12,516,252 votes, with opposition leader Tundu Lissu coming in second with 1,933,271 votes. pic.twitter.com/8o2UhibqtY
The main opposition leader, Tundu Lissu has said that he will not accept the results of Wednesday’s general election.
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He has alleged that there were voting irregularities and fraud in Wednesday’s general election.
The head of the National Elections Commission, Semistocles Kaijage has however rejected those claims, saying there was no evidence to that.
The opposition also said there were irregularities in the semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar, where unrest marred early voting on 27 October.
“Whatever happened yesterday (Wednesday) was not an election,” Tundu Lissu told journalists in the main city Dar es Salaam.
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Mr. Magufuli is now set for a second term in office with rights groups accusing him of restricting democratic freedoms during his first term in office.
Tanzania President Magufuli ha blocked social media applications ahead of today’s election, days after the state issued a directive restricting text messaging within the country. This builds on earlier legislation outlawing international press from covering developments in the country without local media partnerships.
The presidential and parliamentary election in Tanzania today is likely to be tense, given the allegations of human rights abuses and killings leveled by opposition politicians against incumbent president John Magufuli’s government. A few hours ahead of the vote, as many as 42 opposition activists had been arrested in the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar. It comes amid claims security forces had killed nine people as protests broke out over voting procedures which opposition parties claim could be used to manipulate results of the poll in incumbent Magufuli’s favor.
This added to an already volatile and explosive pre-election environment that the opposition and some human rights watchers are expecting to worsen in the post-election period. These tensions, as well as other rights violations have been on the radar of the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner which on Tuesday noted the “shrinking of democratic space in the country, with worrying reports of intimidation, harassment, arbitrary arrests, and physical attacks against political opponents, journalists, women human rights defenders, and other activists”.
Against this backdrop, the most influential and affordable communications platforms in Tanzania have now either been blocked or restricted, independent monitors,d and watchers of such platforms confirmed on Tuesday. Access Now and Netblocks confirmed the blockade of Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram.
Early voting on the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar, Tanzania Oct. 27, 2020.
The throttling of social media platforms added to a Saturday directive by the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority under which it ordered telecom companies in the country to suspend bulk SMS and bulk voice communications as well as individual text messages with keywords around Wednesday’s election until Nov. 11.
All these measures have largely been seen as stifling critical media portrayal of Tanzania’s “Bulldozer” president, who came to power with a populist promise to wipe out corruption and a can-do energy admired by Africans in other countries in his first year. But that early goodwill quickly fizzled out as Magufuli quickly showed an authoritarian streak combined with eccentricities and is now alleged to have okay human rights violations against rivals and other and dictator-like tendencies.
But given Magufuli’s Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party has an entrenched leadership of Tanzanian party politics it is widely expected he’ll win re-election. The 60-year old does faced notable competition for the top job from Chadema Party’s Tundu Lissu who only returned to Tanzania in July, having fled the country three years ago following claims of an assassination attempt.
Lissu is just but one of nearly a dozen other contenders but has largely been at the receiving end of Magufuli’s state repression. His campaign was suspended earlier this month because he had supposedly used “seditious” language.
Shutting it down Tanzania has cited the need to “ensure safe and secure electronic communication services” for the decision to stop bulk SMS messages although Access Now, which advocates for free digital communications, is emphasizing this decision has left “millions without effective communication tools” across Tanzania and ahead of the elections.
Felicia Anthonio, a campaigner for Access Now under the #KeepItOn crusade further underscored “the government’s deliberate attempt to stifle the rights of the Tanzanian people and its total disregard for democratic” processes.
Tanzania is one of many African countries that have been turning to heavy-handed legislation of social media, with Uganda, Kenya, and Burkina Faso also resorting to draconian regulation of social media platforms.
However, lobby groups are anticipating Tanzania to completely shut down the internet if violence to flares up in the post-election period. Magufuli, true to his recent reputation as a leader who does not take criticism lightly, has been conducting a far reaching clampdown on the foreign press, adjudged that all non-local journalists be accompanied by a government official in their field reporting work, in addition to having to work in partnership with local press.
Twitter, which separately confirmed throttling of the information sharing platform in Tanzania ahead of Wednesday’s election, said “internet shutdowns are hugely harmful, and violate basic human rights, and the principles of the open internet” especially during crucial national events of international significance such as elections. There’s recent evidence of the effectiveness of social media campaigns having impact in Nigeria, where the EndSARS online campaign against police brutality turned into an international cause célèbre.
Tessa Knight, a researcher for the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research noted, the confirmation of the blockade of social media platforms in Tanzania is “a tactic that is becoming increasingly popular to prevent the spread of information and co-ordination of protests”.
DODOMA-(MaraviPost)-Malawi President, Lazarus Chakwera is in Tanzania, the second neibhouring country he has visited this week.
Chakwera on Tuesday was in Mozambiwue where he held talks with President Felipe Nyusi.
In Tanzania, Chakwera will hold talks with by President John Pombe Magufuli.
The two are, among other issues, expected to discuss the Lake Malawi wrangle between Tanzania and Malawi.
Speaking before departure at Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe, Chakwera said apart from strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries, his interface with Magufuli also projects high prospects for expanded areas of cooperation for the mutual benefit of people of the two countries.
According to Malawi Minister of Foreign Affairs Eisenhower Mkaka, Chakwera will also tour and appreciate the functions of the Malawi Cargo Centre (MCC) Limited which he said has remained idle for a long time.
The MCC Limited is a company that was established after Malawi and Tanzania Signed a treaty to grant Malawi access to the Sea. The agreement was signed in August, 1987. The MCC started operating in 1991.
The Minister said: “Among other core duties, the MCC handles liquid cargo such as fuel and if used effectively, Malawi would substantially reduce the cost of importing fuel which would translate into a reduction of fuel prices in Malawi.”
Mkaka promised that the current regime will ensure that the facility is utilised to its maximum capacity for the benefit of the country.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The MCC is comprised of the facilities in Dar es Salaam and the facilities in Mbeya, both of which belong to the Government of Malawi. The objective of the MCC is to receive and facilitate all the necessary processes at the post for all Malawi Cargo. This includes both liquid cargo, such as Fuel, and solid cargo, such as vehicles.
The MCC also handles cargo for other countries, including Zambia and Tanzania itself, although priority is given to Malawi Cargo.
Chakwera will be the second Malawi President to visit the facilities. The former President, Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda visited the MCC Facilities in Dar es Salaam in 1991 during his State Visit when the MCC started its operations.
The Malawi leader is expected back in Malawi on Wednesday evening, October 7, 2020 through Kamuzu International Airport in the capital Lilongwe.
WASHINGTON-(MaraviPost)-The United States on Friday, 22 May,2020 announced an additional of US 2.4 million to Tanzania through the Tanzanian United States Agency for International Development (USAID), that will be used in the war against COVID-19 pandemic.
This comes a day after Tanzania unveiled traditional medicine said to treat COVID-19 disease among other deadly diseases.
The amount which is about Tsh5.6 billion when converted will be used to enhance Tanzanian labs that are involved in COVID-19 testing, enhancing sharing of information on infections cases and steps being made in containing the spread of the virus, educate the general public about the disease and the necessary measures that need to be taken to flatten the curve.
Earlier, the US had donated US$1 million to Tanzania towards the COVID-19 pandemic. Tanzania has so far received at least 3.4 million US dollars towards the pandemic that has plunged the whole world into panic and fear.
US aid to Tanzania comes when the country is making bold steps towards winning the war against the virus.
On Thursday, Tanzania joined other African countries like Madagascar who have been making international headlines with traditional medicine linked to curing and preventing the spread of coronavirus.
Kibaha District Commissioner Assumpter Mshama told the media that their herbal medicine named ‘Baycaro’ treats COVID-19, cancer among other diseases.
“Results for Baycaro, the COVID-19 cure we told you we had sent it to National Institute For Medical Research (NIMR) for further tests have come and they have revealed the medicine is fine.
“NIMR has assured that those consuming this medicine won’t die because of poisoning. So we can be equals to Madagascar. Baycaro also cures cancer, I trust the medicine and that is why I am not putting on a face mask,” she had said.
President Magufuli recently announced a reduction in infection cases in Tanzania and even set 1st June as the official date for higher learning institutions to re-open.
Tanzania President Magufuli fires close general commissioner
The President of Tanzania, John Magufuli has revealed that his own child contracted Coronavirus but has now recovered and doing well.
Speaking at a church service in his hometown of Chato, north-west Tanzania, President Magufuli his child who has recovered is now “doing push-ups”.
According to him the child made a recovery by adopting regimen of self-isolation, steam inhalation, and lemon and ginger juice.
But the acclaimed recovery regiment is yet to be confirmed as effective for the treatment of covid-19.
Magufuli has also been reacting to claims by the United States government that hospitals in Tanzania are overwhelmed. He claims there is a “sharp decline” in the number of coronavirus patients, adding that “God has answered your prayers.”
“The way I see this trend, if the week beginning from tomorrow continues like this, I plan to open places of higher education so that our students can continue with their studies,” he said to the church.
Tanzania has come under criticisms from the World Health Organization for its handling of current coronavirus pandemic.
The WHO is unhappy with the measures being rolled out and lack of transparency as the rate of infection continues to increase in the country. Tanzania has not restricted movement of citizens but large public gatherings have been banned and schools and universities closed.
But markets remain open likewise churches and mosques as President John Magufuli claims the coronavirus cannot harm the bodies of worshippers.
He has also been at the fore front of patronizing herbal remedy from Madagascar to treat some patients.
Tanzania has recorded 509 coronavirus cases with 21 deaths and 167 recoveries
In just a month, Tanzania went from having only 20 coronavirus cases recorded to 480 cases, an alarming increase which puts the country with the highest number of cases in East Africa. However, the country’s president John Magufuli is convinced the number may be exaggerated due to technical hiccups with the imported testing kits.
Magufuli, who holds a doctorate in chemistry, said the testers had randomly obtained several non-human samples on animals and fruits which included a sheep, a goat and a pawpaw and the results came out positive. The samples were given human names and ages and were submitted to the country’s National Referral Laboratory to test for coronavirus without the lab technicians knowing the true identity of the samples.
THE MADAGASCAR HERBAL ‘CURE’
This apparently prompted Magufuli to believe some people who were tested positive for Covid-19 might not have contracted the novel virus after all. “I have always raised my suspicions about how our national lab has been conducting the Covid-19 cases,” he said at an event in Chato in northern-western Tanzania. The president, who has ordered a probe into the country’s testing protocols, insinuated possible interference by unnamed saboteurs.
But Tanzania has long been criticized by public health experts for enabling a more relaxed approach to the pandemic compared to the strict lockdowns and restrictions in neighboring East African countries. Instead Magufuli has asked Tanzanians to pray away the virus and left places of worship open since the Covid-19 outbreak began.
The long-term consequences of the coronavirus pandemic will transform the workplace, education, diplomacy, globalization, fossil fuels, and more. No corner of the global economy will be unaffected.
The additional pressure on the president has come after three members of parliament died with suspected Covid-19 symptoms over the last two weeks. The opposition party is now refusing to come to parliament as they try to self-isolate while Magufuli has threatened to charge them sitting fees in their absence.
Magufuli is now putting his trust on an herbal treatment touted as a cure for Covid-19 by the president of Madagascar Andry Rajoelina. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that there was no proof of any cure.
“I am communicating with Madagascar, and they have already written a letter saying they have discovered some medicine. We will dispatch a flight to bring the medicine so that Tanzanians can also benefit. So as the government we are working day and night,” he said.
The Republic of Congo and Guinea Bissau are other African countries who have promised to import the herbal remedy.
Soon after Magufuli was elected in October 2015, Tanzanians, and even other Africans, celebrated his “bulldozer” persona for getting things done such as firing a number of government top officials in his anti-corruption crusade with impromptu visits to public institutions. The hashtag #WhatWouldMagufuliDo? trended on Twitter during this honeymoon period and seen as a wake-up call for other African leaders to emulate the no-nonsense Tanzanian leader.
Over time that shine has worn off with media clampdowns and the president has come under fire for the country’s deteriorating human rights situation which included a policy on banning pregnant girls from school.
The country is set to hold elections later this year, with Magufuli likely to contest again.
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