Ahmed Yahaya – Joe
Last man standing. He was the best kind of president Nigeria never had.
First elected in 2015 as the fifth president of Tanzania, he hit the ground running;
“After taking office, Magufuli immediately began to impose measures to curb government spending, such as barring unnecessary foreign travel by government officials, using cheaper vehicles and board rooms for transport and meetings respectively, shrinking the delegation for a tour of the Commonwealth from 50 people to four, dropping Tanzania’s sponsorship of a World AIDS Day exhibition in favour of purchasing AIDS medication, and discouraging lavish events and parties by public institutions (such as cutting the budget of a state dinner inaugurating the new parliamentary session).
Magufuli reduced his own salary from US$15,000 to US$4,000 per month.
Magufuli suspended the country’s Independence Day festivities for 2015, in favour of a national clean-up campaign to help reduce the spread of cholera. He personally participated in the clean-up efforts, having stated that it was “so shameful that we are spending huge amounts of money to celebrate 54 years of independence when our people are dying of cholera.”
The cost savings were to be invested in improving hospitals and sanitation in the country.
On 10 December 2015, a month after taking office, Magufuli announced his cabinet. Its size was reduced from 30 ministries to 19 to help reduce costs. Over here it took 4 months and ministers cannot be less than 36 according to the 1999 Constitution.
Tanzania is a nation of 56 million that got its national independence from Great Britain in 1961. It is not an oil rich nation yet;
“Magufuli received the nickname “The Bulldozer” in reference to his roadworks projects, but the term was also used about his moves to reduce spending and corruption within the government. Following Magufuli’s initial rounds of cuts post-inauguration, the hashtag #WhatWouldMagufuliDo was used by Twitter users to demonstrate their own austerity measures inspired by the president.”
“Magufuli’s government worked on various infrastructure projects targeting economic development. Projects include the addition of half a dozen Air Tanzania planes as a way of reviving the national carrier, the expansion of Terminal III of Julius Nyerere International Airport, construction of Tanzania Standard Gauge Railway, Mfugale Flyover, Julius Nyerere Hydropower Station, Ubungo Interchange, new Selander Bridge, Kigongo-Busisi Bridge, Huduma Bora Za afya, Vituo Bora Za Afya, expansion of Port of Dar es Salaam, Dodoma Bus Terminal, liquefied natural gas plant, water project, wind farm project, Uhuru Hospital project, gold refinery plant, and Magufuli Bus Terminal.”
For all his achievements it was Covid-19 that became his Achilles heel.
Like Donald Trump, Magufuli committed political sacrilege by casting doubts and grossly underestimating the global agenda of the novel Coronavirus which is like a train coming towards you – you either ride on it or it runs over you.
Magufuli did not swallow the Covid-19 narrative hook, line and sinker. While not denying the existence of Coronavirus he asked too many questions and raised queries. In the process he was too forward with reckless abandon.
Oyibo people detest that kind of effrontery and hate that type of audacity.
They prefer African rulers that take massive loans, receive endless foreign aid and never speaking unless spoken to.
For his failure to “behave as if im no dey hear English” Magufuli, a secondary school science teacher before becoming a political leader has now paid the supreme price reportedly due to a subsisting “heart condition”
It is expected to that his successor, Mrs. Hassan would not tow the line of disrespect to Globalization. She in the process must be seen to have learned hard lessons from her predecessor’s intransigence to world order. As Bob Marley would croon;
“Sheriff John Brown always hated me,
For what, I don’t know:
Every time I plant a seed,
He said kill it before it grows –
He said kill them before they grow.
And so….I shot the sheriff”
The challenge is that Sheriff Tom Brown always manages to shoot first. That is why the wastelands of Africa are littered with the corpses of bold and enterprising leaders who dared to look at Oyibo people eye ball to eye ball, call off their bluff and openly challenge the international conspiracy of Neo-colonialism.
Sheriff Tom Brown detests African leaders that are boldly imaginative, have initiative and are independent minded.
Kwame Nkrumah, Murtala Mohammed, Thomas Sankara, Muammar Gaddafi…..and now John Magufuli.
Rest in peace, hero!
