PRESIDENT MAGUFULI HAS BEEN SILENCED OR RATHER MURDERED

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Akyaaba Addai-Sebo: PRESIDENT MAGUFULI HAS BEEN SILENCED OR RATHER MURDERED
Pres Magufuli occasioned his own death. But of course in Africa, leaders “don’t die from natural causes” and there must always be speculation about their death.

This is possibly the foolishness that keeps Africans believing in the worst of our leaders. Death was all around Tanzania and mainly because of the denialism by Pres Magufuli. Despite being a man of science, he refused to acknowledge the reality of Covid-19 with absolutely devastating effects. He sent many to an early grave with his denialism.

The death of senior government officials, among them his Chief Secretary to the Cabinet and the vice President of Zanzibar Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad should have roused him out of his foolishness but it did not. Supposing he could carry fire on his chest and not burn, he went on with his denialism. In the end, he to fell victim to his denialism and was exposed to the disease. Contrary to popular belief, he had a heart condition which made him more vulnerable to the inevitable as Covid-19 is deadly for those with core morbidities. He succumbed to the disease, a victim of his own self.

While he has been celebrated and is being mourned by many Pan Africanists, I wonder if really we have a shared understanding of what Pan Africanism really is. While Magufuli came across as a courageous anti-colonial and anti-neoliberalreally he was by no means a democrat despite rising to the presidency via a democratic process. While it is debatable that he cared for the lowly people, in my opinion, the Magufuli type of leadership should be discouraged. He was a brutal dictator and a showman who set out to destroy every pillar of liberal democracy. He terrorised Tanzanians and intimidated them into silece. He infringed on their right to association, muzzled free speech, curtailed a free and independent media, refused democracy to flourish, crushed NGOs and critical academics, destroyed free and fair elections, eviscerated institutions and the separation of powers which provide vital checks and balances and

oversight over the executive, destroyed the independence of the judiciary and completely undermined the rule of law. The police, the military and intelligence services, the TISS displayed the utmost impunity with extra judicial killings becoming a norm. Not forgetting the egregious attempt at murdering the opposition leader Tundu Lissu who had 21 bullets pumped into his body with the aim of killing him but he survived the brutal attempt on his life. I had occasion to meet Tundu Lissu in Brussels where he sought treatment and saw first hand the damage that was done to him. It

really was a pure miracle for him to survive. He came back home to contest the presidency against Magufuli and had brutality meted out on him and the opposition. Add to this, his crude and brutal handling of elections. Magufuli and CCM rigged themselves back into power and went on to remove any opposition, I think only one opposition MP made it back to the house with CCM controling about 99% of Parliament with Magufuli winning nearly 90% of the vote.

President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli was killed by his own hand and his own attempt at defying the obvious. His blood is upon his own head. May his evil be buried with him and may the good he did live on.

“Hatimaye mwisho wa mabaya ni aibu”