Magufuli Laid To Rest; Legacy And Beliefs

President John Pombe Magufuli was confirmed dead on 17th March 2021 at night. which brought to an end the continuous speculation about his whereabouts.

For several weeks, the whereabouts of President John Pombe Magufuli had been a major concern for sometime, with the president not being sited in public since february 27, leading to speculation that he was very ill and admitted in Nairobi Hospital, being treated after contracting COVID-19.

The announcement of his death, was made Wednesday 17th March at night by Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who said Magufuli had been hospitalized at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute since March 6.

Vice President Suluhu said he had passed away at 6pm at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute at Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam. Magufuli is said to have died of heart problems after 10 years of suffering from chronic atrial fibrillation. TBC said there would be 14 days of national mourning and flags will fly at half-mast.

However, even during his “disappearance,” the government was reluctant to comment on Magufuli’s state of health and continued to assure the Tanzanians and the world over, that Pombe was of sound health.

Prime Minister Majaliwa in a speech after Friday prayers on 12th March however dismissed the claims regarding his illness and reassured the public of the presidents good health, “Tanzanians should be at peace. Your president is around, thanks for voting strongly for him recently. He is healthy, working hard, planning for the country. To spread rumors that he is sick, is just an outcome of hate.”

Some Arrests were even made by the Tanzanian police concerning circulating posts saying that President John Magufuli is in ill health. Regional Police Commissioner For Kinondoni Ramadhani Kingai said at a press conference Saturday. “There are a lot more who have been spreading false statements. We will arrest them all,” Kingai said.

“A head of state is not a head of a jogging club who should always be around taking selfies,” Constitutional Affairs Minister Mwigulu Nchemba posted on his social media accounts. “Those who are breaking the law, think about what the penal code says on cybercrime. The government is monitoring,” he said.

Therefore with different news, coming through from the country, with the opposition claiming that Magufuli had indeed contracted COVID-19 and the Government coming out to adamantly claim otherwise, a lot of mixed reactions were in the air.

Holding on to the Tanzania Governments word, the world watched and waited for Magufuli to come out, in typical “Mafuli style,” Triumphant, waving to the masses, kissing babies, shaking hands and going on with usual state business. So the news of his “sudden” death was rather disheartening, as this didn’t come to pass and rather the worst was confirmed.

President John Magufuli was a known Corona virus skeptic, going on to announce the pandemic as a scam. One time even stating that he had sent samples of paw paws and other fruits for testing, and the results had ended up testing positive for Covid 19. 

The devout Christian claimed faith had saved the country from Covid-19, championing prayers over face masks and stopping virus figures from being published in May of last year at 500 cases, 21 deaths and 183 recoveries.

Other known coronavirus skeptics included Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsanaro who both later contracted Covid 19, were both treated and successfully recovered after both of them refuting the fact that the disease was indeed rampant. Both had refused to wear masks and practice any of the SOPS.

As I report, the USA has over 30,360,639 cases, 552,475 deaths and 22,523,803 and brazil currently among the most severely hit countries on the planet, with hospitals currently full and bodies having to be buried vertically in mass graves due to lack of enough space for the current influx of Corona corpses.

These consequences  go on to forecast the impact and extent to which politicians and political decisions go on to have a direct reflection on our day to day living and lives. Indeed it is one year later since the pandemic surfaced, and with millions of lives lost, it would be a critical mistake to ignore the fact that COVID 19 is with us.

Countries that responded fastest to the COVID 19 outbreak have consequentially suffered the least, an example of New Zealand, that up to date has 2470 cases, 2377 recoveries with only 26 deaths. Concurrently multi- national organizations like Amazon that choose to adapt quickly to the pandemic have hugely profited from the crisis.

For example As per a New York Times study, Amazon reported a near 200-percent rise in profits, accelerated by much of North America’s swift shift to exclusively online shopping. Amazon’s sales were US$96.1 billion, up 37% from 2019, with profits rising to a jaw-dropping US$6.3 billion.

It goes without a doubt that Pombe was a great statesman whose very many drastic changes included; reducing the cabinet’s size from 30 to 19, banning government officials from foreign trips  and abolishing their tax exemptions, free education in government schools in 2016.

Construction of the Tanzania Standard Gauge Railway, Acquired 6 Air Tanzania planes, expanded Terminal III of Julius Nyerere International Airport, Julius Nyerere Hydropower Station, Ubungo Interchange amongst his many works.

As a firm believer in Pan Africanism, and nations being self sufficient, Magufuli didn’t go on state trips outside Africa, rejected a loan from China amounting to a tune of $10billion, he had his fair run with the western world, accusing a Uk Company, Acacia mining of illegal mining and ordering them to pay $193 billion for undervaluing Tanzania’s gold exports. Going a head to seize over 250 containers belonging to this company at the Dar es Salaam port.

Magufuli was a man who moved and proceeded with very strong beliefs and conviction. Which worked out magnificently in regards to the rapid transformation of the state of the state of Tanzania, but would he have gotten it wrong in his belief’s about COVID 19?

Continued speculation goes on about his cause of death, and this entanglement between our personal belief’s and how they have to align with the reality and facts, and the philosophy of how we have to mold ourselves and be flexible with the moving time’s in order for our continued survival and relevance in the changing times, because some lessons may be FATALE!

Indeed our beliefs can take on extreme turns, For example, In 1944, a Lieutnant named Hiroo Onoda of the Japanese Imperial Army was deployed on the Lubang island in Philipines. Hirro was given a special mission and orders to stop American forces in Japan, stand and fight till his last breathe.

The war came to a dramatic end when United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Japan had to surrender. Most of his troops were killed, but he stuck to the mission even after the war was long over, several attempts were made by both the American and Japanese Government to get him out the bush in vain, he refuted the attempts and saw them as attempts by the enemy to derail him from his mission. He was in Lubang for so long, whether he was dead or alive? Continuing with his mission, became a national mystery.

The long and short of it is, Lieutnant Hirro was only convinced thirty years later in 1974 by a hitch hicker to come out of war, and acknowledge that the war was indeed over, only to come back to a new Japan and find out that all the virtues and values that he had fought for and believed all these years like the Japanese culture were indeed long gone.

Bringing to question, At what point do we accept that the war is over? On an individual level?, On an institutional Level? At what point do we surrender and accept that indeed the world has moved on, and there is need for flexibility? Need to align our beliefs with the on going situation.

“All other creatures have a definite nature that they can’t change. Human’s have been given an indefinite nature and thus the ability to mould themselves. The rest of creation is passive: human’s alone have an active nature. They were created; we could create.” Pico Of Mirandola(1463-93). A strong message concerning need for adaptability.

As Magufuli is being laid to rest today, on his final journey, he will forever be remembered as A North Star for Pan Africanism, an emblem and Icon for national change, a true patriot of the land, vessel of hope and transformation of Africa, the “bull dozer” who dared to show all Africans that it was possible to do it on our own without assisted from the western world.

The years to come, he will surely be remembered as a great leader, who was inclined to transformation of Tanzanian (Magulification), he was uncompromising in his methods and had a clear vision for the direction in which he wanted to move. Result- oriented leadership. The man who defeated COVID?

Therefore as his legacy is echoed several years later about his great achievements, and history is written about President John Pombe Magufuli, Some authors kinder and others a bit harsher, there will always be that small debate about whether his sudden demise would have been avoidable? Whether it was indeed a chronic heart disease, or Covid19 related? The two will consistently collide and intertwine.

Just like the African proverb about the Hunter and the lion that states that, “Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” We might never come to the end of that tunnel.

Whatever the cause of his death, Pombe John Magufuli was here and left his footprint on the world, and May His Soul Rest In Eternal Peace.