NAKURU, Kenya (AP) – News of the death of Tanzanian President John Magufuli has generated mixed reactions; the sadness of many, but the bitterness of a critic who said he suffered during the administration of the president, who, according to him, reduced the country’s democratic space.
Magufuli, one of Africa’s most prominent COVID-19 skeptics died of heart failure, Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced Wednesday night on national television. Hassan is expected to be sworn in to succeed Magufuli and complete his second five-year term, which he had just started after winning the elections last year. She will be Tanzania’s first female head of state.
As tributes from other African heads of state arrive, the Tanzanian opposition leader has been outspoken in his criticisms of Magufuli.
“It is poetic justice,” said opposition leader Tundu Lissu on Thursday of Magufuli’s death, claiming that he succumbed to COVID-19.
“President Magufuli challenged the world in the fight against COVID-19. He challenged the East African community, he challenged all of our neighbors. He challenged science. He refused to take the basic precautions that people around the world are being instructed to take in the fight against COVID-19, ”said Lissu of the Kenya Television Network.
“He didn’t wear a mask. In fact, he denigrated anyone who wore a face mask. He did not believe in vaccines. He did not believe in science. He placed his faith in religious healers and herbal mixtures of questionable medical value. ”Said Lissu. “And what happened? He fell with COVID-19. And now they are telling us that he had heart disease. It’s Corona.”
Lissu, who spoke of exile in Belgium, recalled that in September 2017 Magufuli said that those who opposed his economic reforms deserved to die. Shortly afterwards, Lissu was shot 16 times and left the country for Belgium.
Lissu returned to Tanzania to challenge Magufuli in the October 2020 elections. He lost to Magufuli in elections marked by violence and widespread accusations of electoral fraud. Government security forces prevented thousands of opposition monitors from attending the polls. Lissu returned to Belgium after criticizing the elections, saying he was not safe.
Lissu said the news of Magufuli’s death did not surprise him, as he had received “reliable information” since March 7 that the president was seriously ill.
“What surprises me is that his regime continues to lie about the cause of his death and the time he died,” he said.
He said the informed sources who told him about Magufuli’s illness also told him that the president had been dead since March 10.
Magufuli has been out of public view since February 27, when he swore on a new chief secretary after his predecessor died with what many speculate is COVID-19.
For days, government officials denied that he was ill, claiming that he was busy and that the president had no duty to make public appearances.
“This is the time to open a new chapter in Tanzania, said Lissu,” Magufuli in the five years he was president has wreaked havoc in our country. There are so many people who have been killed in five years. There are many people who have been injured, tortured, persecuted. I barely escaped with my life. “
“He is dead and this is an opportunity, a rare opportunity, for our country to come together for national reconciliation,” he said.
Other African leaders began to praise Magufuli’s leadership.
Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, who is also the president of the East African Community, announced that Kenya will celebrate seven days of national mourning, in which the country’s flag will be flown at half-mast.
“With the death of President Magufuli, I lost a friend, a colleague and a visionary ally with whom I worked closely, especially in our commitment to create lasting ties between Kenya and Tanzania,” said Kenyatta in a live broadcast Thursday market.