Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Tanzania’s former president John Magufuli is the only African president that never travelled outside of Africa while still in office. (Read More Here).
The information was shared by a popular African history page, African Archives.
Information reads: “Tanzania’s former president John Magufuli is the only African president that never travelled outside of Africa while still in office.”
Biography of John Magufuli:
First elected as a Member of Parliament in 1995, he served in the Cabinet of Tanzania as Deputy Minister of Works from 1995 to 2000, Minister of Works from 2000 to 2005, Minister of Lands and Human Settlement from 2006 to 2008, Minister of Livestock and Fisheries from 2008 to 2010, and as Minister of Works for a second time from 2010 to 2015.
Running as the candidate of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), the country’s dominant party, Magufuli won the October 2015 presidential election and was sworn in on 5 November 2015; he was re-elected in 2020. He ran on a platform of reducing government corruption and spending while also investing in Tanzania’s industries, but his rule had autocratic tendencies, as seen in restrictions on freedom of speech, restrictions on LGBT rights, and a crackdown on members of the political opposition and civil society groups.
Under his presidency, Tanzania experienced one of the strongest economic growths on the continent (6% on average per year according to the IMF) and moved from the category of low-income countries to middle-income countries.
Contrary to leaders elsewhere in the world, Magufuli ordered COVID-19 testing to stop and resisted calls to implement public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic in Tanzania. He also expressed distrust of American- and European-developed vaccines, preferring to rely on faith to protect his nation. Magufuli’s approach has been characterised as COVID-19 denialism.
His death on 17 March 2021 was attributed by the government to a long-standing heart issue. He was succeeded by his Vice-President, Samia Suluhu.
Magufuli had not been seen in public since 27 February 2021 and rumours swirled online that he was sick and possibly incapacitated from illness. A Kenyan newspaper reported on 10 March 2021 that “an African leader” was being treated for COVID-19 at a hospital in Nairobi, leading to speculation that it could be President Magufuli. Opposition politician Tundu Lissu, citing unnamed sources but without providing evidence, said it was Magufuli who was hospitalised, having contracted COVID-19. He further claimed that there were plans to move Magufuli to India.[89] Lissu later claimed that Magufuli had died by 10 March.
On the night of 17 March 2021, Vice-President Samia Suluhu announced Magufuli had died at 6 p.m. EAT (15:00 UTC) at Emilio Mzena Memorial Hospital in Dar es Salaam, where he was receiving treatment. He was the only President of Tanzania to die in office. She did not specify Magufuli’s underlying illness but said that he had suffered from chronic atrial fibrillation for more than a decade. She announced 14 days of national mourning and said that flags would fly at half-staff nationwide. Despite Suluhu’s focus on Magufuli’s heart problems, speculation continued that he had died from COVID-19. Magufuli’s body lay in state at Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam on 20 March 2021. The next day, mourners hoping to view his body crowded into the stadium, many climbing a wall, which collapsed, resulting in a human stampede that left at least forty-five people dead. Uganda has declared fourteen days of national mourning; Rwanda announced nine days of mourning; Kenya and Burundi have announced seven days of mourning; Mozambique has announced five days of mourning; Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan have declared three days of mourning; Cuba and Zambia declared one day of mourning.
Magufuli was buried in his hometown of Chato on 26 March 2021.
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