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Tanzania President John Pombe Magufuli is reportedly hospitalized in Nairobi, with unconfirmed reports indicating that he might have contracted COVID-19.
Tanzania opposition leader Tundu Lissu was the first to raise concerns over the whereabouts of Magufuli, saying he has not been seen in public for the past two weeks.
Through Twitter on Monday, Lissu said unlike him, Magufuli has not attended church services for the past two Sundays, adding that he skipped the 21st Ordinary Summit of the East African Community Heads of State that was held virtually on February 27th.
“The President’s well-being is a matter of grave public concern. We’re informed when Kikwete had prostate surgery. We’re told when Mkapa went for hip replacement. We’re not kept in the dark when Mwalimu fought leukemia. What’s it with Magufuli that we don’t deserve to know?” Lissu posted on Twitter.
He called on the government spokesperson to address the whereabouts of the president and his health status. Rumors indicate that Magufuli is fighting for his life at a private hospital in Nairobi after developing breathing complications.
President Magufuli constantly downplayed COVID-19 last year, and it is only recently that he advised Tanzanians to start wearing masks after a reported surge in COVID-19 related cases and fatalities.
In April last year, he declared the country COVID-19 free and ordered full re-opening of borders and economic activities, saying God had answered their prayers. He said the country would rely on prayers and local herbs for protection against the disease.
The Tanzanian government has also not made any plans to vaccinate its citizens. Tanzania is one of the few countries in the world that have not been publishing data on COVID-19.
Last month, Tanzania lost 10 prominent individuals to COVID-19 complications including former Bank of Tanzania (BoT) Governor Prof. Benno Ndulu, former Finance and Planning permanent secretary Servacius Likwelile, Chief Secretary Ambassador John Kijazi, and Zanzibar’s First Vice President Seif Sharif Hamad.
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Agency?? Pronto?? In the open?? WTF? Am confused!
🤣🤣🤣@Mukundi Ati what the ? You are too funny. I thought I was the only one who was wondering agency na pronto dio nini
@Mukundi and @Asitis, A simple search would have solved your problems. Pronto means quickly or promptly and the phrase: a matter of agency simply means, something must be dealt with immediately- priority. Sorry for the inconvenience I must have caused you.
Let me help before you get chewed again. "Agency" vs "Urgency". Granted githungu came aboard a ship is what we say.
It matters that he could not find a hospital to treat him Tanzania. If we are for African nationalism, dignity and possibilities, then lets have good hospitals providing competitive,affordable care to our citizens. Let it not be empty talk.
I agree. For at times Faith fails; or hails.
It's urgency(not agency). Otherwise, don't worry about pple correcting your English. Some might do it in a crude manner but at the end of the day we get to learn something.
Mwororo I agree with you. For at times Faith fails; or hails.
@BBIbbi, Bravo my bother!
COVID-19 knows how to get to those who mock and belittle it.
Kwani there are no hospitals in Tanzania?
Nyina wa Raila we Wacha zako. Kwani hatuna Hospitali Kenya wakati Kijana yako Raila au Mjuku wako Winnie waendapo matibabu Africa Kusini au India?
Like I said, it was just a flu. Prayers.
Wakati huu, abroad kumejaa,...kila mahali... Ni kila mtu na kwao.
That lie all PEOPLE know
bill and melinda will put chips on all humans to Track everyone
This guy will tracked forever
I hope he kick the bucket juu he said covid don’t exist at all.Wacha aende ndio iwe funzo kwa wengine wanjinga kama yeye.Bure kabisa
witch and sex marine DEMONS attacked brother
Not too long ago, Magufuli made such a huff against Kenya airways flying into Tanzania! I wonder how he ended up in Kenya to get the covid19 treatment!
Maybe by Road.
Our thoughts are with the virus. It can help the people of Tanzania get through the pandemic.
To err is human. No point in judging JPM. Wish him well and a quick recovery.
You cannot force others to respect so-called leaders like Pombe Magufuli who MISLEAD Tanzanians lo believe COVID does not exist which resulted to many unexplained deaths.Ati I respect and follow him like KODOO to slaughter house-in this case to the grave-APANA.Potelea bali African leader,
Nyina wa Raila I'm sure Indians wonder the same about Kenya. Nyani haoni kundule.
Corona virus is real. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a damn fool. Any president who run around the country misleading his citizens about this dreadful virus is a bigger fool. Magufuli has been a denial as far as Corvid-19
is concerned. It is real. It kills.
I still love his sense of African Patriotism....only that he has been rough and hostile to anything Kenyan. Remember those chickens from Kenya that he incinerated, just like trash?
This is total hypocrisy why you running for your life now yet you have been dismissal of science and Coronavirus and misguiding the people you lead that COVID-19 is not there. What of many Tanzanian who may be sick and can't afford a trip to Kenya for Treatment? Will you pay for them? Just as we wish you well we have many queries about your autocratic presidential stuff.We pray for Africa 🌍 our motherland.
Now that the Covid 19 has invaded him,Magafool will rethink his policies on confronting the pandemic.That is if the story is true.So far no denial,or confirmation yet.
It is a disservice to the international community,and to the TZ citizens to be denied the data on this pandemic.We are all in this pandemic no shame in fair reporting.
It breaks my heart to see a man like Ndugu Pombe Magufuli with a doctorate in the sciences take a" Stone-Age approach" in combating the invisible COVID-19 viruses.
In Kenya, we have another man behaving like the president of Tanzania. This is the current vice president Ndugu Kipchirchir Samoei Arap Ruto. He claims to have a doctorate in the sciences and yet in all his public meetings, his blind followers are not required to wear face masks. Anytime this brother is seen holding similar public meetings without demanding his captive and blind followers to wear face masks, he should be arrested immediately. This man has been campaigning since 2017, finished his doctorate, and spending most of his time in foreign religious institutions (churches) bribing the men and women of cloth so that he can be elected president come 2022. President Uhuru Ngina Kenyatta, why do you allow your vice president to spread the invisible corona viruses during his public meetings? Why can't you arrest him? The public must be protected from this ambitious man who does not care about the life of the common citizen of Kenya!
The former Arch Bishop of the Anglican Church in Cape Town, South Africa Brother Tutu once said, "If you are silent in situations of injustice, you have taken the side of the oppressor.
@ Ndugu Imara, We have let our leaders act like demigods. Its like they operate on a different set of rules from the rest of us.This is unacceptable. We are all equal under the law;or at least are supposed to me.If we are not,then we need to fix this.
I have always wondered why our leaders who acquire this venerated scholastic achievements make some decisions,or remarks that even someone who never even went to school could not.The conventional wisdom is that the higher the scholastic aptitude score,the better one is equipped to make the right decisions.I guess not all the time. But it also helps to humble oneself and ask for directions when lost.
Come on, all Kenyan politicians are holding rallies while masks aren't won, both by them and their supporters. I condemn all.
@ Ndugu Maxiley:
I totally agree with all your comments expressed above. As patriotic citizens of Kenya, we should demand that our current vice president be told in advance that he does not meet the basic requirements of chapter 6 of our Kenyan Constitution. He should therefore withdraw his name and forget about being the next president of Kenya.
Our current vice president reminds me of the former president of the US who totally disregarded the warnings given from the US CDC and was responsible for spreading COVID-19 among his blind and loyal followers. Last month CDC reported that the lack of wearing face masks and observing social distancing is responsible for about 20% of all COVID-19 deaths in the USA.
Our Kenyan elected public servants have a moral obligation to serve the people but not act as their masters. After all, the ordinary citizen pays for their inflated salaries (above what the US Congress men and women get) and endless perks. The minimum effort that they can do is to demand that all people attending public gathering should wear face masks and observe the minimum 6 meters required in social distancing.
Get better Mr. Pombe so that you can go take care of your people now that you have been baptized by fire! Stop denying the realities if life while Tanzanians die in huge numbers!
It does not matter what he believed, in regard to covid-19, he should be given the best care possible. Everything should be in the open so that those with the necessary equipment and knowledge can come quickly to his aid. If he needs to be taken abroad, that should be a matter of agency-it should happen pronto. We must respect and defend those who show courage and go out of their way to stand for the African dignity and possibility.