Following the death of Covid’s denying president, Tanzania may push for pandemic policy

Crowds gathered Thursday at Mr. Magufuli’s official residence, carrying wreaths and party flags and singing religious songs on the first of 14 official days of mourning. The Tanzanian government has not made any other statement since Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced on state television on Wednesday that Mr Magufuli had died of heart disease that had dried him for a decade.

Opposition leaders and diplomats in Tanzania’s largest city, Dar es Salaam, had said for days that Magufuli, 61, disappeared from public view 12 days ago because he had contracted the coronavirus after his sudden death. of five members of his cabinet.

Ms. Hassan, now president-elect, would be Tanzania’s first woman president.

Confirmation of Mr. Magufuli’s death expands the paradox of the coronavirus pandemic in Africa, a continent that has reported fewer cases compared to other parts of the world, but where several prominent leaders have died unexpectedly from coronavirus-like symptoms.

The 54 nations of Africa, with a population of about 1.3 billion, have reported only four million cases and about 100,000 deaths, well behind the sum of 29.6 million cases in the US and of 538,000 deaths among a population of about 328 million. But the continent has lost more senior leaders due to coronavirus-related complications than anywhere else in the world.

In neighboring Burundi, longtime leader Pierre Nkurunziza died unexpectedly with coronavirus-like symptoms last year, while his wife was taken to a hospital in Nairobi to be treated for coronavirus. The vice president of Tanzania’s semi-autonomous archipelago, Zanzibar, Seif Sharif Hamad, died last month days after his party announced it had tested positive for the virus. Uganda’s deputy prime minister and Eswatini’s prime minister also died from the virus last year.

Despite the rise in high-profile cases, Mr Magufuli’s death comes at a time when his coveted mark of skepticism is flourishing in the region’s most impoverished states.

Burundi’s health minister said last month that his country did not need vaccines against Covid-19, as most patients were recovering. Eritrea and Madagascar have also rejected vaccines, with Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina promoting a locally produced herbal remedy.

Vaccine skepticism exacerbates the supply gap in Africa, with less than one dose per 100 people in late February, compared to 31 doses per 100 people in the UK and 22 per 100 in the United States. United, according to data collected by Oxford University.

Diplomats and policy analysts in Tanzania say the key question for the gold-producing nation is whether ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi can handle a smooth transition to Ms. Hassan.

The populist Mr. Magufuli, known as “the Bulldozer” for his senseless approach to corruption and poverty reduction, centralized power around his personal authority. He comfortably won the October election, with Mrs. Hassan playing a minor role as a running mate.

“We are not waiting for Mrs. Suhulu [Hassan] to immediately reverse the government’s response and impose strict restrictions on Covid-19, but will likely do so gradually in the coming months, said Zaynab Mohamed, a Tanzanian analyst at NKC African Economics. “If it makes drastic changes quickly, it could negatively affect it.”

The ruling party has said it will not answer Mrs Hassan’s oath as president in the coming days, but opposition leaders have called for her immediate oath, warning that the constitution does not provide for a continued power vacuum.

In recent weeks, Mr Magufuli had begun delaying the introduction of public health measures to contain the disease, including wearing masks, following a wave of high-profile deaths. But the country continued to refuse to share numbers of coronavirus cases with the World Health Organization, which it stopped providing nearly a year ago.

Despite his coronavirus stance and the growing reduction of rights and freedoms that made him an international pariah, Mr. Magufuli continued to be popular at home, particularly in rural communities that benefited from one of the rates of highest growth rates in Africa in recent years. In Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania, dozens of residents crowded inside cafes and restaurants and on street corners to see news of his death. Some cried while looking at the newsletters.

Some analysts said Ms Hassan, who has less of a political electorate, may find it more difficult to continue Mr Magufuli’s confrontational stance against international mining companies.

“Investors will be on the lookout for signs that Magufuli’s replacement will adhere to or diverge from the former president’s nationalist resource trajectory,” said Ed Hobey-Hamsher, an analyst at risk analysis firm Verisk Maplecroft .

Barrick Gold Corp.

executive chairman Mark Bristow, who spoke for years with Mr Magufuli over a high-profile tax dispute in 2017 that caused the company to pay $ 300 million, expressed his condolences to the Tanzanian people, describing the late leader as “a visionary statesman.”

Mr Magufuli’s opposing approach to the pandemic has particularly irritated Washington, Tanzania’s leading health and safety donor, which has invested around $ 4.9 billion in its healthcare sector over the past two decades.

Tanzanian authorities shut down a television station last summer to report a U.S. embassy statement warning of an increase in coronavirus cases across the country. Weeks later, Mr Magufuli accused the embassy of exaggerating the health crisis and warned citizens not to accept donations of items such as masks and other medical supplies to the US.

While Mr Magufuli insisted his country did not have a coronavirus, the US countered it several times, tightening ties. Days before the death of Zanzibar’s vice president, the U.S. embassy again warned of a significant increase in coronavirus cases in Tanzania. Days later, Mr. Magufuli’s chief secretary died unexpectedly, causing panic in government circles.

On Thursday, the U.S. State Department expressed its condolences after the death of Mr. Magufuli and pledged to support Tanzania in the fight against the pandemic.

Write to Nicholas Bariyo to [email protected]