We have a new president in Tanzania and I am happy about that. She has reversed Magufuli’s restrictions on press freedom and freedom of speech. This can only be a good thing.
Magufuli had been out of the public eye for several weeks and rumours were flying around about him having COVID and having been taken to Kenya to get treatment then the word on the streets was that he was in India and the next we heard was that he was in fact in South Africa. In the end it was said he never left the country.
His ministers claimed he was working very hard in his office and had no time to appear in public. Nobody actually believed this but everyone had to play along with the rules of the game. Then came the much anticipated announcement that he had died. However, it was claimed that he died of heart problems. It would have been highly embarrassing if the COVID-denying president had died of COVID. So he died of something else.
And then we had a period of two weeks of mourning the dead president during which his coffin was paraded around the country. Thankfully they did end up burying him in his homeland up-country.
The Vice-President was promoted to the main job and Tanzania became the first country in Africa to be headed by a female Muslim president. This can only be a positive thing as far as am concerned. All power to Mama Samia. Let’s get behind her.