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Tanzania, the largest country in East Africa, is hurting its position in the region due to its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Will President John Magufuli’s recent U-turn make a difference?
After the region reported its first coronavirus case in March 2020, Tanzania has walked and continues to walk alone after President Magufuli refused to join his regional counterparts in taking a common stance against the virus.
But after months of denying the obvious, Several former and current high-ranking officials have died from what many suspect is coronavirus. The government has not commented on what killed the top officials.
The deceased senior officials include: House Chief Secretary John Kijazi, former Deputy Finance Minister Gregory Teu, former Bank of Tanzania Governor Benno Ndulu and First Vice President of Zanzibar Maalim Seif Sharrif Hamad, whose ACT Wazalendo party confirmed he had tested positive by Covid-19 just before his death.
Speaking at Kijazi’s funeral, Magufuli urged Tanzanians to participate in three days of prayer. for “respiratory diseases” that had become a challenge in Tanzania.
Authorities are asking doctors to refrain from referring to unspecified respiratory diseases such as Covid-19 or to accept patients who claim to have specific symptoms of the virus.
From a previous report on The Africa ReportSaid an anonymous doctor: “The authorities are pressuring us not to treat people with symptoms of the coronavirus instead of treating them for pneumonia and lung infections.”
Economy over lives
Instead of opting for a lock or curfew as neighboring countries did, at first Magufuli declared that Tanzania was free of coronavirus after three days of prayers. In May 2020, the Magufuli administration had stopped testing people and releasing data on the number of infections. By then, the country had reported 509 cases with 21 deaths.
While other countries reported new cases, recoveries and deaths and even took measures such as tests at their borders, officials in Tanzania danced and chanted that Covid cannot survive in their bodies after prayers.
But diplomatic and political analyst Wetengere Kitojo in Dar es Salaam says, contrary to what some people believe, Tanzania is observing all guidelines issued by health experts.
“Regardless of what others in the region say, our government is serious about protecting people in a way that does not affect the economy. Tanzania should not be dictated on this matter. “
Kitojo adds that the Tanzanian measures were primarily aimed at protecting the economy.
Tanzania is putting its neighbors in danger
In a statement issued on February 21, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom, called the relative situation in Tanzania and urged him to follow scientific protocols: “This underscores the need for Tanzania to take strong action both to safeguard its own people and to protect the population in these countries and beyond.”
On the same day as the WHO statement, Magufuli made a small amendment to his usual speech on Covid. After months of refusing to impose a blockade or release any data on escalating cases, he left a Church service asking Tanzanians to wear locally made face masks rather than imported ones. Masks from abroad could not be trusted he said, echoing previous statements of mistrust regarding the vaccine.
“As Tanzanians, we must be eager to wear these face masks. If those who created them are not dying, then they are good for us. Wear masks produced by the health ministry, ”Magufuli said after leaving the San Pedro Catholic Church.
Despite the recent assent to the use of the mask, Opposition and human rights activists in Tanzania have called the country’s approach shameful. Zitto Kabwe, director of ACT Wazalendo, says the government’s denial has not only put people in the country at risk, but the entire region as well.
“This is a global challenge. Therefore, denying the truth about the spread of the virus in Tanzania puts the entire country and region at risk. Many people are getting sick, hospitals are being overwhelmed and the elderly are losing their lives. “
Fatma Karume, a rights activist, daughter of former Zanzibar President Aman Abeid Karume, and a fierce critic of President Magufuli, says the world should not remain silent while the Magufuli dictatorship downplays Covid-19.
“The world should not allow Magufuli’s authoritarianism and Covid denialism to turn a nation of 60 million souls into a Petri dish for bleeding Covid-19 mutations.”
Regional problem
So far very few appear in the region have a lot of faith in Tanzania after it refused to collaborate with its neighbors in establishing a common position in the fight against the virus.
Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Mozambique have followed the guidelines of the WHO and regional authorities such as the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For example, Kenya has several times now imposed a curfew and closure on Nairobi and Mombasa and even imposed travel bans to and from Nairobi to curb the rise in infections.
Kenya’s top opposition politician Raila Odinga declared that Covid-19 was a regional problem.
“If we don’t control Kenya, it will affect Tanzania, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Our destiny is united. We don’t want a situation where none of these countries have to close their borders with the others, ”said Odinga, quoted by the South African Broadcasting Corporation in 2020.
However, at one point Kenya closed its border with Tanzania, accusing the Magufuli administration of ignoring the common position of the region.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta also said East African Community (EAC) member states must have a common vision to defeat the virus.
“At the end of the day, we have to work together. Our people are one and our borders are shared, ”Kenyatta said in a televised speech in May 2020.
Of the countries in the region, Kenya has been the most affected. It has registered more than 100,000 cases, followed by Uganda, which has registered 40,154 cases, while Rwanda has registered 17,835 cases.
In the case of Rwanda, the small East African country has taken a firm approach in imposing blockades in the worst-affected areas, including its capital, Kigali.
President Paul Kagame, current president of the EAC, criticized the lack of planning among regional leaders to combat the pandemic. Officials from Tanzania and Burundi did not attend a virtual meeting on that topic.
Bottom line
While Magufuli took a slight U-turn in his usual speech about the pandemic, it is not a sea change.
Without the release of official figures, the public and medical workers have no real idea how bad the situation is.
Judging by the efforts of Tanzania’s neighbors, the situation requires much more attention and stricter measures.
