Millions of people around the globe are, until now, still mourning the death of a true African son, John Pombe Magufuli. Despite information from reliable sources concerning the real cause of the untimely death of the 61-year-old former leader on the evening of March 17, 2021, a section of people, some very influential and respected, like the leader of opposition of Tanzania Tundu Lissu, have chosen to laugh at the deceased, stressing it that he succumbed to Covid-19, a disease he said could not kill a prayerful person.
Magufuli, like the late former Burundian president Pierre Nkurunziza, called coronavirus a common flu. In fact, both being fervent Christians, they believed Covid 19’s best cure was prayer accompanied by fasting. Unofficial statements say both these leaders, now dead, died of the same disease whose severity they down played.
Whatever led to the passing of this loveable man, John Pombe Magufuli, we should leave the body of that former Tanzanian patriot rest in peace. It is not even African to laugh at dead bodies.
But why would someone feel happy when his country man has died? According to Tanzanian opposition leader, Tundu Lissu, the death of President Magufuli was good news. “Huge relief, certainly. Certainly I am not mourning Magufuli. I will not shed a tear, even a crocodile one,” Lissu told an interviewer, moments after the official announcement of Magufuli demise by authorities in Tanzania.
Forced into exile after unidentified assailants tried to shoot him dead at parliament, in the year 2017, Tundu Lissu is quite right when he sounds bitter. He should have waited.
The late Magufuli, undeniably, died a very popular man both within Tanzania and the rest of the world. Why laugh at him because he succumbed to a disease he has fought for over a decade? According to a Tanzanian government statement read by the then vice president, Hassan Samia Suluhu, a chronic heart disorder killed Magufuli. We should wish the late Magufuli well as he commences to walk down the path to his maker, God.
Magufuli found Tanzania, a country almost as big as Congo and other bigger African countries, grappling with unbelievable corruption. Millions of people in Tanzanian were living in deep poverty. Before the arrival of Magufuli, very many of Tanzanian roads were impassable.
He boldly raised his rough fist against the enemies of Tanzania whom he found ‘looting’ Tanzania. He incarcerated many. Hundreds ran away and hid in countries overseas. Magufuli built thousands of kilometers of very well-paved roads. Tanzania never remained the same.
Though analysts say Magufuli, like Kikwete and others that led before him, was soft on his close allies, history will write that Magufuli died with clean hands.
A deeply honest man, Magufuli tolerated those insulting him and treated the Tundu Lissus, who eyed his throne, humanely, contrary to what western elites and his enemies say. Tundu Lissu and his opposition Chadema party have been vocal since Magufuli’s ascension to power in 2015, it should be noted.
When he (Tundu Lissu) was shot at and rushed to Aga khan hospital in Nairobi-Kenya and later to Belgium in the year 2017, Magufuli felt sorry and wished Lissu a quick recovery. The newly sworn in president then vice president Hassan Suluhu visited bed-ridden Lissu while in hospital in Nairobi.
With gloved hands one may not lead an African developing country to the Promised Land. Magufuli sometimes went astray. He should not be blamed. Like a true leader, he had.
The softness of leaders in neighboring Kenya and Uganda is the reason why corruption in those countries is mind-boggling. In power for only five years, Tanzania is now a country at a level you would not expect it to be if it was not this hard man Magufuli ruling. He was right when he introduced rules that deterred Tanzanians from misusing the computers they owned.
Wanting to instill good behavior in the people of Tanzania, he some time stood and ordered for the censoring of Tanzanian media. Very many journalists who will be released soon, perhaps, now that their tormentor has gone, made it to the places they are today (prisons) because of their swollen-headedness.
Now, Tundu Lissu says the death of Magufuli was a huge relief. It is sad. Sad indeed! Magufuli is no more. His enemies, the Tundu Lissus, and other heartless learned men and women, should rest and forgive Magufuli and let him rest in peace.
In power for only five years, one should call Magufuli a really different leader who was ready to lead Tanzania, as Joshua of the bible did, to the Promised Land.
He earned himself the name bulldozer because he built and built, and built. Tundu Lissu says the money Magufuli was squandering to see to it that Tanzania became accessible from wherever one was, was borrowed money which Tanzanians will, forever, pay. To ridicule a dead man is bad manners, Tundu Lissu.
Lissu is not yet ready for bigger things, it means. He, like other opposition leaders in Africa, should wait. This ongoing mockery against dead Magufuli is totally uncalled for. To be African is to be disciplined. Tundu Lissu and others jubilating because Magufuli died should know. They should stop!
The late John Pombe Magufuli succumbed to a heart complication called Atrial Fibrillation, according to reliable sources and authorities in Tanzania, not Coronavirus as biased media is repeatedly reporting.
