Wednesday | March 17, 2021

The President of Tanzania John Magufuli has been pronounced dead by his Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan on national television, the BBC reports.

Magufuli was out of the public space for over a period of two weeks. He became controversial around his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in his country. SABC said Magufuli died from “Covid-19 complications”. According to reports, it is said Magufuli had a heart condition and it was widely known.

However, the link between his stance on Covid-19 and his disappearance were inseparable. To this end, DW published:

“At one point, he made fun of the country’s coronavirus testing facilities, saying he had secretly sent samples of papaya and goat and that they came out positive.”

Further, it reported that:

“Though he never provided proof of that claim, he warned that those results could mean that people were getting false positive results. Shortly afterward, Tanzania stopped sharing updates on the number of people infected and killed due to Covid-19. The country’s last coronavirus figures were given in May last year.”

In 2015, Magufuli became the 5th Tanzanian President at the age of 55.