WTF? Tanzania Has a Population of 58 Million and Almost No COVID? And Now, It's President Has Disappeared?

Vice President urges calm as Tanzania’s leader still unseen 

NAIROBI, Kenya — As Tanzania’s president has not been seen in public for more than two weeks, the East African country’s vice president on Monday sought to reassure the nation, saying it was “normal” for human beings to suffer colds and other illnesses. 

Addressing a public rally in Tanzania’s Tanga region, Samia Suluhu offered no update on the health or whereabouts of President John Magufuli even as she said she had been sent by him to calm the East African nation. 

“I want to assure you Tanzania is safe. It is normal for a human being to be tested, often for colds and flu, for anything,” Suluhu said. 

“I want to tell you that if there is an important time for Tanzanians to remain united, it is now. It is not the time to listen to information from outside the country which will confuse or divide us. Let all unite as Tanzanians and continue working to build this country.”

Her comments deepen the mystery surrounding the health of Magufuli, a populist leader who is often seen in public and makes frequent appearances on the state broadcaster. But his last public appearance was on Feb. 27 at the swearing-in ceremony of his chief of staff in the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam. 

While Magufuli has not been seen in public, speculation has swirled over his health status as some, including his main rival, assert that he is suffering from COVID-19 and hiding it. 

Magufuli is one of Africa’s most prominent COVID-19 skeptics. Last year he said the disease had been eradicated from Tanzania by three days of national prayer. He mocked COVID-19 tests, discouraged Tanzanians from wearing masks, and expressed doubts on the efficacy of vaccines. 

But last month Magufuli acknowledged his country had a coronavirus problem amid reports of a rising number of deaths related to breathing problems and days after the death of the vice president of the semi-autonomous island region of Zanzibar, whose political party had earlier said he had COVID-19. 

Last week Tanzania's prime minister insisted Magufuli was well and busy with his duties. That explanation did little to calm anxiety. Police over the weekend began arresting people discussing Magufuli’s health on social media and other forums. It’s not clear what those arrested will be charged with. Police confirmed they had arrested at least one man on Saturday. 

Opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who has openly questioned Magufuli's absence in many Twitter posts, alleged three others had been arrested by Monday, including a 73-year-old man in a desperate bid by the government to stop the public from asking questions about the president's health. 

Lissu is able to freely comment on the president's health because he lives in Belgium.

Obviously, something is not right here.  

For some reason, unlike other African nations, Tanzania does NOT sell Hydroxychloroquine over-the-counter:

The World Health Organisation has drawn up a shortlist of countries it’s most concerned about during the pandemic. Tanzania is at the top. The government’s lack of transparency during the crisis is a big part of the problem. In recent years the country has imposed increasingly repressive laws to muffle the media — newspapers fined and journalists arrested. Or worse. 

For the purposes of this piece I am ‘Tom James’; I’m either more circumspect or less courageous than my fellow journos here. When the international media — fed by stringers whose identities are disguised — try to report on the pandemic, they are accused of scaremongering, their attempts described by the government as a ‘form of warfare’. Brave journalists keep popping their heads above parapets to tell the world what’s really happening. 

Amnesty International recently stated the obvious: nailing journalists who criticise their governments’ approach to Covid-19 is hampering efforts to tackle it. Stories leak anyway when there’s a gagged press, but they bleed out via all kinds of media and mutate on the way. 

Are people dropping dead on the streets? Are the numbers of infected being misrepresented? Are there secret midnight burials of Covid-19 casualties? 

Who knows. 

But why is the WHO so concerned about Tanzania? 

Well, for a start there is inadequate testing and almost no sharing of data. The Africa CDC reported that as of 15 May Tanzania has conducted just 652 tests and, unlike almost every other country, is not submitting regular updates. Next door in Kenya, they’ve performed more than 50 times as many tests: 36,918. 

Tanzania’s President, John Pombe Magufuli, is in hiding at home in the west of the country. He took his private jet there weeks ago to hunker down, but not before urging his citizens to gather in church to pray this thing away. 

‘These holy places are where God is,’ he said. ‘My fellow people, let us not be afraid of going to praise Him. Coronavirus cannot survive in the body of Christ, it will burn.’ 

But, perhaps to reassure the doubters, he’s adopting additional measures. He is going to send another plane to Madagascar to import a herbal tonic touted as a cure. It comes from artemisia, an ingredient used in a malaria treatment. 

Which makes me think of hydroxychloroquine and the fact that there is none on the shelves here, where we actually need the stuff.

AND THEN THERE'S THIS: