Africa-Press – Tanzania. PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has spent her first 100 days as a leader focusing on a series of issues facing the country, including changing an approach on how to handle Covid-19 pandemic.
It is the period when the world has witnessed President Samia, through her various speeches, setting a new tone on other issues, including the conduct of media, opposition politics and handling of work permits.
The issue that might have attracted an attention of world is the decision by the President to form a committee of experts to advise her on the status of Covid-19 in the country and the necessary steps to take to keep people safe, a decision she made within three weeks of being in power.
When announcing the decision President Samia made it clear that Tanzania could no longer ignore the virus that was and is still ravaging the world and that Tanzanians cannot live in isolation as they form part of the global population.
“On the issue of Covid-19, I think I should form a committee of experts to look at it professionally and then advise the government. It should not be silenced or rejected or accepted without professional research,” she said during the swearing-in ceremony of Permanent Secretaries and their deputies. She added: “We cannot isolate ourselves as if we are an Island but also we cannot accept everything brought to us. We cannot continue just reading about Covid-19 in other parts of the world yet Tanzania is all blank, it is incomprehensible.” On April 6, President Samia announced the formation of the committee with a strong emphasis on fighting the pandemic through scientific methods. On May 17 this year, the committee completed the task of conducting an assessment of the disease and submitted a report to the President with a total of 19 recommendations. In the report submitted to President Samia, the committee said that the country had gone through two major waves of the pandemic and that it was still vulnerable to a third one. The committee called on the government to report accurate information about the pandemic to both its citizens and to the World Health Organization (WHO). The committee advised Tanzania to submit the necessary documentation to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to start receiving doses. The committee also called on President Samia to strengthen Covid-19 prevention efforts, comply with international resolutions, strengthen diagnostic capacity, finalise a Covid-19 treatment guide for health workers, use traditional medicines only if they are proven by science, update disaster response plans, and work to establish domestic vaccine manufacturing facilities. The committee also called on the government to pave the way for the use of Covid-19 vaccinations within the country. Committee members felt that the measures would help Tanzania combat increase in Covid-19 infections which are currently impacting nations across the world. According to the committee, any potential vaccination programme in Tanzania should prioritize healthcare workers, frontline workers, those in the tourism and hospitality industry, the elderly (above 50 years), vulnerable groups with underlying conditions and travelers. The team also urged the government to be under the COVAX facility to be part of the countries that receive vaccines. There should also be freedom for the people to decide whether or not to be vaccinated. President Samia Saluhu Hassan announced on 15 May that the government would review whether or not to administer the Covid-19 vaccination. After she received a report from the Committee among the major changes announced include granting permission to embassies and international institutions in Tanzania to import Covid-19 vaccines for their people and employees. President Samia made the remarks on June 4, 2021, after she received the proposed Work Plan that includes finding resources to fight against the pandemic, presented at the State House, Dodoma by Special Committee on Covid 19 led by the Chairman, Professor Said Aboud. “Embassies and International Organizations have been allowed to bring in the vaccine for their citizens and workers to comply with the procedures of their countries and organizations as well as to eliminate disturbance in their work because of not being vaccinated,” she said. The vaccines, however, will be delivered under the control of the Ministry of Health. In the recommendations, the committee has proposed various ways that will enable the Government to raise funds from within the national budget and various development partners including international organisations and the private sector for medical equipment, training and coverage. President Samia congratulated the committee for its work and directed the Minister of Health, Dr Dorothy Gwajima to prepare a document to be submitted to the Cabinet for discussion and later the Government to make a decision on the committee’s proposals. Showing the public that it is necessary to take precautionary measures against the pandemic President Samia has always stressing on the need to wear face masks in all public gatherings. To walk the talk President Samia appeared at a meeting in Dar es Salaam that involved elders wearing a face mask including her aides plus many of those who attended. The president also put on face masks in all her two previous foreign trips in Kenya and Uganda. With new variants of the disease being reported across the globe, the international community was keen to know her attitude to vaccinations. People were also waiting to find out if she would consider lockdowns and curfews as ways to contain the virus. Whether her assertions are making a major difference to the perceptions around Covid- 19 and changing the clock is yet to be seen, so far, no new policies have emerged from the expert committee recommendations.
