AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE popular Kiswahili saying “Kizuri chajiuza; kibaya chajitembeza” comes in handy for emphatically capturing the widespread perception of what the leadership style of President John Magufuli personifies.
In a nutshell, the saying informs (for those presumably in the dark) and reminds those in the know, that an individual who excel in one’s job, profession or calling need not to advertise themselves.
He or she need not do so because the person’s performance is glaringly evident for all level-minded individuals to behold and appreciate.
Whoever engages in self-congratulatory heroics would thus be engaging in an embarrassing mission; the equivalent of a salesperson of a sub-standard or wholly useless product engaging in an advertisement overdrive.
Against that background, it is no wonder that parliament did, at its session in Dodoma on Tuesday, adopt a declaration to commend President Magufuli on his superb handling of the corona virus pandemic.
Commendably, Dr Magufuli didn’t pursue the simplistic, but very risky “copy and paste” approach.
At the very outset, and ignoring noises trumpeted from externallybased elements imprisoned by the “know-all” mindset, he calmed the anxieties of his compatriots.
In addition to rejecting the much-trumpeted lockdown option, he also psyched Tanzanians into investing optimism in, and applying traditional medical therapies.
It is terribly disgusting, indeed, that critics of the Tanzanian approaches, have been projecting our beloved Land of Kilimanjaro as being non-caring on the Covid-19 pandemic.
They are widely off the mark, lacking the etiquette to remind themselves that as a sovereign nation, Tanzania, led by a popularly elected leader, is entitled to conducting its affairs in the manner it feels fit, and won’t accept to be dictated to by any external quarters.
It is also instructive that, the President was very critical of the stigma that had been attached to the pandemic, manifested by such moves as stigmatizing corona virus patients, and even individuals who are merely suspected to have been infected.
More painful had been the denial to relatives of people who had died of the pandemic, of the traditionally and religiously important chance to give them decent burials.
Against that backdrop, however, sustaining precautionary measures remains crucial.
It is significant, for instance, that some academic institutions have been reopened, but the young people there are being psyched into sustaining protective measures.
Again, kudos to President Magufuli for his sterling leadership !
