Reported by
Faridah N Kulumba
Tanzania president John Pombe Magufuli 61year old who said that covid-19 can be healed by praying and using herbal infused steaming is said to be in a critical condition after contracting Covid-19.
Tanzania opposition leader Tundu Lissu told the BBC that Mr Magufuli was flown to Kenya on Monday for treatment in Nairobi Hospital after having a cardiac arrest and in a critical condition.
How the speculation of Magufuli’s illness began
Intense speculation has been generated after the opposition leader Tundu Lissu started asking questions over the whereabouts of Tanzanian president John Magufuli, who has not been seen in public for 11 days, yet his known for frequent public speeches and appearances on state television several times a week.
And the rumours sparked when the Kenya’s Nation newspaper wrote that an African leader had been admitted to a Nairobi Hospital, without confirming the name.
Lissu also told BBC that it will not be a surprise to Tanzanians that Mr Magufuli had contracted coronavirus as he had been reckless in the face of the virus.
“This is someone who has repeatedly and publicly trashed established medicine, he’s relied on prayers and herbal concoctions of unproven value.” said Lissu.
Magufuli dismissed the presence of Covid-19 in Tanzania
Tanzania Ministry of Health confirmed its first Coronavirus case on the 16 March 2020. But in the same year president Magufuli stopped his government from releasing any figures on Coronavirus claiming that his country was virus-free.
He questioned the standard of the lab equipments saying that they were giving false results.
He also claimed that he sent fake Covid-19 samples to the labs from goats and fruits and that some of them came out positive.
“The testing kits were made by western countries and were programmed to give many positive results,” said Magufuli.
Zurah Nakabugo a health reporter working with The Weekly Observer Uganda who has been following Tanzania’s Covid-19 situation, told our AFP reporter that she got the information from a trusted source in Tanzanian Ministry of Health who revealed to her that the number of people who contract Covid-19 virus rises every day and many have succumbed to death.
And media reports from Tanzania, says that the authorities in Tanzania pressurize medical doctors to treat people with novel Covid-19 symptoms for pneumonia and heart infections.
Tanzania also said that they had no plans to import Covid-19 vaccines but instead they will focus on doing research and develop herbal vaccines.
Will Magufuli’s illness change his attitudes towards the presence of Covid-19 in Tanzania?
Last month Tanzania lost high-ranking former and current official’s, who died from what many suspected to be coronavirus including chief secretary to state House John Kijazi, former deputy finance minister Gregory Teu, former governor of Bank of Tanzania Benno Ndulu and first vice-president of Zanzibar Maalim Seif Sharrif Hamad whose party ACT Wazalendo confirmed he had tested positive for Covid-19.
While speaking at the funeral of Kijazi, president Magufuli showed some sign of Covid-19 acknowledgement and pressence of the virus in his country when he urged Tanzanians to participate in three days of prayers for respiratory illness that had become a challenge in Tanzania.
Also in February when the World Health Organisation’s director general Tadros Adhanon issued a statement calling the situation in Tanzania concerning and urged it to follow scientific protocols.
He made a slight amendment regarding Covid-19. He urged Tanzanians to put on locally made face masks instead of imported ones, saying masks from abroad could not be trusted.
If Magufuli contracted with Covid-19, i believe his mindset will change and this will force him to accept the reality and urge his citizens to follow Standard Operating Procedures
