Compromise president surprises with Magufuli-cent reforms
DAR ES SALAAM: John Pombe Magufuli may have been a compromise candidate, but less than three months after taking over as Tanzania’s president, his radical reforms have the region in awe.
Many east Africans are hoping for the “Magufulification” of their countries as they watch the 56-year-old cut perks to officials, channel funding to public services and tackle corruption.
Some measures are less popular as he has expelled slum dwellers and cracked down on illegal migrants. One of Magufuli’s first acts was to cancel the Independence Day celebrations on December 9, saying it was “shameful that we’re spending money on independence when people are dying of cholera”.
He diverted the budget of 4 billion shillings (R32 million) to expanding a congested road and street cleaning, replacing the independence celebrations with a National Day of Cleanliness, during which he collected rubbish himself.
Magufuli scaled down the inauguration of the new parlia- ment to channel money to the Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam to buy beds for patients.
He uses a car instead of a jet to travel throughout the country, and has banned all but the most essential foreign travel for officials.
In the October elections, Magufuli was a compromise candidate for the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, which has dominated politics since Tanzania’s independence in 1961.
Few Tanzanians expected him to launch the radical re- forms that are now sparking comparisons with the country’s first president and founding father, Julius Nyerere.
But sceptics say that authoritarian presidents such as Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, who are reluctant to step down after decades in power, were also once hailed as belonging to a new breed of leaders.
Magufuli has sacked the head of the Dar es Salaam ports authority and suspended the chief of the revenue authority after visits by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa to the port found that thousands of containers had been cleared without the taxes being paid.
Kenyan columnist Rasna Warah says: “The disgustingly conspicuous and gluttonous consumption – at the expense of taxpayers – displayed by our legislators and top civil servants is making Magufuli look like a saint.”
But many ponder how long Magufuli will be able to maintain this. Main opposition party Chadema dismisses the reforms as “cosmetic”.
“We would like to see Magufuli go to the core of the problems and fix them. Sacking junior public officials will not lead to any major changes,” Chadema’s acting secretarygeneral John Mnyika said.
Peter Fabricius, a consultant for the African Centre for Peace and Security Training in Addis Ababa, wrote that Magufuli “has already made lots of enemies among lazy, incompetent, dishonest or arrogant public servants”. He is also expected to make enemies among other African leaders. – dpa