Tanzania’s leadership faced a slippery succession on Thursday after President John Magufuli, Africa’s most ardent coronavirus skeptic, died after an 18 – day absence from public life sparking speculation about his health.
An opposition leader insisted on the immediate swearing-in of Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan as successor, saying it would avoid a constitutional vacuum and prevent uncertainty.
Magufuli’s death, the first of a Tanzanian leader while in office, opens the prospect that the country will get its first female president.
According to the constitution, Hassan, 61, must accept the presidency for the remainder of the five-year term that Magufuli began serving last year after winning a second term.
Hassan addressed the country on television late Wednesday, saying Magufuli had died of the heart disease that had plagued him for a decade. She said funeral arrangements for the 61-year-old leader were underway, but did not indicate when she would be sworn in.
Government spokesman Hassan Abbasi did not respond to calls and texts seeking comment on succession plans.
Magufuli was an outspoken Covid-19 skeptic who encouraged Tanzanians to avoid mask-wearing vaccines as a Western conspiracy, which frustrated the World Health Organization.
He has not been seen in public since February 27, and he has raised rumors that he himself had Covid-19. On March 12, officials denied that he had become ill and on Monday, Hassan urged Tanzanians not to listen to rumors from outside the country.
As early as Wednesday, she sent ‘greetings’ from Magufuli in remarks to an audience in the coastal region of Tanga.
“The VP must be sworn in immediately,” opposition leader Zitto Kabwe told Reuters by phone from Dar es Salaam. “The constitution does not allow a vacuum … I will be worried if the day passes without her being sworn in.”
Nicknamed “The Bulldozer” because of his reputation for pushing through policies despite opposition, Magufuli drew international criticism for his unorthodox and increasingly authoritarian tactics.
Although Hassan favored Magufuli’s leadership style in public and regularly represented him abroad, she was gentler and less confrontational than the president.
“The Vice President did not give the impression of significant popularity or influence within the (ruling party),” said Fergus Kell, an African analyst at the Chatham House think tank in London. ‘This could pose potential challenges in managing competitive interests and gaining the necessary support within the ruling party to govern effectively. ”
Traffic was moving normally on Thursday morning and there was not much safety in Dar es Salaam, the country’s largest city, a Reuters witness said.
Some people were standing on street corners in the city center reading newspapers, including a headline shouting ‘sad’ and crying. As was the case throughout the Tanzanian pandemic, many people did not wear face masks.
Tundu Lissu, Magufuli’s biggest rival in the October election when the president won a second term, said in an interview with Kenyan KTN that it is time for the country to open a new chapter after Magufuli’s our country ‘destroyed’.
East African governments have expressed sympathy, but some people from the region have been critical of his stance on Covid-19 and his leadership style.