Tanzania siege mentality on Covid worrying

It is painful to see Tanzania being put on the same list as North Korea and Turkmenistan in reports of countries that aren’t reporting coronavirus cases.

The nation of post-independence Africa’s foremost statesman Julius Nyerere and East Africa’s recent peace mediators Benjamin Mkapa and Jakaya Kikwete surely shouldn’t be carrying that international rogue tag at all. Well, it is what it is.

The current Tanzanian president John Magufuli’s Covid-19 denialism has unfortunately made his country looked at as a global pandemic pariah. Mr Magufuli’s half-hearted acknowledgement of the existence of the disease a few weeks ago renewed hope of an improved national response to a public health crisis that hasn’t spared any country.

His softening stand on Covid-19 is widely believed to have been prompted by the deaths of a number of administration officials, including Zanzibar’s vice-president, from the disease. But speculation about the president’s own health in recent days seems to be diminishing the chances of that happening.

Rather than take the cue from Mr Magufuli’s acknowledgement of Covid-19 and mobilise their people to observe containment measures such as washing hands, social distancing and wearing of face masks in public, the ruling elite are needlessly displaying siege mentality that can only make the situation worse.

Covid-19 scepticism

Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa, responding to speculation around Mr Magufuli’s unusual absence from public events, said the president was busy working in his office. The legal affairs minister has reacted with incredible belligerence on social media for a public official of his stature, marking out uncomfortable posts about the president’s health in red and warning critics of criminal prosecution.

The public broadcaster is still propagating Covid-19 scepticism as some form of patriotism, airing past footage of Mr Magufuli alleging some foreign conspiracy around the pandemic.

A story prominently aired on the Friday news bulletin played up the recent suspension of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine in a number of European countries, reinforcing the unhealthy official messaging that promotes vaccine hesitancy.

There is a reason to worry about the building siege mentality in Tanzania as much as the spread of the virus. If the ruling elite succeed in transmitting their personal insecurities to the rest of the population, they will make it even much harder to contain the virus not only in their country but also in the neighbouring countries.

It could also worsen the human rights and democracy situation there, with political rivals and well-meaning critics being labelled enemies of the state and threatened with arrest and prosecution.

Back home, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has once again demonstrated why he is such a special leader in our part of the world. On Thursday, he made his positive Covid-19 diagnosis public the same way he announced his hospitalisation in Dubai for a surgery in his back in June 2020 and an operation in the US to remove some fluid on the brain. Now, that is patriotism!