President Magufuli: Letter to Prof. Lumumba of Kenya Cc. Energy Mutodi; Bcc African Presidents

Dear Professor Lumumba,

Comrade Energy Mutodi is having his last laugh: he was spot on. He told us the bare truth about the President of Tanzania; the way he is handling the global pandemic was laughable. We ridiculed Mutodi: me included. Mutodi said; the President is a scientist; he a chemist by profession but how is he misleading the health of a nation of a population of 58 million, telling them that the herbal tea developed in Madagascar cures the Covid-19 right in the middle of the global pandemic: a period of unparalleled global challenges, is dangerously misleading. For telling us the obvious, Comrade Mutodi lost his job from being a deputy minister to a Zanu card carrying member and overnight, he became a nation's ridicule. Who is Mutodi on this earth? If we had given time and analysed his statement not his argument; we would have profoundly appreciated and understood the science behind his statement.  

Comrade Mutodi argued his wise statement wrongly. He seemed to be making comparisons between the two presidents: Magufuli and Mnangagwa: how they are dealing with the global pandemic. This is where Mutodi lost it. Magufuli was politicizing the pandemic geo-politically by saying the cure for Covid 19 is from the African soil: Madagascar right in the early stages of the global pandemic. Here Mutodi scored: kudos to him. For a doctorate academic holder in chemistry to go against the global grain of scientific thinking was not only pathetic but also questionable hence Mutodi challenged this geo-political approach to global pandemic in the first place. But still, a credit needs to be given to where its due. Mr. Mutodi was spot on. We cannot take that away from him it did not matter how much we hate his political affiliation to Lacoste-Mnangagwa.

Comrade Mutodi's statement was right but augmenting it wrongly: President Mnangagwa used the pandemic to repress the citizens of Zimbabwe. We saw luminaries of the likes of Tsitsi Dangarembga, Farai Mahere, Hopewell Chinono, Job Sikhala, and Gharivhume sent to Chikurubi for petty reasons. There is a UZ student who languished in prison for months his case was almost forgotten and unattended. To demonstrate against the government of Zimbabwe is a right enshrined in the constitution. The UN made an official complain to the government of Mnangagwa how he clandestinely dealt with his opponents under the guise of fighting the pandemic and those who violented the lockdown regulations.

Comrade Mutodi lost his job for the truthful statement he made; he was sent packing by the late Foreign Minister Sibusiso Moyo; ironically, Moyo died of Covid-19 complications. Mutodi exposed the rift between the army and the government: an avid bootlicker of Mnangagwa faction. Mnangagwa was forced to part with Mutodi, the army calls the shots even today, 3 years after the coup that removed Mugabe from power. Curiously, how many Zanu bigwigs have died of Covid-19? The statement of Comrade Energy Mutodi was never supposed to be supressed but was to be taken on board. On several occasions, Zanu stalwarts have come together celebrating either a birthday or a new years day; both gatherings were super spreaders: this is the time we lost many of them in the echelons of powers in Zimbabwe including Sibusiso Moyo our foreign Minister.

For a whole president to tell the nation of 58 million that there is no pandemic in Tanzania is wholly naïve, with all due respect I had for him since he came to power in 2015. The means to communicating such a global pandemic using the bible: the people must have faith in God and will be protected from the Covid-19 displays irresponsibility of African politics generally. Is it not the bible that saw the colonialization of Africa? How do you come back again to trust the very methods that saw 4 hundred years of colonialism in Africa: Christianity?

Watching the Adeola Fayehun's video, a top Nigerian journalist; how the Tanzanians were using the so-called steam treatment for covid-19 at the marketplace was depressing to see. Who ever saw the video will concur with me how easy Africans can be made to believe that a steam-treatment for Covid-19 with no science backing whatsoever, in a big box: cube form; coming out of it was a thick black smoke is wholly stupid? In tens, people were subjected to smoke inhalation for 5 minutes; came out gasping for breath. Really, this silly activity taking place in the second Millennium! Where is the global enlightenment, where are the academic scientific standards to evidence such treatment methods as genuine?

If the President said so and recommended it, then it must never be questioned. No critical thinking was applied to question the words of the President who recommended it; must be believed. But because we want to prove the Caucasians that we can make it without their "deadly" vaccine that has been recently established from western countries, we must sink with Magufuli to death. I sit down and play out scenarios regarding Magufuli's death: one of them is the embarrassment Professor Lumumba is going through. But on the other I realize the silence in Zimbabwe; nobody is recognizing Comrade Mutodi for getting it right and how he lost his job for telling us the bare-naked truth.

President Magufuli should have read from the media how the Prime Minister of UK: Boris Johnson nearly died of Covid-19. He was careless about Covid 19 in the initial stages of the pandemic. When the Prime Minister recovered, he took drastic measures to fight the global pandemic. Until today, the UK has the highest cases of Covid-19 and one of the countries with high rate of Covid-19 deaths. President Trump was infected, HRH Prince Charles was infected, HRH Prince William was infected with Covid-19. In South Africa, the daughter to Nelson Mandela: Ambassador Zindzi Mandela died of Covid-19. How did these incidences escape President Magufuli? President Ramaphosa. went into quarantine for more than one time when he thought he was exposed to the virus. Are these high-profile deaths and high-profile infections not evidence of the existence of Sars-Covid 2, a pandemic declared by the WHO to be a global pandemic of 100 years: it appears a pandemic reincurs every 100 years to cull the global population down? (This is my own opinion and am entitled to.) The head of WHO: Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is Ethiopian and therefore African. Should I be made to believe that they never communicated about this particularly important issue that affects 58 million citizens of Tanzania: I am sure they did?

You tell me that the whole President did not follow these sad news and developments in other countries: in Italy, in Spain: alone in the USA, over half a billion have succumbed to this global pandemic, on the other hand, President Magufuli tells the people of Tanzania that the country is Covid-19 free. Former President of Tanzania Julius Nyerere must be turning in  his grave. African Presidents must be aware of the responsibility they carry with the lives of over a billion of citizens in the continent.

Our top journalist: Adeola Fayehun wishes that President Magufuli should have survived this Covid-19 so that he will be able to turn around his hypothesis and say Covi-19 is real. He was then going to apply measures that all other global leaders are doing including South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt etc to thwart the pandemic. But many Nigerians responded saying no: it was good that he has died of the disease because he propagated mixed messages to the continent interchangeably doubted Covi-19 existed. His death, his demise due to Covid-19 pandemic will send a message to the continent that we should not play cheap politics at the detriment of our citizens who look up at them for guidance: in this case Karma has spoken. Those who believe in Karma will know how the universe- the laws of Karma work: this is a perfect example of the laws of karma.

The populistic approach to politics in most African countries is openly to get publicity only for wrong reasons: grandstanding, Africans love shows; ant-Caucasian sentiments that do not serve the citizens anyhow. One example is the former President Robert Mugabe who gave shockwaves to the whole world about his famous land-reforms: reforms that punished the Zimbabwean population most of them blacks: what an irony. Even as we speak Zimbabwe has been starving: has been suffering from food-insecurity for the past 20 years. How stupid.

This letter is for Professor Lumumba of Kenya. I have watched his famous speech he gave in Tanzania sometime back. For 2 hours nonstop, he heaped praises on President Magufuli and his politics in East African country. I wondered still if it was measured to go overdrive in praising an African President. We know our presidents very well and how they love praise, they feed on false praises we give to them, uncalled-for, uninvited in most cases. However, to the credit of Professor Lumumba, the President of Tanzania Magufuli was on a promising path beginning on his presidency. He tried to eradicate corruption that was bleeding the nation. We saw the President out in the streets sweeping the dirty streets of Dar-es-Salam with his bare hands. We all said: what a fresh exemplary start. No doubt about it, we loved what he displayed: he went to hospitals and exposed corruption going unnoticed by former governments. He did a lot in uplifting broken down infrastructure development in the country. We can look at the slender salary he gave himself in comparison to other notorious African Presidents: he was indeed exemplary.

I do not want to hide the fact that I was disappointed by his autocratic approach to girls who got pregnant while in schools. They were expelled from accessing education irrespective of their circumstances: that was the government position coming from Magufuli in person. But his Deputy President was a woman: why she did not intervene on this remains a question to us feminists. Professor Lumumba never said a word about the lack of gender insensitivity to girl-pregnancies; women of the future upon which the nation is depended. Did the Professor Lumumba rebuke his friend President Magufuli for his intolerance regarding voices of dissent incarcerating anyone who opposed him. It is said people who spoke against the President were jailed, some disappeared, some were sent to forced exile. As we speak the opposition leader Tundu Lissu is in Spain in forced exile; he was no longer feeling safe in his place of birth: Tanzania. Please Professor Lumumba, say something!

Both Professor Lumumba and Doctor Energy Mutodi are known bootlickers. What is still vivid in my mind to this day is the speech that Professor Lumumba on Mandela Memorial Day made. That was the day when the learned Professor Lumumba should have taken the stage to carefully highlight critiques about the shortcomings of the processes leading to South Africa independence. An orator and eloquent well known in articulating his messages, he showered unending praises about Mandela. In retrospect, most people who expressed displeasure at the SA talks leading to independence were the people of Caucasian origin, leftist and communist groups loudly critiqued the processes of South African independence: "they are short-changing Mandela who was weakened by his long stay in prison;" they said: the talks had visible and serious cracks that will be a problem for the South African black population in future. Few black people can critique our black leaders that far. Now how are the generations to come learn from covered-up facts about leaders that have died and still alive who have committed serious misdemeanours? History will choose who did what for Africa and about Africa: thank God, the Universe and Allah for this fact.

Professor Lumumba and Dr. Mutodi are known academics. My humble message to them is please let us not be over-excited about our African leaders. Let us learn to tell them the truth on their faces. It does not mean, however, that Professor Lumumba has not critiqued African leaders, he has on several occasions in retrospect. Let us learn to put pressure on African leaders and never give unworthy praises wholly uncalled-for to gain acceptance. This word "wrong" sounds judgemental on my part. It is history that will judge you Professor Lumumba and Dr. Mutodi harshly for book licking despots instead of telling them that it is possible to accept different voices and accommodate them, find wisdom in opinions different from theirs it did not matter how diverging the critique is.  

It is bad enough; the Tanzanian authorities are trying to cover up the cause of death of their President. Realizing the embarrassment it will cause, this was the time a golden opportunity the government should come out openly and tell the nation that Covid-19 is indeed a global pandemic and take drastic measures to avoid unnecessary deaths. For Magufuli to die at 61 years is regrettable. However, the coming administration should openly come out and tell it that the cause of his death was Covid-19 aggravated by his already existing heart failure, an underlining condition that is already known to undermine and aggravate Covid-19 recovery chances. This acceptance that the pandemic is not a myth will encourage the Tanzanian nation to take precautions publicly to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 disease if that is not already too late.