Magufuli hospitalisation claims shrouded in secrecy

After hours of frenzied social media speculation on whether Tanzanian President John Magufuli had been admitted to the Nairobi Hospital with Covid-19, the government last evening put out a statement saying he was not in Kenya.

In a brief one-word statement, Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Macharia Kamau told the Star "No". This was after he was asked to confirm if Magufuli was admitted to the top city hospital.

Magufuli, who has in the past year proclaimed there was no Covid in Tanzania, had been rumoured to have been struck by the virus and flown to Nairobi on Monday via an Amref Flying Doctors service.

In Tanzania, authorities kept a studious silence, sparking off talk of Magufuli's whereabouts.

The Star placed a call to the offices of Tanzania's High Commission in Kenya, but the recipient said the ambassador was "out of office."

However, unconfirmed reports said Magufuli was in the VIP wing of Nairobi Hospital.

Tanzania's opposition politician and former presidential candidate Tundu Lissu on Sunday posted on his Twitter handle that Magufuli was last seen in public a week ago. He said the public was entitled to know his whereabouts.

According to Bloomberg, “Magufuli, 61, was last seen in public on February 24 during a tour of the commercial hub, Dar es Salaam, where he inspected projects and addressed public gatherings.”

He was scheduled to attend a virtual heads-of-state summit for the East African Community regional bloc on February 27, but was represented by Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

On Tuesday, Lissu, who was forced into exile, told the Star that he had confirmed Magufuli was at a Nairobi hospital.

“Remember I was in that same hospital for four months and I made a few friends there. My sources are in that hospital and in Tanzania," Lissu said on the phone.

“I can tell you for sure, he was brought to Nairobi on Monday morning, but they now want to sneak him out because the news is now out.”

Lissu, who flew to Belgium last year after claiming his life was in danger, said the health of the President was a matter of public interest. He called on the authorities to come clean on what could be ailing him.

“The President’s well-being is a matter of grave public concern. We were informed when Kikwete had prostate surgery. We were told when Mkapa went for a hip replacement. We were not kept in the dark when Mwalimu fought leukaemia. What is it with Magufuli that we don’t deserve to know?” he posed on Tuesday.

“It’s a sad comment on his stewardship of our country that it has come to this that he himself had to get Covid-19 and be flown out to Kenya in order to prove that prayers, steam inhalations and other unproven herbal concoctions he’s championed are no protection against coronavirus,” he said in reference to media reports.

When the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic last year, as it spread to all countries across the world, Magufuli downplayed it, telling Tanzanians that prayers and home remedies were the solution.

Despite the push by WHO, the reporting of coronavirus numbers was ambiguous. It stopped in May last year.

However, one year down the line, reports have emerged that deaths of senior government officials, including top military generals in the East African nation, are linked to Covid-19.

Though he did not acknowledge the presence of Covid-19 in Tanzania, two weeks ago, Magufuli called on Tanzanians to start wearing face masks.  

This was after the death of Seif Sharif Hamad - the Vice President of the Zanzibar region. He was said to have succumbed to Covid-19.

Citizens were recently seen inhaling steam from traditional herbs.

Speaking to the Star last evening, Lissu said his contacts in Nairobi were informing him that there were plans to transfer Magufuli to India.

“They are planning to sneak him out to India to avoid social media embarrassment from Kenyans. They feel that it will be more embarrassing if the worst happened in Kenya,” he said.