Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu who was exiled to Germany has claimed that his nemesis President John Pombe Magufuli has been hospitalized at a top Kenyan hospital battling Covid-19.
Lissu in a series of post on Twitter Wednesday said that it is sad that Tanzania has had to battle the pandemic amid ignorance perpetrated by Magufuli.
“It’s a sad comment on his stewardship of our country that it’s come to this: that he himself had 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 wrote.
On Tuesday, Lissu who leads the official opposition party, CHADEMA questioned why Magufuli’s whereabouts have been kept a top secret yet former Tanzanian presidents who have ailed in the past have had the public informed.
“The President’s well-being is a matter of grave public concern. We’re informed when Kikwete had prostate surgery. We’re told when Mkapa went for hip replacement. We’re not kept in the dark when Mwalimu fought leukemia. What’s it with Magufuli that we don’t deserve to know? he posed.
There are reports that an African leader has been admitted to Nairobi Hospital getting treatment for an undisclosed illness.
However, the name is yet to be published, leaving both Kenyans and Tanzanians speculating that it could be Magufuli.
Since the outbreak of coronavirus in March 2020, Magufuli took a different stand from other African leaders declaring Tanzania Covid-free.
However, there were recent reports of a spike in the number of deaths from Covid-19 and Magufuli came out asking Tanzanian to wear facemasks, a departure from his earlier denial that “there is no coronavirus”.
In February, Lissu challenged Magufuli to publish data of the total number of Covid-19 cases in Tanzania so far. Magufuli had earlier barred relevant agencies from publishing this information.
“I agree with Balozi Wright on COVID measures we must adopt. It’s past time to do what the world is doing: testing, sharing information, leading by example in taking preventive measures and vaccinating. Standing with the world, we shall win. Standing alone is recipe for disaster!”
