By Abba Gwale
Tanzanian President John Magufuli has died, five months after he won a second term in a disputed election.
Born on Oct. 29, 1959, in the northwestern town of Chato, Magufuli worked as a teacher and industrial chemist before venturing into politics. He won election to parliament in 1995 and held several cabinet posts before the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party chose him as its candidate to succeed President Jakaya Kikwete in 2015.
“We have lost our courageous leader, President John Magufuli, who has died from a heart illness,” Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan said on state television on Wednesday. She announced 14 days of national mourning.
He was nicknamed ‘The Bulldozer’ for his aggressive leadership style, he won early praise for tackling corruption, reducing wasteful government spending and improving the lives of peasant farmers by waiving dozens of taxes.
He was also spearheaded the development of new transport links, power plants and more than 1,700 health centers, investments that helped Tanzania’s economy become one of the world’s top performers.
Magufuli also drove through controversial reforms aimed at ensuring the nation derived greater benefit from its natural resources, which put his administration on a collision course with foreign mining companies. In 2017, the authorities asked Barrick Gold Corp.’s local unit to pay a whopping $190 billion tax bill — a dispute the company settled by paying $300 million and creating a mining joint venture with the state.
Magufuli became increasingly authoritarian as his first term progressed — he centralized power in the presidency and unapologetically cracked down on dissent and media freedom.
He secured a second five-year term in October when he garnered 84% of the vote, the widest victory margin of any presidential candidate in almost three decades of multiparty elections in Tanzania.
