Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa on Friday said President John Magufuli is in the country and working hard in his office, rejecting all rumors of him contracting coronavirus, reported Africa News.
Majaliwa urged Tanzanians to ignore reports that their leader was ill. However, he did not elaborate on the president’s whereabouts or explain why he has not been seen in public for nearly two weeks.
“I want to assure the Tanzanians that their president is fit and working hard as usual,” the Tanzanian prime minister said in a video recorded during Friday prayers. “I even spoke with him this morning about my trip to Njombe and he told me to greet you for him. I spoke to him by phone in Dar es Salaam while I was in Dodoma.”
On Thursday, Tanzania’s Constitutional Affairs Minister Mwigulu Nchemba also threatened to prosecute anyone who spread false rumors about the president’s health but stopped short of answering questions about his condition.
Meanwhile, the country’s main opposition party, Chadema, again demanded information on Magufuli’s whereabouts on Friday.
“We are forced to ask this given that the president appeared in public two weeks ago and no official statement has been released after the reports of his hospitalization,” said Chadema secretary-general John Mnyika.
Earlier this week, Tundu Lissu, Magufuli’s main opponent in the October elections, claimed in a series of tweets on Twitter that the president had been flown to India in critical condition after first being taken to neighboring Kenya for COVID-19 treatment.
The 61-year-old Tanzanian president has continued to advocate against the use of masks and social distancing measures. He claimed that the country had absolutely finished the coronavirus through prayer.
Mr. Magufuli also questioned the efficacy of vaccines. Notably, the Tanzanian government has not shared data on the coronavirus with the World Health Organization since last April and has reported only 509 cases and 21 deaths from Covid-19.
