Obituaries John Magufuli, coronavirus-denying president of Tanzania, dies at 61

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Obituaries

John Magufuli, coronavirus-denying president of Tanzania, dies at 61

By Matt Schudel
March 17, 2021 at 5:21 p.m. EDT

John Magufuli, who presided over an increasingly authoritarian regime as president of Tanzania and, during the final year of his reign, rejected scientific evidence of the coronavirus pandemic, urging his citizens to raise their voices in prayer rather than cover their faces with masks, died March 17 at a hospital in Dar es Salaam. He was 61.

The death was announced in a statement by Tanzanian Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who cited “heart complications” as the cause. There had been earlier unconfirmed reports from opposition leaders, which Mr. Magufuli’s government denied, that he had been hospitalized in Nairobi for covid-19. He was last seen in public on Feb. 27.

Mr. Magufuli, who was trained as a chemist and once was a teacher, served as Tanzania’s minister of public works from 2005 to 2015, earning the nickname “the Bulldozer” as much for his blunt, domineering manner as for his building projects.

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[Demovictory9]

1. Karma if he.died of covid

[tanyev]

2. "trained as a chemist"

[Hugin]

3. I was trained as an astronaut...

Yeah, me and Sarah Palin.

Vroooom! The stars and beyond! Woooot!