Photo from Flickr
Magufuli Did Stumble While Running But Never Slowed Down or Stopped
Eric Mwakibete
Of all the presidents of Tanzania , no other has divided public opinion as the late Dr John Pombe Magufuli . Simply put , when it comes to Magufuli , there is no middle ground as far as commentators are concerned : he was either one of the greatest presidents this country ever had or the worst . I contend that a nuanced analysis of his presidency might reveal the main reason behind his actions : he was a man trying to catch up with lost time .
On the matter of foreign policy , for instance , his harshest critics argue that he weakened the country ’ s regional and international standing . They say that he was a president of infrastructures who knew little or nothing else . In the same vein , others have pointed to his domestic political career as one of the reasons why his foreign policy was disastrous : while in government as a minister for two decades , he never handled any foreign affairs-related matters nor was he ever a member of any parliamentary committee , which would have exposed him to foreign policy issues . Statistics of declining foreign direct investments are often cited as proof of how things got worse under his watch .
However , like most aspects of his time in office , it is impossible to understand Magufuli ’ s handling of foreign policy without an understanding of the state of the country he inherited from his two immediate predecessors – their handling of foreign policy and how that was reflected on the domestic scene , especially with
40