LAGOS MARCH 29TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Tanzania’s new president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, on Sunday ordered the suspension of the head of the ports authority over corruption allegations, continuing her late predecessor’s anti-graft drive. Observers have been keen to see signs of policy direction from Hassan, who was sworn in on March 19 after John Magufuli died, and whose…
LAGOS MARCH 18TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Tanzania’s President John Magufuli, one of Africa’s most prominent coronavirus sceptics, has died aged 61, Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan said on Wednesday after a more than two-week absence from public life that led to speculation about his health. She said he died from the heart disease that had plagued him for…
LAGOS MARCH 11TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Pressure is building on the Tanzanian government to disclose the whereabouts of President John Pombe Magufuli after reports that the controversial East African leader had left the country to seek Covid-19 treatment abroad. Mr Magufuli, who has regularly denied that coronavirus is present in Tanzania and recommended herbal remedies over masks despite…
LAGOS JANUARY 28TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Tanzania’s President John Magufuli said on Wednesday that no lockdown was planned because God would protect people from COVID-19 while homespun precautions such as steam inhalation were better than vaccines. “Vaccines are not good. If they were, then the white man would have brought vaccines for HIV/AIDS,” he said in a speech…
LAGOS JUNE 8TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Tanzania’s President John Magufuli has declared the country “coronavirus-free” thanks to prayers by citizens. “The corona disease has been eliminated thanks to God,” Mr Magufuli told worshippers in a church in the capital, Dodoma. The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern over the government’s strategy on Covid-19. The government has stopped…
LAGOS MAY 9TH (NEWSRANGERS)– The head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday rejected an assertion by Tanzania’s president that coronavirus tests it supplied are faulty. Tanzania’s government spokesman said a team was conducting investigations on the laboratory that conducted the tests, and the outcome will be made public once complete….
LAGOS May 4TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Coronavirus test kits used in Tanzania were dismissed as faulty by President John Magufuli on Sunday, because he said they had returned positive results on samples taken from a goat and a pawpaw. Magufuli, whose government has already drawn criticism for being secretive about the coronavirus outbreak and has previously asked Tanzanians…
LAGOS JANUARY 3RD (NEWSRANGERS)-No fewer than 20 people have been crushed to death and 16 others injured during an outdoor religious service in Tanzania. Worshippers were attending a Pentecostal service at a stadium in the northern town of Moshi on Saturday evening when the incident occurred. Moshi district commissioner Kippi Warioba said attendees rushed forward…