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Friday 15 Jan 2016 - 13:52 Makkah mean time-5-4-1437
(Image from EPA)
Dodoma, Tanzania (IINA) - Tanzania’s President John Magufuli, who assumed office three months ago, managed to leave the region in awe after a couple of reforms, DPA reported.
Many East Africans are hoping for the "Magufulification" of their countries as they watch the 56-year-old cut benefits of officials, channel funding to public services and tackle corruption.
However, some measures are less popular as he has expelled slum dwellers and cracked down on migrants who entered the country illegally.
One of Magufuli's first acts as president was the cancelling of Independence Day celebrations on December 9, saying it was "shameful that we're spending money on independence when our people are dying of cholera".
He diverted the budget of 4 billion shillings (1.9 million dollars) to expanding a congested road and street cleaning, replacing the independence celebrations with a National Day of Cleanliness, during which he collected rubbish himself.
Magufuli scaled down the inauguration of the new parliament and channeled 200 million shillings to the Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam to buy beds for patients.
He uses a car instead of a jet to travel around the country; he also banned all but essential foreign travel for officials, ordering them to visit rural areas to find out about problems there instead.
In the October elections, Magufuli was a ‘compromise candidate’ for the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, which has dominated politics since the country's independence in 1961.
A ‘compromise candidate’ is a term used in elections with more than two candidates, when a voter supports a candidate other than his or her real preference to prevent an undesirable outcome.
Few Tanzanians expected Magufuli to launch the reforms that are now sparking comparisons with the country's first president and founding father, Julius Nyerere.
Magufuli has dismissed the head of the Dar es Salaam ports authority and suspended the chief of the revenue administration, after Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa visited the port and found that thousands of containers were cleared without the taxes being paid.
Ministers have started to emulate the president, sacking dozens of officials or heads of state companies over financial abuse. "This will send a strong message to corrupt and lazy public officials that they will not be tolerated", said George Shumbusho, a political science professor from Mzumbe University.
Meanwhile, the question "what would Magufuli do" became a motto on Twitter for people mulling ways to save money.
AG/IINA
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