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    John Magufuli: An Epitome of Cowardice
    John Magufuli: An Epitome of Cowardice
    John Magufuli: An Epitome of Cowardice
    Ebook112 pages2 hours

    John Magufuli: An Epitome of Cowardice

    By Ansbert Ngurumo

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    About this ebook

    While some western media nicknamed him “bulldozer,” and one opposition politician in Tanzania called him “petty dictator,” some critics have called him the “Trump of East Africa.” His bullish and sadistic statements and actions have qualified him as a modern day dictator on the rise. It calls for an immediate local and international action in order to arrest the situation before it worsens and destabilises the whole of Eastern and Southern Africa.

    In a similar manner that Italy’s Benito Mussolini, Germany’s Adolf Hitler, Zaire’s Mobutu Seseseko and Uganda’s Idi Amin rose to power and used it to crash independent thought and crumble their countries, turning their citizens into subjects, John Pombe Magufuli, has made Tanzania infamous for the wrong reasons. In just three years, he has almost successfully attempted to replace democracy with a one-man rule, becoming an embodiment of brutality, nepotism, authoritarianism, grand corruption, diplomatic exclusion-ism, extrajudicial killings, abductions and arbitrary torture of civilians; turning East Africa’s most peaceful and stable country into a police state and a “skunk of the world.”

    His distorted approach to leadership and development, and his disregard of democracy, human rights and rule of law have turned him into a bully that seeks religious obedience from everyone, and he uses fear as his main tool of leadership. He terrorises the parliament, the opposition, the media, the diplomatic and international community, his own party, Muslims, journalists, activists, religious leaders, the business community, the judiciary and others - in a bid to establish himself as a leader that must be feared and never dared.

    This book exposes, through analysis, the root of this sadistic leadership. It digs deep into the dictator’s behaviour and leadership style. It encourages everyone to stand firm and overcome threats imposed by this despot. It awakens governance institutions to do their noble and constitutional task, and never allow similar mistakes that paved the way for this situation to prevail. The good news is that the dictator is timid and cowardly. His use of fear as a leadership tool testifies to his cowardice and insecurity.

    Proactive action from local and international partners in development will help to stop the dictator from causing further damage - putting an end to his autocratic rule as he seeks to extend it. There is every indication that, given a chance, he would never leave power voluntarily. Civilised people do not have to wait for that to happen. The world does not need another Idi Amin in East Africa. There is no need for the world to watch East Africa’s most peaceful nation sinking into irreparable, perpetual mess as it did with Rwanda prior to the 1994 genocide. With this book, I am stepping in to offer an informed analysis that may be part of the solution. I am laying a ground for a further follow up and research on the matter.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse UK
    Release dateJun 7, 2019
    ISBN9781728389011
    John Magufuli: An Epitome of Cowardice

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      Book preview

      John Magufuli - Ansbert Ngurumo

      Copyright © 2019 Ansbert Ngurumo. All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

      Published by AuthorHouse     06/07/2019

      ISBN: 978-1-7283-8900-4 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-7283-8901-1 (e)

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      CONTENTS

      Dedication

      Acknowledgement

      Foreword

      Introduction

      His Fear Of Businesses And Rich People

      His Fear Of His Own Party

      His Fear Of Media

      His Fear Of The Opposition

      His Fear Of Religious Leaders

      His Fear Of Muslims

      His Fear Of Zanzibar And The Union

      His Fear Of Organised Workers

      His Fear Of Parliament

      His Fear Of Intelligence And Security Services

      His Fear Of The International Community

      His Fear Of His Corrupt Past

      His Fear Of Himself

      His Fear Of The Judiciary

      About The Author

      DEDICATION

      I dedicate this book to victims of torture in its various forms - abductions, persecutions, prosecutions, incarcerations, and extrajudicial killings; to everyone living under the shadow of fear of a dictatorship; and to everyone who cherishes and fights for democracy, human rights, and rule of law all over the world.

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

      Much as this book bears my name as author, it is a product of collective efforts of many stakeholders, particularly reliable sources of sensitive and classified information - those who collected information, narrated or scribbled it, reminded me, tipped me, and researched on issues covered in this book. It would be selfish of me as an individual to claim monopoly of knowledge or information on all these historical, cultural, behavioral, and administrative aspects as described in this book. For obvious reasons, they will remain anonymous.

      Resources from the Tanzania Library Services, mainstream newspapers and online media, Controller and Auditor General’s reports (2016-2018), Finance Minister’s Budget Speeches (2016-2019), opposition budget speeches, interviews with businessmen, religious leaders, media leaders, members of parliament, retired civil servants, senior ruling party cadres, anonymous government officials and many others, have greatly contributed to the information analysed in this book.

      Even the publishing of this book would not have been possible without financial contributions from virtual Tanzanian friends who, on learning that the manuscript was ready but lacking funds to publish it, made and completed donations within one week to that end. My special appreciations go to them all. Our mutual efforts have made this book OURS.

      FOREWORD

      Seasoned journalist Ansbert Ngurumo’s new book is an important work, published at great personal risk. He was the first person – unnamed at the time – whom I heard about who was allegedly on the Magufuli government’s hit list. After decades of involvement with Tanzania, I was inclined to dismiss the story as unfounded hearsay.

      On a recent trip to Tanzania, a high-level European church representative told me that a Tanzanian journalist they knew had knocked on their door at 2 AM. He said he had been hunted by armed government agents and had not slept for four days. He asked if he could sleep at their house for a few hours and said he would be gone before dawn to avoid implicating them.

      I also recalled hearing about the assassination attempt on Hon. Tundu Lissu, the minority whip in Parliament and then head of the Tanganyika Law Association (the Mainland bar association).

      A prominent Tanzanian church leader contacted me for assistance in setting up an escape route after he was informed that his name was also on the Magufuli administration’s hit list. His offense was that he, along with other high officials from several faith traditions, had openly challenged President Magufuli’s suppression of the press and various extra-judicial actions against opposition politicians.

      It became clear to me that these stories were all inter-connected. I do not traffic in gossip or hearsay, so I decided to talk face-to-face with all of them to verify their personal stories.

      I flew to Belgium twice to meet with Hon. Tundu Lissu in the hospital where he was facing the last two of 22 major surgeries after having taken 16 bullets in his body. He and his driver, also targeted in the assassination attempt, went over the details of the attack and Lissu showed me his bullet wound and surgical scars. I also accompanied him on a recent visit to Washington, DC. I find his story entirely credible and consistent with accounts by other Tanzanian and international sources.

      I talked to the Tanzanian church official both in Tanzania and abroad and several sources confirmed that he was marked for liquidation by government agents.

      Finally, I decided to try to locate the unnamed journalist to verify his story. Several sources identified him as Ansbert Ngurumo, the writer of this important book. I tracked him down in one of the Nordic countries and flew there to meet with him. His story matched what I had learned on my last trip to Tanzania. He also provided a great deal of detail, which corroborated what had happened to others on the Magufuli government’s hit list.

      Tanzania has always been recognized for the peaceful nature of its citizens. The country has a well-deserved reputation as midwife to many of the independence movements in Africa, but equally important as a peacekeeper and mediator in the region. There is a reason why Tanzania was the site for the Rwanda War Crimes Tribunal.

      Democracy depends on a free press and the freedom of political expression. President Magufuli routinely charges anyone who dares to criticize him with sedition or treason, the favored tools of autocrats and despots.

      The extra-judicial killings documented in Mr. Ngurumo’s book discredit the nation and its population and have impacted heavily on Tanzania’s slide in the annual democracy rankings.

      Julius Nyerere, Tanzania’s highly respected first president, would without question have been horrified to learn what is going on under the nation’s fifth government. My late father-in-law, a Sukuma like President Magufuli, would be equally horrified.

      Kjell Bergh

      Kjell Bergh, a Norwegian-born American citizen, has traveled to Tanzania regularly since 1974. He was married to a Tanzanian for 36 years and held investments in the Tanzania tourism sector for 20 years. Mr. Bergh was appointed Tanzania’s first Honorary Consul in the United States and was Dean of all Honorary Consuls, positions he held for 15 years until he resigned when President Magufuli was elected.

      INTRODUCTION

      This book is not an academic presentation but a result of analysis enriched with my firsthand experience, interviews with reliable and informed sources close to the president, recommendations from high level sources, and documentary sources from the government and media. It is presented in a simple columnistic style, devoid of academic jargon, meant to give it a conversational narrative.

      It is an exposure of a state of terror with which the people of Tanzania are gripped as they grapple with living in fear of each other, particularly their leaders and police. Citizens have lost their freedom and rights, as criticism and opposition are severely punished while investigations and research are highly controlled. Civic space has been shrinking since 2015 as media independence remains discouraged and stifled. Political parties can no longer hold rallies or demonstrations as they used to according to the laws of the land, and political elections are extremely militarised. Arbitrary abductions and killings are becoming the order of the day, with hundreds of citizens missing, literally killed for opposing or criticising the president. Tens of citizens have gone into exile abroad; and all that is narrated here has happened in a short span of three years.

      This is a sudden change in a country

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