Tanzanian President John Magufuli, nicknamed the Bulldozer, could have died on Thursday last week, but the announcement delayed for almost a week, Opposition leader Tundu Lissu who is in exile in Belgium told that, “My sources confirmed that Magufuli died in Kenya on Thursday and his body was moved back to Tanzania to await transition plans”….
Succession intrigues could have delayed the announcement as the country’s spy agency—Tanzania Intelligence and Security Services — tightly held information about Magufuli’s health and whereabouts, There are reports Magufuli was admitted at The Nairobi Hospital until March 10 when he was quietly transferred to Mzena Hospital in Dar es Salaam, It is at this facility where Tanzanian authorities formally announced Magufuli had died on Wednesday evening.
Reports emerged of a quiet power struggle soon after Magufuli’s death, which could have delayed the formal announcement, According to Tanzania’s constitution, Samia Suluhu Hassan, 61, who was Magufuli’s vice president, takes over for the remainder of the five-year-term.
However, there are claims that some influential people within the establishment could have been uncomfortable with Suluhu, who hails from Zanzibar, from ascending to presidency, Once sworn in Suluhu will open a new chapter as the first ever female president of Tanzania.
She had broken the glass ceiling earlier when she became the only female holding executive power in the region as vice president since Uganda’s Specioza Wandira Kazibwe, 1994 to 2003.
