Tanzania: End of President Magufuli's First Term in Office

By Pius Msekwa

THE dissolution of the eleventh Parliament.

The dissolution of Parliament is what marks the end of every leadership term, and the

commencement of preparations for the ensuing general elections. President Magufuli delivered his dissolution speech to Parliament on Tuesday, 16th July, 2020.

According to the country's Constitution, that was the end of the leadership term for the period 2015 to 2020. Thus, the next day, President Magufuli dutifully embarked on the commencement of the internal party process for his re-election, by collecting the relevant election preparation documents from CCM Headquarters in Dodoma, which culminated on 11th July, 2020; when the CCM National Congress formally selected him to be the Party's candidate for the forthcoming Presidential election.

Among the many distinguished guests who were invited to attend that function, were all the former Party leaders, namely the retired CCM national Chairmen and Vice Chairmen; who, together, constitute what is known as " Baraza la Ushauri la Viongozi Wastaafu wa CCM", created by article 127 of the CCM Constitution, Toleo la 2012. Thus, In my capacity as former CCM Vice Chairman myself, I was invited to attend, and was present at that function.

Former President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, who spoke on behalf of this Baraza, aptly described President Magufuli's achievements during his first term in office, as "miracles". The dictionary definition of the word "miracle" is given as "a surprising and welcome act, or event, which does not follow the laws of nature, and is therefore thought to be caused by God".

President Magufuli has indeed achieved "miracles" in his first five-year term in office, as is evidenced by the seemingly impossible social and economic mega development projects which have been created during this period. There is a Kiswahili proverb which says "Mwenye macho, haambiwi tazama". The evidence for the existence of all these achievements is clearly visible to anyone who needs confirmation.

In his brief comments, Mzee Mwinyi reiterated his admiration of President Magufuli's successes in the "simultaneous implementation of so many mega projects in such a short time"; and referred particularly to the SGR project, the Stigler's gorge project, the cash purchase of eleven modern aircraft, and the successful shifting of the entire Government establishment to Dodoma, following his commitment to re-locate all the Ministries to Dodoma "before the end of his first term in office", which he made on 25th July 2016, in his speech on the occasion of the annual commemoration of "Mashujaa Day".

A keen observer may rightly ask the question: why has President Magufuli succeeded where his predecessors had failed? There must be several factors which have facilitated his success; but, in my humble opinion, the leading factor must have been his personal courage and determination to succeed; plus the active support which he received from other relevant stakeholders, such as the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation; which in relation to the shift to Dodoma project, issued a supportive statement published in the DAILY NEWS of July 28th, 2016, which read as follows:- "The Private Sector sees the Government's intention to shift to Dodoma, as a new business opportunity, because a lot of new investment will be required to meet the demands of the increased population".

To President Magufuli's credit, all the Government Ministries had moved to Dodoma by June 2020, thus creating a new Government ultra-modern village- city called "Mtumba"; and thus effectively fulfilling Mwalimu Nyerere's long term cherished dream; which has now, at long, long last, come true.

A misguided appeal against a contentious law

A news item that was published on page 2 of THE CITIZEN newspaper of Thursday, 4th July, 2019; read as follows:- "Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have appealed to President Magufuli, NOT to sign into law a contentious Bill, which they say could paralyze their operations. They claimed that if it becomes law, the Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill no 3 of 2019 may force dozens of non-state, local and Regional Organizations to wind up their activities . The changes will not only effectively kill or reduce the critical role of the civil society sector, but will also curtail the citizen's rights to the freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly".

This news item quickly attracted my attention to the extent that I felt I should make a presentation, in order to clarify the proper procedures for preventing a perceived 'bad' Bill from becoming law.

Thus, in an article that was published in the DAILY NEWS of Thursday, 11th July, 2019; I submitted that "such attempts to put pressure on the President, asking him to withhold assent to a Bill which has been properly passed by the National Assembly, are not only unorthodox, but are also unethical; as no sane President will ever listen to such misguided requests, for fear of the negative consequences that will follow from such imprudent action on his part".

I also made the presumption that such attempts are "probably the result of an unfortunate lack of knowledge, or awareness on their part, of the Parliamentary complexities that are involved in such matters"; and went on to give good, cogent reasons, to explain why the President cannot possibly withhold his assent to a Government Bill which has been properly passed by the National Assembly; and presented the acceptable, legal, and constitutional methods of preventing any such a 'bad' Bill from becoming law.

And finally concluded as follows:- "In addition, there appears to be a fatal flaw in their argument, which makes it a nullity". I stated as follows:- The CSOs are reported to have based their appeal on the mere conjecture that the new law "will not only effectively kill or reduce the critical role of the civil society sector, but will also curtail the citizen's rights to freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly".

But considering the obvious fact that theirs was mere conjecture regarding the possibility of this law being abused, I wish to draw their attention to the High Court judgment in the case of Rev, Christopher Mtikila vs Attorney General (1995) T.R.L. 31; which, in part, reads as follows:- "The constitutionality of a statute is not found in what could happen in its operations, but in what is actually provided for. The mere possibility of a statutory provision being abused in actual operation, will not make it invalid".

In other words, mere conjecture that the law will be abused in its operations, is not a sufficient reason for the President to withhold his assent to it. I concluded by expressing my fervent hope, that this exposition of the facts would hopefully assist in creating a better understanding among the general public, of these seemingly complicated academic issues.

SADC adopts Kiswahili as its fourth official language

This was another significant and historic event that occurred in 2019, obviously as a result of President Magufuli's personal efforts and influence.

During the year 2019, President Magufuli also assumed the rotating Chairmanship of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), at its 39th Summit meeting held in Dar es Salaam.

It was during his closing speech at the end of that Summit meeting on 18th August, 2019; when President Magufuli revealed that the Summit meeting had accepted Kiswahili as its fourth official language, for all its proceedings.

He further said that "accepting Kiswahili as one of SADC languages means a lot to Tanzania, and is a great honour to Tanzania's founding President and father of this nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere".

He was obviously referring to Mwalimu Nyerere's contribution to the development of Kiswahili, whose efforts in that direction started soon after the country's independence, when he made Kiswahili the country's official language, to be used in all Government business transactions, as was narrated in an earlier article in this series.

The events of the year 2020

President Magufuli's most outstanding achievement for the year 2020, has been his unique handling of the coronavirus pandemic, a crisis situation which affected the entire world starting from the month of March 2020, onwards.

There apparently was a 'standard remedy' that was prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO), that included a complete lockdown for the entire population; whereby the normal movements of people were severely restricted, with national Governments being urged to confine their populations strictly within their individual homes; an action which, in many other countries, resulted in the creation of many other associated miseries of deprivation, including hunger.

But President Magufuli on his part, while directing that all the other necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the pandemic within Tanzania be taken, such as the temporary closure of all the educational institutions within the country, and the personal precautions which have been prescribed by the medical experts; he just refused to "copy and paste" the other harsh measures of closing the country's borders, and the lockdown measures of restricting peoples' movements by confining persons in their individual homes. And indeed, it worked! Perhaps another miracle ?

The end of President Magufuli's first term in office

The year 2020, is also general election year, which completes President John Magufuli's first five-year term in office. His sterling (miracle) achievements were well documented in his 'farewell' speech, which he delivered in the National Assembly on 16th June, 2020, when he was dissolving the 11th Parliament. But they were even more extensively documented and distributed to the delegates who attended the CCM national convention, held on 11th July, 2020.

And the end of this series of articles

We stated right at the beginning of this series of articles, that they will be re-edited, and converted into a book to be titled "The story of my life in the public service : A contribution to the political History of Tanzania". That has already been done; and the manuscript for the proposed book has been submitted to the Publishers, for their preliminary professional examination and assessment. If all goes well, hopefully the book will be on the market before the end of this year. This means that we have also reached the end of this series of articles.

However, this column will continue with other interesting articles, so as to enable our readers to stay with us. For, although the book's story has come to an end, but, by the grace of God, my life in retirement still continues. Thank you God, for this precious gift of a long, healthy, and productive life.

I would therefore like to conclude this whole presentation, with the following two instructive quotations: the first is from my mentor Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, which says: "It can be done, play your part";

And the other is from good old Shakespeare's As you like it:

"All the world is a stage, And all the men and women, merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time, plays many parts".

The public service can also, appropriately, be likened to a "stage" in a a theatre; upon which different players appear, they play their part, and exit there from. This "story of my life in the Public Service", tells how I had my entrance upon the public service "stage", how I played my part there; and eventually had my exit there from; to go and start a new style of life in retirement.

piomsekwa @gmail.com / 0754767576.