Author: Nicole Kamanzi Muteteri

The continent was “saddened by the death of a revolutionary,” said Democratic Republic of Congo’s Felix Tshisekedi.

Mr Magufuli died last week following heart complications at the age of 61.

His successor President Samia Suluhu Hassan remembered him as a champion of the poor and a religious man.

“He wasn’t just our leader but also a guardian and parent to many… and an honest man,” President Samia said.

Nicknamed the bulldozer, Mr Magufuli was popular with many Tanzanians who approved of his no-nonsense governance style.

Critics, however, accused him of being an autocrat and of clamping down on dissent.

He also downplayed the effects of coronavirus and stopped the publication of the country’s case numbers and deaths. Opposition politicians say that Mr Magufuli died from Covid-19, but this has not been confirmed.

Tanzanian leaders attending the funeral and the majority of the thousands of people at the stadium in Dodoma did not wear face masks or observe social distancing – health measures that the late president often mocked.

However, visiting leaders and other delegations did wear masks.

Over the weekend tens of thousands of people in the country’s largest city, Dar es Salaam, flooded roads to pay their respects.

On Sunday there was a stampede at a stadium where Mr Magufuli’s coffin was on display – the number of casualties is not yet clear.

He will be buried in his north-western hometown of Chato on Friday.

{{What did the African leaders say?}}

Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi said the former Tanzanian president “will stay in the hearts” of many.

In his tribute, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera referred to Mr Magufuli as “Africa’s finest son” whose “life of service” would be remembered.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa described him as a “true pan-Africanist” who was unapologetic about being an African.

Mr Ramaphosa remembered the former president for being a “warrior” against corruption, and who worked for his people.

He also said the Tanzanian president was a champion for African culture and traditions, especially the use of Swahili, East Africa’s lingua franca, throughout the continent.

“Swahili has been introduced in South African schools as a honour to the late President John Magufuli who insisted on its use,” Mr Ramaphosa said.

This was echoed by Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masese, who said that Mr Magufuli was a “great teacher”, like Tanzania’s founding President Julius Nyerere.

“Even in Botswana he expected us to speak Swahili… We too have introduced Swahili in our curricula.”

In his tribute, Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta also addressed Mr Magufuli’s successor, saying: “To you my sister and now my counterpart, the road has been shown to you by our brother President Magufuli.”

“The Democratic Republic of Congo and the African Union together are saddened by the death of the revolutionary Dr John Magufuli. We’re praying for Tanzanians. The DR Congo is with you in this difficult period,” said President Tshisekedi, who is the current chairman of the African Union.

He revealed this yesterday in a talk show aired on Radio Rwanda. Minister Ngamije explained that Rwanda upgraded its capacity to detect new Coronavirus variant in August 2020.

“In August last year, we upgraded our capacity for Coronavirus testing to get deeper information because viruses might metamorphose into new variants more resistant than other viruses of similar genetic code. It might be more quickly transmissible because it reproduces fast and has string resistance to vaccines and drugs,” he said.

After upgrading capacity, Minister Ngamije revealed that Rwanda has been testing people with different Coronavirus variants that do not severely resist drugs.

The exercise targeting to detect people with new variant was carried out to 400 people among COVID-19 patients.

Dr. Ngamije explained that two people were last week tested with the new Coronavirus that emerged in the United Kingdom while 10 others were tested positive with the new variant found in South Africa.

“We identified 12 people of whom two had symptoms of the new Coronavirus variant found in the United Kingdom while ten had symptoms of the new variant found in South Africa. These new variants were found from people from abroad whose sample tests were taken as they arrived at Kigali International Airport,” he said.

Minister Ngamije revealed that these patients were taken for treatment in isolated place lest they transmit the virus to others and recovered.

“As usual, we don’t release people tested positive but rather take them to planned treatment facility where they receive special treatment. We treated them until they recovered, tested negative and released them to resume their activities,” he said.

Apart from these foreigners, Minister Ngamije underscored that no one from inside the country has been tested with the new variant.

Rwanda confirmed the first COVID-19 case on 14th March 2020. Since then, 20828 have been tested positive of whom 19 180 have recovered, 1358 are active cases while 290 have succumbed to the virus.

Rwanda has recently received 392,000 COVID-19 vaccines in three batches including doses received through Covax initiative and donations from India.
Since 5th March 2021, Rwanda kicked off countrywide inoculation program administering Pfizer and AstraZeneca doses.

To date, figures show that over 333,000 people have been vaccinated, a very small number comparatively to the country’s population

The Director General of Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana recently said that Rwanda might start using Johnson & Johnson vaccines in a bid to move fast the vaccination program.

He revealed this on Friday during a ceremony to award outstanding contestants in ‘Innovation Accelerator’ (iAccelerator) program.

The Innovation Accelerator (iAccelerator) is a mentorship driven acceleration programme, supporting young entrepreneurs with seed funding, training and skills development to generate innovative solutions in response to challenges related to sexual and reproductive health, sexuality education, family planning, maternal health and other population development issues.

One of participants asked Dr. Nsanzimana if Rwanda plans to use Johnson & Johnson vaccine to fast track inoculation program and cover 60% of the population targeted to be vaccinated by June 2022.

In his response, Dr. Nsanzimana explained that the country has not yet started discussions with manufacturers but assured that the vaccine might be added to the list of vaccines administered in Rwanda.

“The vaccine [Johnson &Johnson] might also be added to the ones we already have. It has not yet arrived, we have neither had agreements with manufacturers nor tested it but it is a promising vaccine in countries that started administering it,” he said.

With the efficacy of 72%, Johnson&Johnson is the only vaccine that requires one dose. USA started administering it in February 2021.

IGIHE has learnt that Rwanda is holding discussions seeking ways to acquire more vaccines.

It was revealed on Friday 19th March 2021 during a handover ceremony between the outgoing Minister of Local Government, Prof. Shyaka and his successor, Gatabazi few hours after searing-in.

Prof. Shyaka thanked President Paul Kagame for having trusted him, and the support he received to accomplish his duties.

Several achievements have been attained since Prof. Shyaka held office in 2018. As for good governance indicators, the citizen inclusiveness has improved from 65% to 82%, leadership decentralization improved from 70% to 87%, service delivery improved from 74% to 78% as the Government targets to hit 90% in the Seven Year National Strategy for Transformation.

“It is apparent that that there is a long journey to attain the goal in the next three years ahead,” said Prof. Shyaka.

In collaboration with other institutions, the outgoing Minister Prof. Shyaka had pledged to help Rwandans get shelters whereby 11,000 houses were supposed to be constructed between 2018 and 2021.

“Approximately 9000 houses have been constructed and handed over to owners. However, the journey is continuous as many more houses need to be renovated,” he noted.

Local government entities have made a remarkable progress whereby 97% of services are offered online against 89% in 2020.

Prof. Shyaka explained that more efforts were expended in the execution of delaying projects which saw 65% completed while 25% are pending.

“Local leaders have made a commendable step towards efficient management of public resources over the past three years but we still have areas of improvement,” he said.

{{The task awaiting Gatabazi}}

The Ministry of Local Government ensures the coordination of good governance and high quality territorial administration programs that promote economic, social and political development throughout the nation.

The Ministry is also responsible for developing, disseminating and coordinating the implementation of policies, strategies and sector programs through the formulation of national policies, strategies and programs of good governance, territorial administration, social affairs and group settlement sites to ensure sustainable community development; develop a legal framework for good governance, territorial administration, settlement and social-economic development among others.

Prof Shyaka highlighted that his successor should put emphasis on increased efforts to help grass root leadership to prevent the spread of COVID-19, oversee Ubudehe social class classifications and reinforce cells leadership.

Among others, he stressed need to draw attention on sorting out problems affecting Rwandans’ wellbeing, particularly, vulnerable people.

Minister Gatabazi pledged collaboration with others to accomplish his duties diligently.

“As he often reminds us, I firstly have to feel that I am not alone. President of the Republic is around with promises for citizens within seven years. What always came to my mind is asking myself what do people expect? This makes me feel that leadership is a responsibility requiring someone to be held accountable in case of failure to deliver,” he said.