President reverses predecessor’s policies

Tanzania's new President has announced plans to appoint a panel of experts to advise her on how best to curb the spread of the coronavirus, reversing her predecessor’s denialism of the pandemic. ‘We cannot isolate (ourselves) as an island,’ President Samia Suluhu Hassan told senior government officials. ‘We cannot accept everything from abroad, but we also cannot reject everything.’ Business Day reports that Hassan’s predecessor, John Magufuli, who died in March, eschewed the use of face masks and advised his countrymen to resort to prayer, steam baths and traditional remedies to safeguard their health. His administration said it wouldn’t buy vaccines and stopped publishing Covid-19 infection data in May 2020, making it impossible to gauge the severity of the disease. BBC News reports that she also announced that bans slapped on a number of media outlets by her predecessor who died last month would be lifted. ‘Let them open and ensure they follow the law,’ Hassan instructed national authorities. She said media rules, regulations and penalties should be transparent.

Full Business Day report (subscription needed)

Full BBC News report