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- Jan 20, 2014
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Rais wa Tanzania anasema Mungu ameondoa COVID-19 katika nchi yake. Sasa kanisa analosali mwenyewe laonyesha kutofautiana naye. Mamlaka ya Kanisa Katoliki wiki hii imetoa onyo juu ya wimbi jipya la maambukizo ya virusi vya corona huku taasisi mbali mbali za serikali zimeanza kuhimiza wafanyakazi wake kuchukua tahadhari dhidi ya ugonjwa huo. Rais Magufuli amepewa maswali magumu ya wazi wakati bara la Afrika linapambana na kuongezeka tena kwa visa na vifo vilivyotokana na ugonjwa huo wa COVID-19.
"Sisi sio kisiwa," sekretarieti ya Katoliki ya Mkutano wa Maaskofu Tanzania (TEC) ilisema katika taarifa iliyosambazwa sana nchini humo wiki hii. Iliwahimiza wafuasi, ambao ni pamoja na Rais, kusali lakini pia kuchukua hatua ambazo zimekuwa zikitekelezwa kwa muda mrefu ulimwenguni kote, pamoja na kuzuia mikusanyiko ya umma na kuepuka kusogeleana wakati wa mazungumzo. Gazeti la kanisa hilo Ijumaa lilisisitiza katika kichwa cha habari kikubwa cha ukurasa wa mbele kilichosema: "Korona Ipo."
Tanzania imejaribu kuwa kisiwa tangu Aprili mwaka jana, wakati nchi hiyo ya Afrika Mashariki yenye watu milioni 60 iliacha kutoa idadi ya maambukizo ya virusi vya corona ambapo kulikuwa na jumla ya visa 509. Maafisa wa afya ambao walihoji msimamo wa Magufuli kuwa COVID-19 imeondolewa nchini Tanzania walifutwa kazi. Serikali ya Tanzania ilitangaza zaidi utalii wa kimataifa, ikiwa na hamu ya kuepuka maumivu ya kiuchumi ya majirani walioweka mazuio na amri za kutotoka nje. Rais huyo wa Tanzania alimsifu Waziri wa Mambo ya nje wa China Wang Yi kwa kutovaa barakoa wakati alipofanya ziara ya kikazi nchini Tanzania mwezi huu, akiiita ishara nyingine kwamba Tanzania haina virusi.
Lakini wasiwasi juu ya janga la virusi vya corona umerudi nchini Tanzania wakati dunia ikisubiri kwa umakini kuwasili kwa chanjo dhidi ya ugonjwa wa COVID-19. Wakati nchi zingine za Kiafrika zinatafuta mamilioni ya chanjo hizo, Magufuli aliwashutumu watu ambao walikuwa wamepewa chanjo nje ya nchi kwa kurudisha virusi nchini Tanzania. Alihoji pia kama chanjo hizo zinafanya kazi. "Ikiwa mzungu angeweza kupata chanjo, basi chanjo za UKIMWI zingeletwa, kifua kikuu ingekuwa tatizo la zamani, chanjo za malaria na saratani zingepatikana," alisema Jumatano. "Muwe thabiti," akaongeza. "Chanjo hazifai." Alihimiza wizara ya afya kutokukimbilia chanjo bila kuridhika juu ya usalama wake. Rais Magufuli hakutoa ushahidi wowote juu ya madai yake.
Maafisa wa afya barani Afrika tayari walikuwa na wasiwasi juu ya kampeni za upotoshaji juu ya chanjo za COVID-19 wakati dozi za kwanza zinaanza kuwasili katika bara hilo lenye jumla ya watu bilioni 1.3. Msimamo wa Magufuli unatofautiana sana na wakuu wengine wa nchi za Kiafrika kama Rais Wavel Ramkalawan wa visiwa vya Ushelisheli, ambaye alipokea hadharani chanjo yake ya kwanza aliyopigwa mwezi huu na kuwataka raia kufanya hivyo. Nkengasong aliwaambia waandishi wa habari kwamba "ikiwa hatutapambana na hili janga kwa pamoja katika bara hili, tutaangamia." Mkuu wa Shirika la Afya Ulimwenguni (WHO) kwa bara la Afrika, Matshidiso Moeti, aliwaambia waandishi wa habari kuwa "tunaanzisha tena mawasiliano katika uongozi wa juu” Nchini Tanzania na kutafuta ushirikiano na serikali hiyo “ kwa ajili ya watu wa nchi hiyo na nchi jirani, na pia kwa ajili ya ulimwengu. ”Alihimiza Tanzania kujiandaa kwa chanjo za COVID-19, na kutoa takwimu za maambukizi za ugonjwa wa COVID-19.
Baadhi ya Watanzania, ambao wamekuwa wakosoaji wa muda mrefu wa rais magufuli na viongozi wa asasi za kiraia, wametoa duru mpya ya maonyo dhidi ya hatua za serikali kujaribu kupuuza janga linalousumbua ulimwengu. "Watanzania wana haki ya chanjo dhidi ya COVID," kiongozi wa upinzani Zitto Kabwe aliandika katika mtandao wa kijamii wa twitter baada ya maoni ya rais, akisema serikali ambayo hailindi raia wake haina uhalali. Zitto pamoja wanasiasa wengine hawakufanya chochote wakati raia wa Tanzania walipuuza kuchukua tahadhari dhidi virusi hivyo wakati wa uchaguzi uliokuwa na kasoro nyingi uliomrudisha Magufuli madarakani mwaka jana. Wengine wana wasiwasi kuwa Tanzania inajiumiza yenyewe na uchumi wake, ikionya juu ya marufuku ya kusafiri dhidi ya raia wake, upotezaji wa mapato ya utalii na athari za kiafya kwa miaka mingi. Aidan Eyakuze, ambaye anaongoza mpango wa Twaweza wa kukuza uwazi wa serikali kwa ukanda wa Afrika ya Mashariki, aliandika mwezi huu kwa gazeti la Citizen kwamba "kwa kukataa uwepo wa janga hilo, huenda Tanzania ikajiweka nyuma ya orodha ndefu sana ya kusubiri upatikanaji wa chanjo"
Wakati Magufuli anaonyesha ishara ndogo ya kubadilisha msimamo wake juu ya COVID-19, wenzake wanaonekana kusonga mbele kukabiliana na maambukizo ya ugonjwa wa COVID-19. Taasisi za serikali zinatoa matamko yanayohitaji wafanyakazi kupunguza mikusanyiko na kuwasiliana kwa kutumia mitandao pale inapowezekana. Waziri wa fedha amemshukuru Mungu kwa kuilinda Tanzania, lakini amewaambia wafanyakazi wenzake waisikilize sayansi pia. Wizara ya afya haikujibu ombi la maoni - lakini hivi karibuni iliongeza bei za upimaji wa virusi vya corona huku wafanyakazi wengi wa afya bado wanasita kuzungumzia suala la maambukizi ya COVID-19 waziwazi.
Katika mji mkuu wa kibiashara wa Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, mtazamo wa Rais ulikuwa na watu wanaokubaliana nao, au angalau kuonyesha wasiwasi kuhusu nini kinaweza kutokea ikiwa kukana kwake uwepo wa COVID-19 kutathibitika kuwa sio kweli. "Ikiwa virusi viko katika nchi yetu, basi tunaishi kwa hofu kwani hii itamaanisha kwamba tunaacha kufanya kazi," alisema Twalib Mwanjala, dereva wa pikipiki maarufu kama bodaboda. "Watanzania wengi wanapata kipato cha chini." Mkazi mwingine, Waziri Juma, aliongeza: "Coronavirus bado haijaingia Tanzania, na hatuna corona. Ikiwa nchi ingekuwa na virusi, basi wizara husika ingetoa taarifa. Lakini kwa sasa, watu wanapaswa kuacha kuwa waoga na kufanya kazi kwa bidii. ”
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Source: Tanzania's leader denies COVID. Now countrymen push back
Tanzania’s president says God has eliminated COVID-19 in his country. His own church now begs to differ. From the local Catholic authority warning this week of a new wave of coronavirus infections to government institutions now requiring staffers to take precautions, populist President John Magufuli is being openly questioned as the African continent fights a strong resurgence in cases and deaths.
“We are not an island,” the Catholic secretariat of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference said in a widely shared statement this week. It urged followers, which include the president, to pray but also to adopt measures long practiced in the rest of the world, including avoiding public gatherings and close personal contact. The church’s newspaper on Friday stressed in a large front-page headline: “There is corona.”
Tanzania has tried to be an island since April, when the East African country of 60 million people stopped updating its number of virus infections at 509 cases. Some health officials who questioned Magufuli’s stance that COVID-19 had been defeated were fired. The government promoted international tourism, eager to avoid the economic pain of neighbors who imposed lockdowns and curfews.The president even praised Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for not wearing a face mask during a visit this month, calling it another sign that Tanzania is free of the virus.
But pandemic concerns have returned to the spotlight in Tanzania as the world focuses on the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines. While other African countries seek millions of doses, Magufuli this week accused people who had been vaccinated overseas of bringing the virus back into Tanzania. He also questioned whether the vaccines work.“If the white man was able to come up with vaccinations, then vaccinations for AIDS would have been brought, tuberculosis would be a thing of the past, vaccines for malaria and cancer would have been found,“ he said on Wednesday. “Be firm,” he added. “Vaccines are inappropriate.” He urged the health ministry not to rush into vaccinations without being satisfied about their safety. He offered no evidence for his claims.
African health officials were already worried about misinformation campaigns around COVID-19 vaccines as the first doses begin arriving on the continent of 1.3 billion people. Magufuli’s stance contrasts sharply with other African heads of state like President Wavel Ramkalawan of the Seychelles, who publicly received his first vaccine shot this month and urged citizens to do the same.Asked about Tanzania on Thursday, Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director John Nkengasong told reporters that “if we do not fight this as a collective on the continent, we will be doomed.“The World Health Organization’s Africa chief, Matshidiso Moeti, told reporters that “we are re-initiating communication at the highest level of leadership” in Tanzania and seeking the government’s collaboration “for the sake of the people of the country and neighboring countries, as well as for the sake of the world.”She urged Tanzania to prepare for COVID-19 vaccines, and to share its virus data with the WHO.
Some Tanzanians, from longtime critics of the president to civil society leaders, have issued a new round of exasperated warnings against trying to ignore a global pandemic. “Tanzanians have the right to vaccination against COVID,” opposition leader Zitto Kabwe tweeted after the president’s comments, saying a government that doesn’t protect its citizens lacks legitimacy. He and others had watched as people took few to no virus precautions during a deeply flawed election that returned Magufuli to power last year. Others worry that Tanzania is hurting itself and its economy, warning of travel bans against its citizens, the loss of tourism revenue and dangerous health implications for years.“By denying the pandemic, Tanzania may well have put itself at the back of a very long waiting list” for vaccines, Aidan Eyakuze, who leads the Twaweza East Africa initiative promoting government transparency, wrote this month for the Citizen local newspaper.
While Magufuli shows little sign of changing his stance on COVID-19, his own colleagues appear to be moving ahead to tackle infections. Government institutions are issuing circulars requiring employees to cut down on meetings and communicate with management remotely. The finance minister has thanked God for protecting the country but now tells colleagues to listen to science as well. The health ministry did not respond to a request for comment — but it recently raised prices for coronavirus testing. Many health workers remain hesitant to speak openly.
In Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, the president’s outlook had some supporters, or at least some concern about what it might mean if his COVID-19 denial is proven false. “If the virus is present in our country, then we live in fear as this will mean that we stop working,” said Twalib Mwanjala, a motorcycle taxi driver. “Most Tanzanians are low-income earners.” Another resident, Waziri Juma, added: “Coronavirus has not yet gotten into Tanzania, and we do not have corona. If the country had the virus, then the relevant ministry would issue a statement. But for now, people should stop being fearful and work hard.”
