Magufuli fete to draw 8 African heads of state

Dar es Salaam. Eight African heads of state are expected to attend tomorrow’s swearing-in ceremony of Dr John Pombe Magufuli as Tanzani’s fifth President.

According to the ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the chairman of African Union (AU) and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will lead the list of dignitaries at the ceremony which will officially see the end of President Jakaya Kikwete’s 10-year reign and usher in a new era under Dr Magufuli who was declared the winner of the October 25 General Election.

The minister for Works garnered some 8.8 million votes against 6 million of his closest opposition rival and former Premier Edward Lowassa.

Other presidents in the list are Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta and DRC’s Joseph Kabila. President Edgar Lungu of Zambia, Jacob Zuma from South Africa and Mozambique’s Filipe Jacinto Nyusi are also expected to attend the ceremony at the Uhuru Stadium in the city.

Malawi will be represented in the ceremony by Vice President Mr Saulos Chilima, Namibia by the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah while China will dispatch the Deputy Chairman of the ruling socialist party.

The ministry indicated that a total of 18 other countries by yesterday evening had confirmed their participation in the event and would be presented either by their top government officials or their respective ambassadors/high commissioners in the country. This category includes Burundi, Comoro, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Norway, Oman, South Sudan, Sweden, UAE, US, UK, Seychelles, Swaziland, Algeria, Egypt, Benin, Denmark, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Ghana, India, Japan, Kuwait, the Netherlands and Nigeria.

Leaders and representatives of international and regional organizations from UN, European Union (EU), African Union (AU), South African Development Cooperation (Sadc) and International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). Also on attendance will be the renowned Nigerian preacher and founder of the Synagogue, Church of All Nations, T.B. Joshua, who jetted into the country yesterday and personally welcomed at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) by President-elect Magufuli. The Rev Joshua later paid a visit to President Kikwete at State House.

Meanwhile, as preparations for the event which will also mark the end of presidential elections in Tanzania, a cloud of political suspense and uncertainty in the other part of the United Republic, Zanzibar, is still hanging over the country.

The situation in Zanzibar remains delicate even as the clock ticks to the grand swearing in of Dr Magufuli, whose ascendency to Union presidency, according to legal experts, is being clouded by the developments in Isles where the electoral authority (ZEC) annulled the outcome of the Zanzibar presidential and House of Representative polls. The Union President is elected through public suffrage in both the two countries.

No solution to the impasse was on sight as of yesterday in the Isles as behind-the-scene efforts intensified to end the constitutional and political crisis that came emerged after Chairman of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission Jecha Salim Jecha unilaterally nullified isles elections last Wednesday.

Despite calls from the opposition, lawyers and international community from UN, EU, Commonwealth, EAC, US and the UK for the resumption of tallying process, nothing has been done to that effect.

President Jakaya Kikwete on Monday chaired the CCM Central Committee meeting to respond to the crisis but word is not yet out on what the ruling party’s top organ may have decided as the way forward. President Kikwete who doubles as the CCM national chairman has pledged personal involvement to try to end the stalemate amid pressure from opposition leaders to prevail on Mr Jecha to declare Mr Seif Sharif Hamad of CUF as the contest winner.

If Dr Magufuli is sworn in without a concrete solution in Zanzibar, it would be ironical for his predecessor, who came into power in 2005 at the height of a bitter political division in Zanzibar. The division would calm years later with the introduction of the Government of National Unity in 2010, but the latest standoff could once again plunge the Island into a state of unrest.

The current political divide and the apparent constitution crisis could trigger fresh violence, leaders have warned. For Dr Magufuli, the Zanzibar crisis could be his baptism of fire should Mr Kikwete exit without finding an amicable solution on the election which the Opposition claim was annulled to deny Mr Hamad victory over the current President, Dr Ali Mohammed Shein, who was defending the seat.

Dr Shein whose time in office came to an end on Monday will continue to stay in power until a new president is sworn in, the Zanzibar government has said. And that, despite protests from the Tanganyika and Zanzibar law societies which say that would against the Constitution.

According to Zanzibar-based political commentator and former History Professor at the University of Dar es Salaam, Abdul Sheriff, Dr Magufuli is likely to be hurt by the crisis in the early days of his presidency.

“He (Dr Magufuli) may have a good economic plan for the country but the situation in Zanzibar is already a bad start for him. Donor countries have already raised concern and if things are not going to be well no one could rule out that sanctions may well be imposed on us,” he said.