Chama Cha Mapinduzi will rule Tanzania forever, says Magufuli

Tanzania President John Pombe Magufuli at a past campaign rally. [File, Reuters]

Tanzania's President John Magufuli who has come under fire for his authoritarian leadership style has vowed that his ruling party will be "in power forever, for eternity".

In a speech broadcast on radio and television late Monday, Magufuli said that opponents of his Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party would "always have problems".

His intervention is the latest in a string of controversial comments that included a suggestion over the weekend that prisoners be made to work "day and night" and receive kicks if they are lazy.

"The CCM is here and will continue to be here -- forever. Members of the CCM, you can walk with your heads held high. There is no alternative to the CCM," said Magafuli during a ground breaking ceremony for a new party training centre being built in Kibaha, outside the economic capital Dar es Salaam.

The $45 million (38.4 million euros) facility is being funded by a donation from China and will be dedicated to Julius Nyerere, modern Tanzania's founding father and founder of the CCM.

Magufuli, who came to power in 2015, has previously angered rights groups with his campaigns against homosexuality and calls to bar pregnant girls from schools.