For Magufuli economic goodies and opportunities were for Tanzanians

Tanzanians nicknamed him the Bulldozer. And verily, in the almost six years that John Pombe Magufuli was president of Tanzania, he unilaterally rammed through their throats his economic policies much to the chagrin of many foreign investors.

Known as Magulification, his abrasive leadership style extended to the economic realm. Critics wrote scathing articles about his highhandedness, but admirers composed praise songs for the man they described fondly as Mchapa Kazi.

In this Thursday, Nov. 5, 2015 file photo, Tanzania's President John Magufuli holds up a ceremonial spear and shield to signify the beginning of his presidency, shortly after swearing an oath during his inauguration ceremony at Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. (AP Photo/Khalfan Said, File)

To the student of the late President Benjamin Mkapa, formulation of economic policies did not have to follow a well-beaten path of political correctness. Policies, to Magufuli, just had to resonate well with Tanzanians, and especially majority who are at the bottom of the pyramid and whose optimism he wanted to renew.

Dr Kennedy Manyala, an economist who worked in Dar es Salaam said Magufuli understood the problems of his people and the socio-economic dynamics of Tanzania. “He was determined to change that,” said Dr Manyala.

Became more self-reliant

“Our home was grass-thatched, and like many boys I was assigned to herd cattle, as well as selling milk and fish to support my family. I know what it means to be poor. I will strive to help improve people’s welfare,” Magufuli had said on getting elected in 2015.

His critics described him as a populist. But to his admirers he was a nationalist who wanted to make Tanzania earn a seat at the high table of Africa’s most industrialised nations. But then, everything else will be left to time. Time will soon wipe out Magufuli’s name from the airwaves, but in the long term, time will also etch his name in the annals of history either as a visionary who wanted the best for his countrymen or a populist who played to the gallery.

It is not just Tanzania that he cared about, but also the people for whom he strived to strengthen the economic fundamentals of the country, according to Dr Scholastica Odhiambo, an Economics lecturer at Maseno University.

What a Kenyan could do, a Tanzanian could do better, he seemed to believe. Tanzanians, he believed, could build their own industries — they could produce milk, bake biscuits, make juices, and many other products that were made in Kenya.

“He also encouraged industrialisation within Tanzania,” said Dr Odhiambo, describing the late president as a nationalist who believed in internal economic resilience. Ken Gichinga, an economist at Mentoria Economics, a consultancy firm, said Magufuli might have looked at the liberal neo-classical approach favoured by his predecessors, more so after the failed Ujamaa experiment under Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, and realised that wealth was increasingly getting concentrated in the hands of a few individuals.

“So, he embarked on State-driven growth that put Tanzania first,” said Gichinga, noting that this left foreigners worried.

While this might have helped his country, it alienated Dar es Salaam from the opportunities that might come have from the global economy such as more capital and labour.

“Where he (Magufuli) lost the plot is when he became hostile to foreigners,” said Gichinga adding that most economic fundamentals under Magufuli have been impressive.

Two years after being elected, Magufuli unclenched his claws. He slapped Canada’s Acacia Mining with a $190 billion bill for unpaid taxes. This sent a chill down the spine of many mining companies in Tanzania, with analysts warning that it would discourage inflow of capital into East Africa’s second largest economy.

He also threatened to shut down all gold mines in Tanzania if the mining firms failed to resolve the tax disputes.

The message got home. Soon thereafter, Tanzania’s tax revenue as a fraction of the gross domestic product (GDP) increased as most multinationals began to pay their fair share of taxes, said Gichinga. 

Slowly, but surely, Tanzania became more self-reliant. Its budget was increasingly being financed largely from internal revenues and not aid from abroad.

He was not only aggressively fighting corruption but he was also slowly, but surely, laying the foundation for economic take-off.

“As late as 2019, the gentleman was transforming the country,” said Dr Kennedy Manyala, an Economist.

Tanzania’s economic growth was just as impressive under Magufuli’s administration. It however dipped to 2 per cent last year, and is projected to grow by 4.5 per cent this year due to the effects of Covid-19.

But his nationalistic fervor did not bode well with its membership at the East African Community (EAC). His abrasiveness at some point pushed EAC heads of State to coalesce around what came to be known as the Coalition.

“His drawback was turning away from the principles of EAC such as free trade in goods and services, labour and capital movements,” said Odhiambo.

Kenyan traders decried the fact that while their Tanzanian counterparts accessed the Kenyan market without any problems, yet they were asked to pay for work permits which is against EAC’s Common Market Protocol.

While Kenya and Rwanda have abolished work permit fees for East African nationals, Tanzania still maintains a work permit fees of Sh30,000 for every foreigner.

The then Majority Leader in the National Assembly Aden Duale could not have been more blunt. In a fiery speech in the National Assembly, he said the Dar es Salaam regime was frustrating free trade and movement of people within the East African Community.

Duale painted a picture of how there has been a free-flow of fruits, vegetables and other goods from Tanzania into Kenya even though data showed that Kenya exports more than it imports from the four EAC member States.

Magufuli also convinced Uganda to re-route the crude oil pipeline through Tanzania and not Kenya, and frustrated Kenya’s efforts to sign an economic agreement with the European Union.