President Mugabe is welcomed by Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Mr Bernard Membe at Julius Nyerere International Airport yesterday. He is in Dar es Salaam for the inauguration of Tanzania’s newly-elected President John Magufuli. — (Picture by Presidential Photographer Joseph Nyadzayo)
Felex Share in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
President Robert Mugabe arrived here yesterday to attend the inauguration ceremony of John Pombe Magufuli as Tanzania’s fifth president today. The ceremony will be held at the Uhuru Stadium. President Mugabe is here in his capacity as the African Union chairperson. He is accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary George Charamba and senior government officials. Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is the Acting President.
President Mugabe was welcomed at the Julius Nyerere International Airport by Tanzania Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Membe, Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Tanzania, Major General (Retired) Edzai Chimonyo, Tanzanian government officials and Zimbabweans based here.
On arrival, the AU chief was also greeted with a ceremonial guard mounted in his honour. Magufuli will be sworn in together with his running mate, Samia Suluhu Hassan, who becomes Tanzania’s first woman vice president. The 56-year old takes over from President Jakaya Kikwete who has been at the helm since 2005 and is stepping down after serving the maximum two five-year terms stipulated in the Tanzanian constitution.
Magufuli, a former chemistry teacher, was officially announced winner of the October 25 general election with 8.8 million votes (58,46 percent) to continue Chama Cha Mapinduzi’s grip on power after governing the East African country since independence in 1961. He defeated his chief rival and former Prime Minister, Edward Lowassa of Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) who amassed just over six million votes (39.97 percent).
Lowassa who contested the CMM leadership and failed to gain nomination, left the party in July to head a coalition of four opposition parties called Coalition of Defenders of the People’s Constitution (UKAWA). As has become customary with many opposition parties in Africa, Lowassa has refused to recognise the result, alleging that the electronic system used to tally the votes had been manipulated.
The opposition parties further claimed that the National Electoral Commission favoured CCM. The elections have however, been widely endorsed by various African and international observers, including the African Union and the European Union, whose joint statement said the polls were carried out in a “competent and largely efficient manner”.
Any small operational flaws, observers said, did not impact on the overall result. The United Nations, led by secretary general Ban Ki-moon, has also endorsed the elections saying they were held in a “peaceful and orderly manner” and showed that Tanzania’s commitment to democracy and peace.
Nicknamed “Bulldozer”, Magufuli was Minister of Works in the outgoing government and has been a Member of Parliament for Chato, for the past 20 years. He contested the general election on an anti-corruption platform and has already hinted that his coming in signaled the start of war on graft, warning that anyone who had stolen public funds must pay up or face arrest.
Analysts say Magufuli is action-oriented and adheres to the principles of the country’s revered founding father, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.