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This Politician's Philosophy: No Perks For You

Tanzanian President John Magufuli canceled Independence Day celebrations and ordered a national day of cleanup instead. He picked up trash outside the State House during the Dec. 9 event.
Daniel Hayduk
/
AFP/Getty Images
Tanzanian President John Magufuli canceled Independence Day celebrations and ordered a national day of cleanup instead. He picked up trash outside the State House during the Dec. 9 event.

It's a hard life for Tanzanian public officials these days.

No more driving your limousine to villages.

No more flying first class to meetings in Europe.

You can't even send Christmas cards on the taxpayer's dime.

President John Magufuli, elected in October, has banned these things. He canceled the country's Independence Day celebrations, saying it would be shameful to spend millions of dollars on fancy parties and military parades in a country battling cholera. And he even restricted the amount of refreshments allowed at official meetings.

"There will be only juices and water," says Emmanuel Makundi, a journalist for Radio France's International Swahili service in Dar es Salaam. "And maybe some bananas. But the president says, you can take your breakfast at home!"

The president's love of austerity has even inspired a hashtag: #WhatWouldMagufuliDo

Tanzanians are posting photos of tongue-in-cheek money-saving measures: using office markers as a cheap fill-in for eyeliner, replacing a broken iron with a hot water kettle to get the wrinkles out of a shirt, arming the military with bows and arrows.

Saving money is just part of the 56-year-old president's agenda. The former teacher and chemist is also battling corruption and trying to improve services in Tanzania. Take health care, for example. Magufuli made a surprise visit to the 1,000-bed Muhimbili National Hospital and found patients sleeping on the floor. The hospital director was fired. Now doctors are noticeably more attentive.

Doctors are hopeful they'll see their salaries go up. Two years ago, they protested in the streets over their low pay. "It has been a complaint for so long," says Dr. Billy Haonga, president of the Tanzanian Medical Association, who says the average public doctor takes home $6,000 a year. "Doctors are paid very little. We expect that perhaps they'll increase the budget next year."

That would mean Magufuli needs to increase tax collection in addition to shaving costs.

What are his chances for success? In his previous government post as works minister, Magufuli was nicknamed the Bulldozer. And he clearly is pushing ahead. A few weeks ago, he arrested 20 officials who showed up late to a meeting.

But reformers have come and gone in Tanzania before. The opposition party has already coined a phrase in Swahili for the presidential reforms: "Nguvu ya soda."

That means "the power of soda."

Opponents are betting that Magufuli's reforming spirit will fizzle out like an open bottle of soda in the hot African sun.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Gregory Warner is the host of NPR's Rough Translation, a podcast about how things we're talking about in the United States are being talked about in some other part of the world. Whether interviewing a Ukrainian debunker of Russian fake news, a Japanese apology broker navigating different cultural meanings of the word "sorry," or a German dating coach helping a Syrian refugee find love, Warner's storytelling approach takes us out of our echo chambers and leads us to question the way we talk about the world. Rough Translation has received the Lowell Thomas Award from the Overseas Press Club and a Scripps Howard Award.