John Pombe Joseph Magufuli served as the fifth president of Tanzania from 2015 until his death on March 17, 2021. A new opinion in Deutsche Welle by Abu-Bakarr Jalloh examines how his Magufuli was able to hide his tyranny. Here is an excerpt:

If I were writing this in Tanzania, I would quickly find myself in jail. Or vanish without a trace. Many African journalists like myself who have attempted to voice strong criticisms against their leaders are either sitting in a prison cell, are subjected to torture, or are never seen or heard from again. 

But Africans often lose sight of this. Instead, they focus on the physical achievements of their politicians, like how many new roads and bridges, fancy sports stadiums and massive state buildings are constructed during their time in power — usually with the help of massive loans.

The late Tanzanian President John Magufuli was nicknamed “The Bulldozer” for his sweeping policies to curb corruption and government overspending. He brought significant changes to the governance system — and he built plenty of roads and bridges.

Read the full article here for the crux.