Africa at the Crossroads: An Overview of the Covid-19 Pandemic and its Drama in Tanzania

Abstract

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in Wuhan, China, in early 2019 has massively changed global lives. Diverse strategies led by WHO were put in place promptly for dealing with the situation at different global and individual levels. Africa as an integral part of the world, was not side-lined, despite the impact of the pandemic was not seriously felt compared to other continents. Since the Covid-19 declaration as one of the world’s most deadly diseases, the Tanzania government has taken paradoxical and exclusively apparent tactics to curb the disease, deviating from the scientific approach. The country relied on and insisted on traditional herbs as the best approach to tackle the situation where the political class led by example. This move was championed by late Tanzania’s president John Pombe Magufuli and his entire government officials before his departure despite some standing opposition. This piece of writing was produced to respond to the prompt change in trajectory, perceptions, and approaches towards the disease by the political class of the same government after Magufuli’s absence. Data deduced from speeches of government officials, published and unpublished records on the pandemic justify massive confusion to Tanzanians of different calibres. Both medical and nonmedical practitioners were at a crossroads with only the political class running the changing show. The findings concluded that the change of position of the government officials of the same incumbent political party had affected the current scientific approach insisted on by the government machines in Tanzania, which in turn created a divided community.