Tanzanian police have arrested a man for circulating posts saying President John Magufuli is in poor health. Magufuli has not been seen in public in two weeks and triggered unconfirmed reports from opposition leaders that he is unhealthy and unable to work.
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At least one man has been arrested for allegedly spreading false reports that Magufuli was seriously ill in the Kinondoni area of Dar es Salaam, Kinondoni Regional Police Commissioner Ramadhani Kingai said at a news conference on Saturday.
“There are many more who have spread false statements. We will arrest them all,” Kingai said.
Prime Minister Hassan Majaliwa has denied that Magufuli is bad or fighting COVID-19. The prime minister said on Friday that Magufuli, who had not been seen in public in 15 days, had asked him to send greetings to residents of the country’s southern town of Njombe.
“The president has a lot to do,” he said, adding that the president had delegated certain tasks to his assistants.
The Minister of Constitutional Affairs said that Tanzanians who publish on social media that the president is incapable of violating the country’s law on cybercrime.
Human rights groups say the Cybercrime Act is one of several used by Magufuli’s government to suppress freedom of expression.
“A head of state is not a head of a jogging club who should always be around to take selfies,” wrote constitutional issues Mwigulu Nchemba on his social media accounts.
“Those who break the law are thinking about what the penal code says about cybercrime. The government is monitoring,” he said.
Magufuli is one of Africa’s most prominent COVID-19 skeptics. Last year, he said the disease had been eradicated from Tanzania with three days of national prayer. He questioned tests to determine COVID-19, discouraged Tanzanians from wearing masks, kept away from others and used vaccines to fight the disease.
Magufuli’s absence is unusual because he is known for frequent public speeches and appearances on state television several times a week. Opposition politicians questioned the president’s health after at least one official near him died recently.
Magufuli was last seen in public on February 27 when his chief of staff resigned. The event took place at the State House office in Dar es Salaam, the East African country’s largest city.
The expelled opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who lost the October presidential election to Magufuli, claimed in a series of tweets last week that the president had been flown to India in critical condition after first being taken to neighboring Kenya for treatment of COVID-19.
Lissu lives in Belgium after a government action against opposition politicians who called for peaceful protests over alleged massive votes in the votes.
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