On coronavirus, there is no doubt Magufuli is busy playing with fire

The important role of political leaders in the war against the coronavirus cannot be gainsaid. In fact, this war will be won or lost depending on how these leaders, especially those at the very top, mobilise, arm and command their troops. There is no doubt that heads of states are the generals in this war; they are the ones who will lead their countries to victory or devastating loss in the hands of this invisible but vicious enemy.

The world has already started to identify the good generals, and the bad ones too. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is a good general and so is Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand. Their armies are increasingly pushing the enemy to the periphery. Interestingly, both are women. Female leaders, it has been pointed out, are fighting more gallantly than men.

US President Donald Trump is commander-in-chief of the world’s biggest military force, which also boasts of the most superior arsenal, but he has been a poor general in this war. The number of civilians and ‘soldiers’ he has lost are an indictment of his war strategies. For instance, suggesting that people can be cured of coronavirus if injected with a disinfectant is a sign of a general who is fast losing fire in his belly.

Closer home, another general, John Pombe Magufuli (pictured), is groping in the dark. The Tanzanian President, doubting the efficacy of coronavirus tests, has had samples from sheep, pawpaw and even engine oil surreptitiously tested, to prove his point. He might be right though – the UK bought Sh2 billion Covid-19 home-testing kits which turned defective. But why waste time testing oil instead of doing confirmatory tests in Kenya?

But that's besides the point. Magufuli's public pronouncements might undermine this war. Branding coronavirus “a ploy by colonialists, most likely in cahoots with officials in testing centres” is wrong and misleading. Such utterance can only be expected from the mouth of someone who hasn’t seen what the virus has done abroad. It could make people to take the disease less seriously and kill health workers' morale.

But Magufuli has committed more sins. He has asserted that fumigation does not kill coronavirus and declared it was 'stupid' to fumigate Dar-es-Salaam.

Further, he is planning to dispatch a plane to Madagascar to import what many see as snake oil; a herbal concoction the Malagasy President has declared Covid-19 cure but whose efficacy is unproven. He has also ruled out lockdowns.

Magufuli is clearly a feeble general in this war. With such an attitude, it is only a matter of time before the determined enemy teaches him a lesson. Regional leaders should step in and save him from himself. And save Tanzania, and her neighbours like Kenya who will catch a cold if Tanzania sneezes.