Austerity the Magufuli-Style!

President John Magufuli, known for his tough stand against corruption and wastage of public funds since he came to power in October, last year took another bold move last week when his wife, Mama Janeth got admitted at Muhimbili National Hospital in Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam.

This is the latest lesson on austerity and servant leadership that is frowned upon by our presidents and politicians who never trust the very systems they are mandated to ensure are serving the hoi-polloi.

The public hospital where Tanzania’s most powerful lady got admitted, serves about 1,000 patients daily. A week after Magufuli’s election, he sacked the hospital’s acting managing director after due to the facility’s poor conditions.

Magufuli’s latest act caused a stir on social media as pictures of his visit to check on his wife went viral, in a continent where governments care little about public hospitals because top officials and their families seek private treatment locally or in Europe, Asia and America.

Kenyans, Zambians, Malawians, Nigerians, Zimbabweans know this too well! Their former or current presidents have taken the expensive rides outside Africa seeking treatment, all on the public purse.

African leaders have the dubious distinction of wasting public funds, to reward their families, cronies are political die-hards, all looted from the tax-payer!

From seeking treatment abroad, to upgrading their private homes using the public purse, leadership in Africa is not close to serving its true cause, since greats like Nelson Mandela, Samora Machel, Kwame Nkrumah exited the stage.

In East Africa’s smallest economy, Magufuli is leading by example and making a joke of the leadership norms that most of Africa is accustomed to.

Arguably Tanzania’s best president on his current track record so far, Magufuli is fast redefining the institution of presidency.

Following his ascension to power, Magufuli banned all foreign trips by his government officials, and ordered them to visit their countryside for the harsh truths on the plight of Tanzanians.

In neighboring Kenya, the devolved governments have turned into a shame as colossal amounts of money have been lost by county government officials in foreign trips for bench-marking.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto also faced criticism for their numerous trips abroad.

Down in South Africa, the continent’s biggest economy, President Jacob Zuma, who is facing numerous graft cases and a political battle to redeem his image, used $23 million to upgrade his private home in Nkandla.

The Treasury ordered him to pay about $500,000 of the money, in a nation where the economy is struggling, at the back of a high unemployment rate and a struggling national currency.

Zimbabwe is one of the continent’s crippling economies, with an unprecedented rate of unemployment and a sky-high inflation rate, yet its octogenarian leader, Robert Mugabe spent $1.1 million on his 92^nd birthday.

The nation is facing a dire food crisis, with about half a million people, nearly a half of the rural population in need of food aid in the coming months due to failed rains.

In Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the longest-serving despot in Africa has turned the nation into a family enterprise, since he came into power in 1979.

The above incidents paint the grim picture of how African presidents abuse power as the rest of population continually sink lower by the day in economic struggles.

It is the most powerful seat the world over and used as an opportunity to improve the socioeconomic and political lives of the masses, but in Africa, it serves to impoverish the millions as an ‘anointed’ few lead lavish lives.

In a continent of few morally-befitting examples, Magufuli is re-writing the script and offers an opportunity to the continent’s next crop of leaders to learn from and make Africa realize its true potential hidden beneath in vast mineral and natural resources.

As African presidents, their families and cronies waste public funds on personal luxuries, about 250 million people go to bed hungry while more than 50 percent of our children below five years die of malnutrition each year!

Austerity can provide funds to deal with the African shame of poverty, and Magufuli is leading the fight!