DAR ES SALAAM — Tanzania’s President John Pombe Magufuli has on April 22 said that there is no sense in keeping people for a very long period in quarantine even when they have been confirmed negative.
Tanzania’s cases of COVID-19 have soared to 284 after 30 more people tested positive for the novel coronavirus, a day President Magufuli ruled out the possibility of locking down the commercial hub, Dar es Salaam because of the spread of the virus.
“There are those who have suggested that we lockdown Dar es Salaam. This is not possible,” Mr. Magufuli was quoted as saying.
He reportedly said Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania is the only centre where “we collect almost 80 per cent of the country’s revenue, we can continue taking all measures to curb the virus but not by locking down Dar es Salaam.
“Preach positive messages about the pandemic because it is not true that everyone who dies it is because of the coronavirus.”
He welcomed the efforts by the financial institutions such as the World Bank to allow economies that have been hit the coronavirus to borrow money but he was rather sceptical on how this was going to solve problems in these countries.
“Instead of giving us the offer to borrow more money the World Bank should waive some of the loans even by certain percentages,” he said.
He added: Every month we use almost Sh700 billion to service our debts with a huge chunk going to the World Bank, so by giving us such relief it will allow us to build our economy.
He called upon other African countries to join hands in asking the international financial institutions to waive such debts.
