Magufuli Betrays Democracy by Sacking another Minister for Criticism
Dr. John Pombe Magufuli has sacked his information minister just some few months after sending home another minister for being drunk on the job. This time round he has sacked the minister of information because the minister criticized Magufuli government for failing to uphold freedom and dignity of the media. The minister of information has been sacked because he criticized the close ally and one of the cronies of President Magufuli for recent rampaging and raiding a certain media house in a company of armed men. This eventuality clearly depicts President Magufuli who has been praised for performance in the executive and public service to be using claimsof fighting corruption and incompetence only to victimize those political leaders that are not politically correct.
Freedom of the media and safety of journalists are some of the key pillars of good governance and democracy, the virtues which Magufuli has been preaching and presenting himself for being the crusader. Technically, values of good labour and political relations require that a minister and any other person has to be given a fair chance to defend himself or herself before a panel of professionalarbitrators before being sacked. Sometimes legal representation is necessary. What Magufuli has done is simply a palpable act of Machiavellian style of politics which only aims at muffling the opposition by instilling fear.
Magufuli is only following the trend of other African leaders that usually entrench their tyranny by first frustrating the opposition, the media, the civil societies and the rule of Law. For example, Infringement of freedom of the Media has totally destroyed media freedom in Uganda and Rwanda, the prime purpose of all these has been to preserve infallibility of the incumbent executive.
Magufuli has to respect the spirit of freedom of speech through media out-lets as a fundamental right of humanity and key pillar of democracy which was planted in Tanzania by Julius Nyerere.Gagging media freedom by use of state terror will only put Tanzania on a retrogressive path of economic welfare and governance.