World leaders have taken to social media to mourn the death of Tanzania’s President John Pombe Magufuli who died on Wednesday aged 61.
United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said that he was sorry to receive news of President Magufuli’s death.
Magufuli died of heart-related complications at Emilio Mzena Memorial Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan said in a televised address to the East African country.
Much closer home, Uganda’s President Museveni said it was with great sadness to learn of the death of President Magufuli.
Burundi’s new President Evariste Ndayishimiye on Thursday morning said that he was sadded by the death of the Tanzanian Head of State.
Kenya’s opposition leader and a close friend of the departed Tanzanian president, Raila Odinga, said that Magufuli had been at his side in many of his most difficult and painful moments.
Before the announcement of his death, rumours swirled for weeks with many people seeking to know the leader’s whereabouts.
Magufuli’s death was announced on Wednesday night, March 17, by Vice Tanzania’s Vice-President Samia Suluhu Hassan. She is set to be sworn in as the new president of Tanzania for the remainder of Magufuli’s five-year term.
According to Tanzania’s constitution, the incoming president will nominate a Vice President from the mainland since she hails from Zanzibar Island.
The nominee must be confirmed by 50 percent of the country’s members of Parliament.
