Friday, March 29, 2024

Raila Odinga: The John Pombe Magufuli I knew

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By RAILA ODINGA

When rumours started going around about the health and whereabouts of my friend President John Pombe Magufuli, I placed several calls to him. Later, I sent him a text message. Both went unanswered. I then resigned to expect the worst while hoping I was wrong.

When his death was confirmed as I was self- isolating after testing positive for Covid-19, I felt the full weight of double tragedy and emotions dealt by the cruel hand of fate. It was the worst time to lose a friend and a comrade. It was a bond forged over war on corruption and quality infrastructure.

I first met Dr Magufuli at an international conference on infrastructure in Durban, South Africa some time in 2003. I had just assumed office as Minister for Roads, Public Works and Housing in the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) government of President Mwai Kibaki. By that time, Dr Magufuli had held a similar portfolio for some time in Tanzania.

At the ministry, I discovered that I had inherited a bigger problem than I had imagined. The ministry was mired in massive corruption. Contractors were demanding pay — and getting paid — for works they had not done, or those done way below specifications. Nearly the entire ministry budget was being used to clear pending bills that kept rising. The ministry was neither constructing any new roads nor maintaining the existing ones.

It is in that context that I attended the Durban conference. I wanted to share my experiences, learn from fellow ministers and other experts and, hopefully, also attract some funding for the massive infrastructure Kenya needed when Narc took over.

Dr Magufuli took immense interest in my presentation. He was particularly intrigued by my admission that corruption had found a home in the ministry and it was denying the country the good infrastructure needed for economic growth.

The two of us had lengthy discussions on the side-lines of the conference. During our discussions, he disclosed that the problems I had mentioned were the same ones he encountered when he took over at Roads and Public Works in Tanzania.

He offered to share his experiences in dealing with the vices of corruption and cowboy contractors and driving them out of town. For a start, he advised that I look into two areas: procurement and designing and tendering processes.

From his experiences in Dar es Salaam, he had ring-fenced these areas as the hideouts for corruption and conduits for loss of government funds.

Shorten procurement process

His advice was that I needed to shorten the procurement process, which is usually long and winding just to facilitate corruption. Then he advised that we adopt a system of designing and building roads at the same time as opposed to designing the entire road first, then tendering and then constructing. That, too, was a conduit for corruption. His advice was that the sections of the road that had been designed could be tendered and construction commenced as design of other sections went on. That way, we would get quality roads faster and at cheaper prices. It had worked for him and he wanted us to try it.

From there, our friendship kicked off. We became advisers to each and partners in the war on corruption and cowboy contractors in the roads sector.

Before the conference ended, Dr Magufuli asked me to get my engineers at the ministry for a meeting with his engineers in Dar-es-Salaam so that they could exchange ideas on how to deliver quality infrastructure at value-for-money costs. I immediately instructed my Permanent Secretary Erastus Mwongera to assemble our team. In Dar es Salaam, we had extremely exiting discussions on simple, fast and efficient ways to deliver infrastructure.

Next, Dr Magufuli invited me to accompany him on a tour of Mwanza where he was to supervise and launch construction of hospitals and roads. It was during this trip that he named a road after me; Raila Odinga Road in Mwanza. During this trip, we visited his home in Chato. I also invited him to visit us in Kisumu and Bondo.

As we got down to work here in Kenya, we identified the Meru-Maua Highway as one of the key roads that needed immediate and massive renovation. I invited Dr Magufuli to launch the reconstruction of this road, which he did. I also instructed the ministry to name the road after him.

As Prime Minister in the Grand Coalition Government, I visited him with a delegation that comprised Senator James Orengo and Governors Sospeter Ojaamong and Josephat Nanok, among others. On this trip, I launched the construction of the University of Mwanza.

As we prepared for 2012 elections, Dr Magufuli defied protocols and stood with us, physically attending our party’s National Delegates Conference where I was handed the party’s ticket to run for president.

Consultants for each other

By this time, we had become consultants for each other. We were available for each other whenever either of us needed assistance or advice.

When Dr Magufuli declared his interest in the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) ticket for the presidency in 2015, I took keen interest because his contest was my contest, just as mine had been his. We got deeply involved and we were excited when he won.

He invited me to Dar almost immediately after his inauguration. During that visit, the newly elected president was frank. He said he had known how to run ministries; now he needed advice on how to run a government. He particularly wanted to know how we managed under Narc and the Grand Coalition Government to raise revenues to deliver services and stop corruption.

I advised my friend that, for a start, he should look no farther than the revenue and procurement officers at all levels of government. I told him that in most cases, those officers were the ones driving latest car models, building classic apartments in cities and putting up castles in rural areas despite lower salaries. He needed to subject them to lifestyle audit, retire or even jail the incorrigibly corrupt and transfer others, then revenue collection would shoot up.

He listened. In some cases, he personally walked into offices to see how work was being done. Soon, Tanzania’s revenue doubled, then trebled. The new president suddenly had money to build roads, ports, hospitals and railways without relying on donors.

SGR

The President developed very keen interest on what happened to Kenya’s standard gauge railway in terms of its cost. He was determined to avoid the pitfalls, and he did. That is how he constructed Tanzania’s SGR four years later at a much lower cost than ours.

President Magufuli was a very independent-minded person. During his tenure, people developed this belief that he would always listen to me. While we did exchange views and agreed on many things, it is not true that he agreed with every suggestion I made.

When Dr Magufuli disagreed, he did so firmly, no matter who he was disagreeing with. When he ordered the confiscation of Maasai cattle that had crossed into Tanzania, I pleaded with him several times to release the cattle but he just wouldn’t budge.

As a politician, President Magufuli was a populist. Ideologically, he leaned towards social democracy. He allowed the private sector to grow, but under very watchful eyes of the State because he felt that the private sector, if not watched, could be overbearing especially to the lowly in society.

Enemy of corruption

Dr Magufuli was an avowed enemy of corruption. That, in my view, is his most outstanding trait. He could not stand the idea of public officials using public resources for their own benefit. If you hated corruption, you were on the first row as Dr Magufuli’s friend and confidant.

He was determined to put Tanzania ahead in the region and Africa through industrialisation. In that endeavour, he saw Kenya as the stumbling block, hence his sometimes-hostile stand against Kenya. We had a discussion on this, too, my position being that industrialised countries in Europe and Asia, for instance, co-exist and we could do the same here. He was not convinced. His primary business was Tanzania.

Outside Tanzania, his other business was Africa. He had little interest in other continents. Even in Africa, he was selective with his visits. I remember he visited Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and DRC. Otherwise, he was a Tanzanian preoccupied with Tanzania.

CCM ideologue

Dr Magufuli was a CCM ideologue who grew through the ranks of the party and embraced some of the founding President Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere’s ideals on patriotism, nationalism and self-reliance for his country. In about six-years, he went farther than Mwalimu Nyerere in trying to economically empower his people.

While Mwalimu Nyerere embraced internationalism and had a broader view of the world and Tanzania’s place in it, Dr Magufuli was a super nationalist with little regard for the rest of the world. Where Mwalimu Nyerere was a constant voice on the global stage, especially for Africa and the Third World, Dr Magulfuli reserved his voice and energy for Tanzania.

Transformed Tanzania

Dr Magufuli was, however, overly successful in transforming Tanzania in just about six years. He transformed Tanzania’s highways, ports, created Rapid Bus Transit to decongest Dar es Salaam and delivered SGR at a competitive rate, all because of a crackdown on corruption.

Despite all these, Dr Mgufuli’s legacy that may live for years, especially if his successor builds on it, is that of unity, hard work and discipline. Hapa Kazi Tu, Chapa Kazi and its legacy will endure. He pushed hard the idea that success comes from hard work. In Tanzania today, people report to offices very early and they do not just sit there, they work. I hope the new President builds on this tradition that is good for Tanzania and Africa

25 COMMENTS

  1. But isn’t this author the same power hungry man who almost took Kenya to a 2008 civil war? Tis one thing to fight corruption but far worse to destroy a whole country for lust of power. Magufuli wasn’t that bad as this guy.

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  2. Oooh what a rare friendship. Indeed it takes real friendship to appreciate both sides of your friend. A thing many find difficult especially when what brings you together is all about what one benefits immediately from the other

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  3. Apart from the corruption, Magufuli is synonymous with the infrastructure he built. What major infrastructure did Levy Mwanawasa leave behind?????

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  4. This is the difference between people like Lazy Lungu who has gone to conferences around the world and not learned anything….read Lazy Lungu’s messages its about something vague unlike RAILA ODINGA her. Lazy Lungu would never find common ground with people like John Magufuli even him he would know that this Chawama man from Zambia is a waste of his time…Lungu likes international crooks like Findlay and Zingman

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  5. Ashikulu sana Mzee Raila Odinga ,

    well said , I see that those who may not Kenya and Odinga , may say what or insult him, this is writeup is very clear and objective and but also provides clear lessons for zambia and the rest of Africa .

    I hope ba shushu here online are able to be wise , by picking these wonderful lessons , including initiating special learning lessons from kenya and Great United Republic of Tanzania , as though my leader and President is gone , but bembas pafwa abantu pashala bantu , the various ministries that have mentioned are there to go and learn from them ,including on the new modern train system and roads construction .

    It is really sad that we have lost the only great african after the death of our Great Lybian Leader and now Makufuli, sad he had to…

  6. @Tarino: Well for one, like Magufuli, Lungu is the first president since KKs/Yosip Tito’s Kafue Gorge (50 years ago!) to build a power plant and like Magufuli, he’ll be remembered for that. How can we also forget the Kazungula Bridge which has replaced the colonial pontoon?? Like my question above, what did the “great” Mwanawasa leave behind?????

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  7. No he isn’t. Raila was the man who refused to accept the electoral fraud committed by Kibaki and Kikuyus. How it is possible in parliamentary elections Raila’s ODM to get 99 seats while Kibaki’s PMU only 43 while on presidential elections Kibaki wins with some 230 thousand votes margin. Kenyan 2007 elections were one of the worst examples of electoral fraud in African history. I just hope such won’t happen in our motherland in August and incumbent will leave the State house. But I’m not convinced.

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  8. It is very annoying when we have upnd diasporans above commenting on national and African issues when they base their analysis on what they are fed by lusaka times and their tribal.watchdog. you f00ls don’t live here in zambia and Africa to understand or know the facts. Stop acting clever on online news sites when in real life there abroad you are a yes man to the whlte man. You dogs

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  9. This is the problem we have in Zambia. The friendship described in the article at Minister level, some bloggers are comparing with the President of Zambia. Please talk about infrastructure minister in this case not the President.

  10. John Magafuli says said, “HE HAD known how to run ministries; now he needed advice on how to run a government”. He used that experience to be an effective President. But
    Bally (hh) as Prime Minister of a Bantus-tan he will use his experience to employ cowboy contractors to private our economy.

    VOTERS CANNOT TAKE SAME CHANCES AS THEY DID WITH FTJ

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  11. Sad indeed to read some comments on a well written tribute to a departed son of Africa, a leader that believed in upliftment of people and not engulfed in self-enriching schemes. As Zambians, we can learn one or two from this story and correct the vices that are rampart in our system. People flashing money, dishing out petrol, paying dubious rentals, donating bicycles instead of improving conditions of people to be able to buy their choice of transport. Let’s vote wisely from the pool of options in both the ruling and opposition so that may be, just may be we can have a selfless bunch of political leaders to take accelerate socio-economic development for everyone.

  12. The legacy that this thief will leave behind is.

    1. $ 27 billion in debt
    2. Personal enrichment from corruption to kickbacks
    3. Exchange rate to US$ at 21
    4. Economy in tatters.
    5. Drunkard
    6. Well known thief
    7. List is endless

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  13. ONLY THOSE WHO ACKNOWLEDGE A PROBLEM can deal with it appropriately. The problem in Zambia is that not a single minister has ever acknowledged the existence of corruption WHILE they are in office. Yes, the President makes some whispered attempts now and then, but no one shouts on the rooftops. Even the police Inspector General or military chiefs have never acknowledged that there is corruption and they are doing something about it. This is the problem we face. ALL of us have experienced corruption. No one is exempt, but why don’t those in leadership say so?

  14. @Zambian Citizen
    Levy started by collecting the money. His first project was the Cancer Hospital. His government drew the plans for the Roads.

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  15. @Saint-Yaba, oh yaba!! As my elder brother BR Mumba would say. Which great leader ends at drawing plans?? It is the one who builds them that history will remember. The Cancer hospital at UTH will always be remembered as Michael Sata’s baby. Levy ran a single UTH against 3 million Lusakans we vividly remember those potholed streets he left us where to move from Woodlands to Makeni you needed to go through the congestion of the CBD (town). So spare us your diasporan sentiments.

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  16. @Zambian Citizen- those projects started long ago its just that the govts of the day then were very sensible or prudent with money unlike this reckless govt up to its eyeballs in debt.

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  17. It is crucial for presidents in power now to inform citizenry of their respective countries who are their friends are while alive. We are now being informed that late president John Pombe Magufuli was their best friend. A lion will never live with a warthog in peace.

  18. It was Mwanawasa that started the Kazungula Bridge, Levy Hospital (hence it being named after him), the Kafue Lower Power Project…. These projects take several years to plan , finance and build. Being launched under PF does not mean it’s them that planned for them. The question should be, what has PF done with all the borrowed billions of Dollars?

  19. There are very good mind opening points in the article to do with corruption and the levels at which it operates easily – how Magufuli dealt with this and ensured revenue collection trebled. This meant the infrastructure (with quality control) was being built from locally generated resources. Zambia would have done equally the same. Because revenue has been corrupted and we have borrowed nonstop for dubious equally corrupted infrastructure contracts, nothing has been left for vital services – education, health, creation of local industries, harnessing of natural resources etc. What’s the point of shamelessly ‘commissioning’ tutemba bridges built at high cost and from loans that our children will be saddled with, when most are hungry, have no access to basics and the vulnerable are not…

  20. It was Mwanawasa who started Kazungula and Kafue Lower??? Kwekwekwekwekwekwe….even Levy hospital was a shell and a plan until Michael Sata constructed it. Mwanawasa bragged about the FDI he brought but forgot that that investment will gobble extra power, instead of building power plants he left us the 2015 power crisis. That’s why you are struggling to pinpoint a single major project Levy left. Abashi tasha bana bandoshi-Kafue Lower and Kazungula are Edgar Lungu’s projects, full stop!!!!!!

  21. @Uwakwisano: What has PF done with the billions borrowed?? Even an unborn child in a car will feel the roads PF has built not the potholes the others groaned about during Mwanawasa’s time. When I see Chilenje, Matero, Chipata Level 1 hospitals or the new UTH and the massive Levy hospital, I know where the billions went. When I see Kafue Lower, the bridges in western province, the 1,100 rural schools emplyoying 30,000 teachers etc, I know where the billions went!!

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