Tanzania’s newly elected president John Magufuli’s recent austerity measures have caused a stir on social media, with #WhatWouldMagufuliDo trending on Twitter. Magufuli has instituted various measures meant to curb government excesses and save Tanzanian taxpayers’ money. To that effect, he has:
- Cancelled Independence Day celebrations
- Limited foreign travel to only what is most essential, with those travelling needing to get special permission must be sought from him or the Chief Secretary of the Cabinet
- Limited first and business class travel for all officials except the President, Vice, and Prime Minister.
- Cancelled all workshops and seminars held in expensive hotels, with ministries having to use their own boardrooms
- Removed sitting allowances for government employees
- Cut the budget of an inauguration party for the new parliament from $100,000 to $7,000.
As a result, Twitter users have been posting situations where they have avoided spending more money than they had to using the hashtag, to hilarious effect. The hashtag highlights some creative but questionable ways to save money.
I wanted to go to Bahamas and take photos at the beach but i thought #WhatWouldMagufuliDo pic.twitter.com/m0h2fMgudH
— Masaku (@masaku_) November 26, 2015
https://twitter.com/iGitz_/status/669835918644146176
https://twitter.com/unclejnah/status/669848163419881472
My side mirror was stolen in traffic today, but instead of buying another one, I asked myself #WhatWouldMagufuliDo pic.twitter.com/596wqIdqrE
— Philip Maina (@kimutaimaina) November 26, 2015
I wanted to go for a hairstylist then i thought to myself #WhatWouldMagufuliDo pic.twitter.com/Ht4YHdxOKk
— Juliette Karitanyi (@JujuLaBelle) November 26, 2015
https://twitter.com/AnneMugisha/status/669878863296598016
Magufuli’s impact has spread to the English language, with his name being used as a verb, ‘to magufulify‘.
😂😂I was writing my english essay so I ran out of new words then I asked myself #WhatWouldMagufuliDo and I waslike pic.twitter.com/uMQR1x1sx4"
— Mshikadau (@Frank_Mwasi) November 26, 2015
Magufuli, who was nicknamed “The Bulldozer” when he was Minister for Works because he oversaw the building of many roads, is all the rage in Kenya, with some preferring his cost-cutting measures to the Kenyan government’s seemingly extravagant expenditure.
https://twitter.com/Tonykagiri/status/669456351316307969https://twitter.com/OderoAlulu/status/669209487463415808
He also won a Kenyan election, albeit on Twitter.
Who should Kenyans Vote for in 2017?
— Jac (@Kvaati) November 23, 2015
Another poll, proposes that Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania merge, with Magufuli taking over as president of the resulting country.
Should President John Magufuli just become President of East Africa and we create KENYUGANZANIA
— Beewol (@beewol) November 24, 2015
His impact is also being felt in other countries.
Magufuli fever is rubbing off in #Zambia. Lungu is finally tightening the buckles. Foreign travel limits, paused airlines, no new works++
— Jacqueline Musiitwa (@nubiancounsel) November 26, 2015
Magufuli’s impact is clearly being felt in the region, although whatever money some of these measures will save may wind up being used for damage control. Only time will tell.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
