President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli was born on the 29th of October 1959. He served as the Tanzanian president from 2015 till his death on the 18th of March 2021. President Magufuli first served as a minister of works, transport and communication from 200 to 2005 and from 2010 to 2015. He was the chairman of the Southern African Development Community from 2019 to 2020.
Late President Magufuli was first elected as a parliament member in 1995. Running as the candidate of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), the country’s dominant party, Magufuli won the October 2015 presidential election and was sworn in on 5 November 2015; he was re-elected in 2020. President Magufuli ran his electoral platform on reducing government corruption and spending while also investing in Tanzania’s industries.
President Magufuli is a highly qualified man he started his education at The Chato Primary School from 1967 to 1974 and went on to The Katoke Seminary in Biharamulo for his secondary education from 1975 to 1977 before relocating to Lake Secondary School in 1977 and graduating in 1978. He then jined Mkwawa High School for his Advanced level studies in 1979 and graduated in 1981. That same year he joined Mkwawa College of Education for a Diploma in Education Science, majoring in Chemistry, Mathematics and Education. Young Magufuli earned his bachelor of science in education degree majoring in chemistry and mathematics as teaching subjects from the University of Dar es Salaam in 1988. He also earned his masters and doctorate degrees in chemistry from the University of Dar es Salaam, in 1994 and 2009, respectively.[9] In late 2019, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Dodoma for improving the economy of the country.
The late president made massive contributions to the country. Starting with infrastructure. The Magufuli government worked on many projects which included a project of a half dozen Air Tanzania planes which revived the national carrier as well as the expansion of terminal 3 of Julius Nyerere International Airport. There is also other projects such as the construction of Tanzania Standard Gauge Railway, Mfugale Flyover, Julius Nyerere Hydropower Station, Ubungo Interchange, new Selander Bridge, Kigongo-Busisi Bridge, Huduma Bora Za afya, Vituo Bora Za Afya and the , expansion of Port of Dar es Salaam, Dodoma Bus Terminal, liquefied natural gas plant, water project, wind farm project, Uhuru Hospital project, gold refinery plant, and Magufuli Bus Terminal.
The president earned the nickname the “Bulldozer” in relation to all his roadworks projects but it was also used about his actions to reduce spending and corruption within the government. He became a twitter celebrity over night with the hashtag #WhatWouldMagufuliDo.
