African Studies
Utafiti: Journal of African Perspectives
Call for Papers: Utafiti is inviting you to submit your manuscript – any topic in the humanities - for consideration in the next issues.
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President Magufuli, in his first full year in office, stringently pursued a hitherto unaccustomed leadership style, stressing discipline, rigorous cost-saving and anti-corruption measures in state institutions, pushing for higher revenue generation and exercising power by continuous single-handed directives (including dismissals of top functionaries), often without regard for formal procedures. This earned him popularity among large sections of the general public, but also raised fears about authoritarian tendencies and a loss of space for dissenting voices (including the media). Public activities of opposition parties were curtailed and some of their leaders were repeatedly interrogated by police. A repeat of the allegedly fraudulent 2015 elections in semi-autonomous Zanzibar was boycotted by the opposition and led to a single-party situation in parliament. Magufuli took control of the dominant long-ruling ccm party and introduced sweeping changes to its structures in an attempt to consolidate his (not entirely undisputed) position. Relations with Western aid donors were slightly strained over the Zanzibar election issue and dissatisfaction with a lack of economic reform measures, while relations with key neighbours and eac partners improved. Indicators of macroeconomic performance and growth continued to be strong, but uncertainty over the government’s future course and prevalent liquidity problems throughout the economy somewhat stifled the private sector and led to fears about an economic slowdown.