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John Magufuli Took a Lot of Inspiration From the Chinese Communist Party in Shaping Tanzania’s Ruling Party

by Eric Olander
The late Tanzanian President John Magufuli. ERICKY BONIPHACE / AFP

Late in John Magufuli’s life, some observers mistakenly came to see the former Tanzanian President as a budding China hawk for his high-profile rejection of a $10 billion deal with China Merchants Holdings to build out the Bagamoyo port.

But the reality is that Magufuli, like his presidential predecessors, was ideologically aligned with Beijing, and according to an in-depth report in today’s Nation newspaper (Kenya), he was a faithful standard-bearer of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party that’s also been heavily inspired by the Chinese Communist Party.

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