JPM skips another high-level meeting profile

Dar es Salaam. President John Magufuli has skipped yet another Heads of state summit, assigning Vice-President Samia Hassan Suluhu to represent him at the 26th meeting of the heads of state of the African Union (AU) in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, scheduled for today.

Chief Secretary Ombeni Sefue confirmed yesterday to The Citizen On Saturday that the President will be represented by the Vice-President.

Amb. Sefue could not go into details of the Vice-President’s delegation.

In Addis Ababa, the current AU chairman, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, welcomed a new member of the AU family, President Magufuli, and Mr Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesinya, the new President of the African Development Bank.

This is the second time the Vice-President is representing President Magufuli at a high level meeting of Heads of State. Ms Suluhu travelled to South Africa last December to represent President Magufuli at the forum on China-Africa Co-operation in Johannesburg. At the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced $60 billion (about Sh120 trillion) of assistance and loans for Africa, signalling China’s commitment to the continent despite a recent fall in investment. China’s economic growth has taken a dip this year, triggering a global commodities slump and causing Beijing to slash investment in Africa by more than 40 per cent in the first six months of 2015. President Magufuli delegated Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa to represent him at the Double Troika Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) which was held in Gaborone, Botswana on January 18, 2016.

It was not immediately established whether the President’s skipping of such summits was in line with his directives aimed at trimming government spending and chanelling the monetary savings on improving social services like health and education.