Faith Nyasuguta
The president of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan, has called for better birth control in the east African nation in a dramatic reversal of the stance of her authoritarian predecessor, John Magufuli.
Since becoming head of state last year, Samia has won praise for her efforts to counter most of Magufuli’s controversial policies, particularly his denial of the dangers posed by Covid in Tanzania.
According to Magufuli, users of contraceptive were “lazy” adding that birth control was unnecessary because “education is now free” and food cheap. A committed Roman Catholic, the ex-president also banned young women from returning to school after pregnancy.
Samia’s call for more birth control comes after a visit to the west of Tanzania, where she learnt that over 1,000 children had been born in a single clinic in one month.
“I was told in a Buselesele ward in Geita region [that] one health centre produces 1,000 children a month,” Hassan said.
“Now how many classes will be needed after three years? What of health centres? How many will be needed to serve all these children? How many tonnes of food will be needed? Let’s reduce the speed and have a control on this.”
In Tanzania, low levels of contraceptive use is one reason for high birthrates , where women have almost five children each on average, according to World Bank data.
The figure has dropped dramatically over recent years, down from nearly six 20 years ago and seven in 1980, but is still considered far too high.
Samia, formerly vice-president, joined the list of Africa’s political female leaders after Magufuli died from heart disease in 2021.
Soon afterwards she was jabbed against Covid. Magufuli had refused to allow health authorities to count Covid cases, expressing scepticism about the vaccine and saying that he had a preference for
traditional remedies to social distancing.
She moved to ease the repression of opposition figures that marked Magufuli’s later years in power, pushing through measures designed to attract investment and bringing more women into government.
Despite Samia saying that she had to fight to gain acceptance as a female leader, she also angered people by saying that some female footballers who won trophies for Tanzania were too masculine looking to attract husbands.
