In journalism 101 we were taught never to give the oxygen of publicity to quack remedies for dreaded diseases.

That’s why you don’t read, hear or see about cures for cancer in anything approaching responsible media.

Believe me, these emerge daily from the crazies and the con-artists seeking attention or a fast buck.

So it was to be expected that miracle antidotes to COVID 19 would be flung at editors very early on in the pandemic.

They could safely ignore almost all them –  until heads of state got involved.

Madagascar’s deejay turned President Andry Rajoelina seeks international endorsement of a remedy for COVID 19 made from the leaves of the artemisia which has provided relief to some malaria sufferers.

He could have saved his blushes had he sat in on my journalism cadet course all those years ago.

And the bench next to him could usefully have been occupied by the United States television game show star turned President  Donald Trump who advocated another outdated malaria remedy, the outdated chloroquine,  for curing COVID 19.

That was before he  threw the medical reins between the horses last month and urged COVID 19 patients to inject disinfectant and shine ultra violet light into their bodies.

Time magazine reports the American Association of Poison Control Centres finding a 121% increase in poisoning from bleach and other disinfectants in April 2020 over the same month the previous year. 

Rajoelina cannot match Trump’s lethal milestone. However his angry assertion that the African Union has rejected the herbal remedy known as COVID ORGANICS only because it was not developed by a European company shows he has a sense of the ridiculous every bit as well-developed as his Washington counterpart.

And he evidently shares the Donald’s penchant. for disregarding the media that does not reflect his  views.

How else could he have overlooked the storm last month when two French doctors suggested that the COVID 19 vaccine be tested on poor Africans because they have not taken protected measures?

Doctors Camille Locht and Jean-Paul Mira have had the good sense to apologize for hurt and offense they caused.

The Africa’s continental body was furiously adamant that it citizens would not be used as guinea pigs.

So has the World Health Organisation,  Like the AU the WHO give the thumbs down to COVID ORGANICS  which has reportedly been tested on 20 people for two weeks. Hardly decisive.

Rajoelina can draw some comfort from the favorable attention his peers have given the Malgash remedy.

Tanzania’s President John Magafuli,  who evidently believes that his chemistry qualification  entitles him to be a COVID 19 maverick, sent a plane to collect a load of the remedy  in Antananarivo.

Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Niger  have also bought consignments.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize is quoted as saying South Africa will help test and analyse COVID ORGANICS.

I fully support African solutions to African problems. But this is surely a classical case for caution. 

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He was speaking at the mass funeral for the victims, many of who were burned beyond recognition.

Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa says the Tanzanian government will provide gravestones for those killed by the tanker explosion once their bodies have been identified using DNA examination.

President John Magafuli says government will pay the medical expenses of the more than 70 people badly burned in the petrol flames.

There have been calls for survivors of the explosion at Morogoro 200 kms west of the capital Dar Es Salaam to be prosecuted to deter people from trying to syphon petrol from overturned tankers.

Magufuli says this not the time to judge anyone.  

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He says the dam will double electricity production in a country where a third of the people have no power.

The Selous game reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The $3-billion deal with two Egyptian firms to build a dam across the Rufiji River in the middle of it is bound to be legally challenged by conservation activists. 

Tanzania’s opposition is not up to the task.

Environmentalists say 200 000 people downriver of the dam will lose their livelihoods.

The project also threatens mangrove swamps and the wildlife they shelter.

They believe the dam will silt up in a matter of years, nullifying its hydro-electric capability.

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Ottawa’s International Development Minister  says she’s afraid that taking such punitive action will hurt innocent people.

Tanzanian President John Magafuli’s crackdown on homosexuals has caused the EU to withdraw its ambassador to Dar es Salaam and review its $88m aid package to the East African country.

Denmark’s withholding $10 million from Tanzania and Washington has issued a travel advisory warning  of homophobia there.

Canada’s aid minister Marie-Claude Bibeau says her country’s involved in health and education projects in Tanzania she believes are making a difference.

A quarter of Canada’s aid to Tanzania goes directly to government. Most of  of the $90m directed there this year is going to multilateral projects and non governmental bodies.

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He  says the MY Nyerere was overcrowded and there negligence involved it is capsizing. 

It’s unclear exactly how many people rescuers have saved from the water of Lake Victoria.

Figures range from 40 to more than 100.

Must depends on how many passengers were on the ferry. 

It was initially said there were more than 400.

Now officials are saying it was half of that but still twice the capacity of the ferry.

Many of the families have gone to the shore of Africa’s largest lake to witness the rescue operation.

President John Magauli has declared four days of national mourning  following the disaster,

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He’s judged to have delivered a hate speech at a political rally at the end of December.

The jailed MP is  Joseph Mbilinyi, popularly known as ‘Sugu’.

He’s a member of Tanzania’s  leading opposition party Chadema.

Party worker Emmanuel Masonga has jailed with him.

The prosecution produced five witnesses and an audio exhibit that was said to have been recorded by the fifth witness, a police officer.

Sugu’s a musician who’s been a long time critic of the government.

In the 2015 general election, he garnered the most votes of all MPs.

The verdict’s been slammed on social media, with many describing Magufuli’s regime as increasingly dictatorial.

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The authorities say they’re now locating the men responsible.

The schoolgirls come from Tandahimba in Northern Tanzania where more than 50 have fallen pregnant in the past two years.

Rights groups are furious at their arrest.

And they’re saying that pursuing the men who impregnated the schoolgirls merely adds to the trauma.

Tananzian President John Magafuli has taken a hard line on schoolgirls’ pregnancies.

Young mothers are banned from school and may not return even after the births of their children.

Magafuli says there’s no point teaching a young mother mathematics if she has to take breaks to feed her child.

This is at odds with a number of African countries taking special steps to ensure pregnant schoolgirls continue their education.

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Earlier this year Magafuli banned pregnant schoolgirls from returning to class.

Making his speech during Tanzania’s independence celebrations, President John Magafuli announced he was pardoning musicians Nguza Viking and his son Johnson Nguza who were jailed for raping 10 schoolgirls.

Director of the Arusha-based Community for Children Rights Kate McAlpine says it shows Magfuli lacks understanding about violence against children.

By keeping pregnant girls out of school he shows he has a blind spot when it comes to recognising children as victims. Pregnant schoolgirls are pregnant because they are victims of violence

Childrens’ rights activist Helen Kijo Bisimba says forgiving those criminals will add more pain to the family and parents

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They could not answer questions he asked about the budgets they managed.

John Magafuli’s aggressive style has earned him the nickname Bulldozer.

Many despise the Tanzanian President for his increasingly authoritarian style.

Others say that by entering government buildings and berating officials he believes are not working, he is simply doing his job.

In this latest incident was speaking to two municipal officials at a ceremony in the northern town of Bukaba.

He asked them about the size of their road construction budgets.

Neither could recall  figures  off hand.

Within hours, they were sacked.

Last April Magafuliu saked 10 000 public servants for having fake education certificates.

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The critics say cyber crime laws, which took effect two years ago, have been used against at least nine media organizations.

The newspaper Mwanahalisi is the second Tanzanian publication to be banned this past year.

Rights groups are calling on the government to align its laws with the practices and standards of the international community.

The government said the paper had violated previous warnings about articles criticizing President John Magufuli.

It called on the paper to retract these stories .

Mwanahalisi news editor Saed Kubenea says the paper has done nothing wrong by factually reporting where government its going wrong.

Mwanahalisi was banned in 2012 for publishing stories that allegedly threatened national security. After a three-year court battle, the ban was lifted.

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