Following his election in October 2015, Magufuli appeared to become an overnight sensation on the African continent. From Kenya to South Africa to Nigeria, he was showered with praise on the social media platform Twitter by netizens using the hashtag #WhatWouldMagufuliDo to draw attention to their own leaders' failings. This popularity was triggered by extensive media coverage of his strong criticism of Western powers.

While Magufuli's popularity soared across the continent, the people of Tanzania were facing a starkly different reality. Decomposing bodies of blindfolded victims riddled with bullet wounds and stuffed into plastic bags began to wash ashore on beaches. As the fear of the president gripped the nation, citizens became hesitant to express anything remotely critical, even in casual or private conversations, let alone on social media, which was closely monitored by the president's covert operatives stationed at State House. As a journalist, Erick Kabendera felt compelled to expose the truth of what was happening in his country, irrespective of the consequences.

Working as a freelance journalist for mainly British newspapers, his reporting angered President Magufuli, who believed Erick was a British spy. The government-led investigations into his citizenship didn't bear evidence for the security agencies to prove that he was holding British citizenship. The tension continued and reached a boiling point when he survived two assassination attempt in 2019. It was the third attempt that resulted in his kidnapping and disappearance before he faced charges ranging from non-citizenship and sedition to money laundering. He subsequently spent time in a maximum-security prison.


This book tells the story of experiences of living under cruel autocratic regimes in a country that has struggled to become a democracy since it gained independence in 1961, resulting in being under one party rule since. After Magufuli's sudden death of Covid-19 in 2021, the country looks set to move forward as if nothing happened in the six years of Magufuli rule, as if those years were just a bad dream to be shrugged off. However, those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it. This memoire offers an opportunity to document and report individual stories of the people who faced gross injustices during Magufuli's leadership and aims to serve as a reminder of what the country, and others like it in the region, can so easily become when the still frail pillars of our nascent democracy are left unprotected.