This archive report was first published on 12 November 2019.
On November 12, 2019, Tanzania President John Magufuli shared a harrowing experience from his past, recounting how he was poisoned in Dodoma but lived to tell the tale.
Speaking at the launch of former president Benjamin Mkapa's autobiography in Dar es Salaam, Magufuli attributed his survival to a lesson he learned: not to praise civil servants too highly, lest they suffer the same fate he did after former president Mkapa praised him.
Magufuli was the deputy minister between 1995 and 2000 when the incident occurred.
The launch was attended by several high-ranking government officials, including former presidents Jakaya Kikwete and Ali Hassan Mwinyi.
