Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu Hassan on Tuesday, March 30, nominated Finance Minister Dr Philip Mpango as the Vice President, after take over from the late John Pombe Magufuli.
Following his nomination, Mpango's name was presented to parliament for approval to which Tanzanian MPs unanimously approved.
His nomination and approval suggested that the new President was unlikely to change from the Covid-19 denial policy started by President Magufuli.
The newly appointed VP is a notorious skeptic of the virus and recently went viral among a section of Kenyans after he gave an address outside a hospital in the capital Dodoma while coughing and gasping for air.
Unconfirmed reports indicated that he had been suffering from Covid-19 related complications, having missed from the public eye for 14 days.
He, however, dismissed the reports.
“I came to the hospital with my oxygen cylinder but in the last three days I did not use it because my health has improved,” he said.
Both the minister and those who had flanked him when he delivered his speech, did not have masks, something that raised an alarm among those who watched the address.
Earlier in the month, BBC reported Opposition Leader Tundu Lissu claiming that Mpango was being treated at the Nairobi Hospital at a time when the late Magufuli was also suspected to be at the facility.
Mpango has served as the Minister for Finance and Planning since November 2015.
He also served as Acting Commissioner General of the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA); Executive Secretary in the President’s Office (Planning Commission); Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs and Personal Assistant to the President (Economic Affairs).
Mpango also wroked as the Head of the President’s Economic Advisory Unit; Senior Economist for the World Bank; Visiting Lecturer in Public Economics, Collaborative Masters program for Anglo-phone Africa, AERC, Nairobi-Kenya and Lecturer, Economics Department University of Dar es Salaam.
