Tanzania's newly elected President John Magufuli has cancelled independence day celebrations, and has ordered a clean-up campaign instead.

It would be "shameful" to spend huge sums of money on the celebrations when "our people are dying of cholera", he said, state television reported.

Cholera has killed about 60 people in Tanzania in the last three months.

This will be the first time in 54 years Tanzania will not hold celebrations to mark independence from the UK.

Africa Live: BBC news updatesMagufuli: 'The Bulldozer'Money, power and politicsFive challenges for 'The Bulldozer'

Mr Magufuli's party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), has governed since colonial rule ended on 9 December 1961, winning a new mandate in elections last month.

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Many people were caught by surprise by Mr Magufuli's announcement but have welcomed the move, the BBC's Sammy Awami reports from the main city, Dar es Salaam.

They feel it shows his commitment to ending lavish spending and tackling the cholera outbreak which has caused widespread concern, he says.

Image copyrightAFPImage captionMr Magufuli won the election with 58% of the vote

But it remains to be seen whether people will heed his call to spend independence day cleaning up their residential areas and work-places, our reporter adds.

Independence day celebrations are usually marked with a presidential address, a military parade and performances by music groups at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam.

MPs party targeted

Mr Magufuli's spokesman Gerson Msigwa did not say how much would be saved by cancelling the event but said the money would be spent on hospitals, and the fight against 
cholera - a major problem in poor areas where there is a lack of proper toilets.

The president wants people to clean their neighbourhoods, including markets, on independence day

Mr Magufuli has announced a range of cost-cutting measures since he took office, including a ban on unnecessary foreign travel by government officials.

Last week, he ordered the cost of a party to inaugurate the new parliament to be slashed from $100,000 (£66,000) to $7,000.

He also sacked the head of the main state hospital after finding patients sleeping on the floor during a surprise visit to the facility.

Mr Magufuli beat opposition candidate Edward Lowassa in last month's election to become Tanzania's fifth president since independence.

Nicknamed "The Bulldozer", Mr Magufuli is reputed to be a no-nonsense, results-driven politician.

He was the works minister, before being elected president.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34909111

Tanzania has banned government officials from sending Christmas and New Year cards paid for by public funds as part of cost-cutting measures introduced by the newly elected president.

President John Magufuli is nicknamed "The Bulldozer" for his no-nonsense, results-driven way of doing politics. He was elected in October as the East African country's new leader. 

The president's chief secretary, Ombeni Yohana Sefue, issued a statement on Thursday that "prohibited the printing of Christmas and New Year cards at the government's expense".

"Anyone who wants to create or publish those cards, do so at his or her own expense," Sefue's statement said.

The public, which has long complained of government overspending, was quick to welcome the austerity measure imposed by the new president.

Social media hashtags such as #WhatWouldMagufuliDo have become top trending topics among Twitter and Facebook users in East Africa.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Tanzania-President-Magufuli-bans-Christmas-cards-396836

I have followed carefully the first few weeks of Tanzanian presidents policies and concluded that myself and all who voted for change were scammed in broad day light. But 2019 is not far.

Our president is in Malta, and will head to France by next week.

A careful look at the Canadian new prime minister also makes our president the worst mistake of 2015. Immediately he was elected, he announced his cabinet one week after...thats a man ready for governance.

Have you seen our ministers since they were appointed, thats because, they dont have all the details to work with yet. Perm secs have been empowered by PMB and they consider themselves loyal to him.
A minister told my mum that if this persists, He will resign next year.

Whoever knows PMB should advice him to stop draging airspace with birds. He should seat down and work. There is work to be done.

If you want to have an idea of where we are economically, listen to Channels and AIT business news for one week.

Lol... Stop dragging airspace with birds

God bless President Muhammadu Buhari and grant him safe trip in all his fruitful trips. Person wey dey vex make him go Third Mainland Bridge.

The situation of the ministers is pathetic.
There are only 3 ministers in Nigeria, Fashola, Ameachi and others, and the others are regarded as noisemakers by the president and has directed the respective permanent secretaries to report to him instead.

Buhari needs more cost cutting measures also...