THAT’S ALI FOLKS
Tanzanian president Ali Hassan Mwinyi was a pivotal figure to his country’s history, introducing multiparty democracy and numerous liberalisation reforms for which he was nicknamed “Mzee Rukhsa” (roughly “Mr. Permission” in Swahili). It remains one of the stablest countries in Africa to this day. He was 98 and a unique for Hell to the Chief. He also occupies a towering moment in DDP history – he was the first announced of four to die this Leap Day. The biggest Leap Day fallers of recent years were too surprising to be prime DDP fodder – Davy Jones wasn’t any 2012 team’s steppin’ stone, and no one guessed Louise Rennison would get the snog of death in 2016 – but after nearly thirty years, the DDP can now boast at least one hit for every day of the year.
Ali Hassan Mwinyi
8 May 1925 – 29 February 2024, aged 98
💀💀💀💀💀 + 👻 = 9 POINTS