[7] Running as the candidate of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), the country's dominant party, Magufuli won the October 2015 presidential election and was sworn in on 5 November 2015; he was re-elected in 2020.

[11] Contrary to leaders elsewhere in the world, Magufuli ordered COVID-19 testing to stop and resisted calls to implement public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic in Tanzania.

[20] Magufuli earned his Bachelor of Science in education degree, majoring in Chemistry and Mathematics as teaching subjects from the University of Dar es Salaam in 1988.

After President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete was requested to take office, he moved John Joseph Magufuli to the post of Minister of Lands and Human Settlement on 4 January 2006.

[31][32] According to Al Jazeera, "The election was marred by allegations of arrests of candidates and protesters, restrictions on agents of political parties to access polling stations, multiple voting, pre-ticking of ballots, and widespread blocking of social media."

[33] Writing in the Journal of Democracy, political scientist Dan Paget stated that "The CCM sweep was an authoritarian landslide, achieved through electoral manipulation that was unprecedented in both scale and audacity.

[34] After taking office, Magufuli immediately began to impose measures to curb government spending, such as barring unnecessary foreign travel by government officials, using cheaper vehicles and board rooms for transport and meetings respectively, shrinking the delegation for a tour of the Commonwealth from 50 people to 4, dropping its sponsorship of a World AIDS Day exhibition in favour of purchasing AIDS medication, banning officials from flying first and business class, and discouraging lavish events and parties by public institutions (such as cutting the budget of a state dinner inaugurating the new parliamentary session).

He personally participated in the cleanup efforts, having stated that it was "so shameful that we are spending huge amounts of money to celebrate 54 years of independence when our people are dying of cholera".

[40][41] On 12 April 2016, Magufuli conducted his first foreign visit to Rwanda, where he met his counterpart Paul Kagame and inaugurated the new bridge and one-stop border post at Rusumo.

[44] In January 2018, Magufuli issued a directive ordering the suspension of registration for foreign merchant ships, following recent incidents surrounding the seizure of overseas shipments of illegal goods (particularly drugs and weapons) being transported under the flag.

[47] The country has amended the laws governing the award of mining contracts, giving itself the right to renegotiate or terminate them in the event of proven fraud.

[49] However, this anti-corruption policy has also "frightened investors, who now fear they will have to deal with Tanzanian justice, and weakened growth", according to Zitto Kabwe, one of the leaders of the opposition Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT).

[53][54][55][56][57][58] Magufuli received the nickname "The Bulldozer" in reference to his roadworks projects, but the term was also used about his moves to reduce spending and corruption within the government.

[59] Following Magufuli's initial rounds of cuts post-inauguration, the hashtag "#WhatWouldMagufuliDo" was used by Twitter users to demonstrate their own austerity measures inspired by the president.

[60] Magufuli's government was accused of repressing opposition to his leadership, including laws restricting opposition rallies, the suspension of the Swahili-language Mawio newspaper in 2016 for publishing "false and inflammatory" reporting regarding the nullification of election results in Zanzibar, threatening to shut down radio and television stations that did not pay licence fees, and a 2018 bill requiring blogs and other forms of online content providers to hold government licences with content restrictions.

[65] His government was publicly criticized by the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC) for taking measures that suppress constitutional freedoms and, in the view of bishops, represent a threat to national unity.

In October 2016, the government banned HIV/AIDS outreach projects and closed U.S.-funded programs that provide HIV testing, condoms, and medical care to the gay community.

In late 2018, Magufuli initiated a nationwide crackdown, threatening to arrest and deport anyone campaigning for gay rights and making it difficult to find a lawyer who will defend cases of violence against LGBTQ people.

[14] By May 2020, Magufuli and Dar es Salaam regional commissioner Paul Makonda announced that the disease had been defeated by national prayer, and called for a public celebration.

[84] In July 2020, regulations were introduced to forbid the publication of "information with regards to the outbreak of a deadly or contagious disease in the country or elsewhere without the approval of the respective authorities",[85] with fines for breaches.

[90][91] His death on 17 March 2021 at 6 p.m. EAT (15:00 UTC) was announced in a statement read out by vice-president Samia Suluhu Hassan, who was sworn in as his successor two days later.

[94] The government attributed his death to a heart condition accompanied by a decade-long chronic atrial fibrillation, although opposition figures and some media sources alleged that Magufuli had contracted COVID-19.