THEY were greeted by the tearful Regional Commissioner, with a backdrop of buckets of tears, anguish and bouquets of flowers aplenty.
One after the other, in came the casket bearing the remains of the 20 Tanzanians who lost their lives in the infamous Saturday night church service stampede, amidst wails and cries that rented Moshi Municipal Council’s skyline.
The 30,000-seater, Saint George’s Memorial Stadium would turn out to be a sea of people as Moshi residents, in their numbers bid farewell to their loved ones who lost their lives in the late Saturday night incident.
Not even the mid-morning drizzle could deter the mourners’ spirit as they braved chills and the morning chill lest they miss out on the Memorial mass service.
In her eulogy, Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner Ms Anna Mghwira assured the multitude of mourners that President John Magufuli had tasked her office to form a probe team to investigate into the matter, with a view of averting such incidents in the future.
“I spoke to the President before here…besides conveying his sincere condolences to the bereaved, he has also asked us to delve into the matter thoroughly,” said the tearful RC.
Addressing the mourners, the regional boss said the government had not outlawed such religious denominations, but had instructed regional authorities to do a vetting on such religious groups.
According to Ms Mghwira, regional leadership would meet with the religious leaders in the region to reflect on the incident and look on how to prevent such an incident from happening again.
Speaking on behalf of the Kilimanjaro region’s District Commissioners (DC), the Hai District Commissioner, Mr Lengai Ole Sabaya, said the Saturday incident had opened a new chapter for leaders both in the Government and the religious organisations to reflect on how to monitor religious activities and especially public preaching meetings and their importance to the faith.
“This incident has given us a fresh start as Government officials; we have to sit down and re-think the sermons that take place through public preaching rallies and meetings as well as those who organise them, before they are allowed”, he said.
Speaking during the occasion on behalf of the Churches Council of Tanzania (CCT) Bishop Stanley Hotey of the Mount Kilimanjaro Diocese of the Anglican Church, urged the Kilimanjaro Regional Administration to convene a meeting with religious leaders to discuss and meditate concerning the incident instead of pointing accusing fingers.
On the other hand, a representative of the Kilimanjaro region’s Muslim Council of Tanzania (BAKWATA) during the event Sheikh Abdullahi Mfaume, said that the Saturday incident was and would always be a reminder to the people to be closer to God all the time.
The late Saturday night incident occurred as worshipers of the church led by the popular ‘Apostle’ rushed to get ‘anointed’ with the blessed oil administered by the pastor.
The casualties from the stampede include 15 adults and five children, according to Police.
The incident happened while hundreds of the worshippers were attending an open service presided over by the popular pastor nicknamed the ‘Bulldozer’ at Majengo Stadium in Moshi on Saturday night.
The worshippers had reportedly kept a vigil as they waited to be administered with the ‘blessed oil’ when all hell broke loose.
Those who survived the stampede blamed the Pastor and church ushers for ‘improper administering’ of the blessed oil, leading to the deaths.
“People trampled on another as they jostled to step on the blessed oil…this would not have happened if security organs were at the scene to oversee the administering when everyone was scrambling for it,” explained Ms Maureen Faustine, a resident of Mirerani in Manyara region.
The popular pastor is revered for drawing huge crowds by promising prosperity and cure for disease to worshippers who walk on what he describes as “blessed oil” during his church services.
The flamboyant pastor also runs his services at the then Tanganyika Packers Factory buildings in Kawe, Dar es Salaam.
