AfricaPress-Tanzania: PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan will on Friday lead Tanzanians in the funeral of the late President John Magufuli who will be laid to rest at his family graveyards in Chato District, Geita region.
The late Dr Magufuli who led the country from November 2015 to March 17th, 2021, died at the age of 61 on Wednesday last week, at Mzena hospital in Dar es Salaam region where he was receiving treatment on heart illness, a condition he had fought for more than a decade.
The burial services for the fallen fifth-phase president is set to commence at 6.30am sharp and conclude at 4.50pm. The body of the late iconic leader, Dr Magufuli, was brought to Chato on Wednesday.
The initial timetable for the funeral shows that, from 6.30 to 9.00am leaders and members of the public will be arriving at the Magufuli grounds.
Then, at 7.30 the body of the late Dr Magufuli would be taken to the Roman Catholic ChurchChato Parish for a short Requiem Mass that will be held from 8.00- 9.30am.
After that, the body of the deceased will be taken to the Magufuli grounds for a mass to be presided by the President of Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC) bishop Gervas Nyaisonga.
There will be condolence messages from different representatives such as the Council of Elders in Chato, political parties, the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), which Dr Magufuli was the national chairman, Defence and Security forces, Judiciary and the Parliament.
There will also be condolences from representatives of leaders from outside Tanzania, former presidents Jakaya Kikwete and Ali Hassan Mwinyi as well as the President of Zanzibar Dr Hussein Mwinyi.
President Samia will make a speech before the body is taken to the family graveyards for burial mass that will be led by the Catholic Church Bishop for RulengeNgara Diocese Severine Niwemugizi.
Residents of Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Zanzibar and Mwanza and Chato had an opportunity to pay tributes to the fallen Head of State between Saturday last week and on Thursday.
State funeral was held in Dodoma at the Jamhuri Stadium on Monday, where President Samia led Tanzanians to pay their last respects.
The event was also attended by nine presidents from African countries including Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya) Emmerson Mnangagwa (Zimbabwe), Filipe Nyusi (Mozambique) Lazarus Chakwera (Malawi) and Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa).
Others were Edgar Lungu (Zambia), Felix Tshisekedi (Democratic Republic of Congo), Azali Assoumani (Comoro) and Mokgweetsi Madison (Botswana).
A list also had Prosper Bazombanza (Vice-President of Burundi), Nangolo Mbumba, who is the Vice-President of Namibia as well as Dr Edouard Ngirente, the Prime Minister of Rwanda.
Dr Magufuli was born on October 29 and held different ministerial positions for about 20 years before becoming Tanzania’s President.
First elected as a Member of Parliament in 1995, he served in the Cabinet of Tanzania as Deputy Minister of Works from 1995 to 2000, Minister of Works from 2000 to 2006, Minister of Lands and Human Settlement from 2006 to 2008, Minister of Livestock and Fisheries from 2008 to 2010, and as Minister of Works for a second time from 2010 to 2015.
Running as the candidate on the ruling CCM ticket, Dr Magufuli won the October 2015 presidential election and was sworn in on 5 November 2015.
In July 2020 Magufuli was nominated again as the ruling party’s presidential candidate in an election that was held on October 28th, last year.
He received the highest votes and was therefore reelected for his second term that would have run to 2025.
He was chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) from 2019 to 2020.
