Author: MARY RAMADHANI
AfricaPress-Tanzania: WHILE President John Magufuli was launching Mbonde Health Centre in Masasi District in Mtwara Region last year, he issued directives to officials in the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication to construct the road that leads to Lupaso Village in Masasi district to tarmac level.
It was on April 4th, 2019 when he directed that the 12-kilometer road heading to the home village of the third Phase President, Benjamin Mkapa be constructed to tarmac level.
“They will say I am building it for Mr Mkapa, yes I am, because without him I would not have been a Member of Parliament, Minister, and possibly you would not have seen me in the presidency”.
“Is it wrong to construct a road leading to Mr Mkapa’s home village so that when it comes the time when he has to be taken there for burial, they can use the road?” he posed the question with a light touch.
President Magufuli insisted that his plan to build the stretch would not be shelved, adding that he was sorry for whoever was offended by his decision because he was using government money.
“I know where Mzee Mkapa has lifted me from,” he asserted.
According to President Magufuli, when the government completed the construction of the 970-metre Mkapa Bridge in August 2003, he wanted it to be named after the third phase leader but Mzee Mkapa refused.
But, when he (former President Mkapa) went to inaugurate it later, he found the sign post with his name written on it, confirming that the bridge was named after him after all.
On the material day in Masasi, President Magufuli told the public that former head of state should be hailed for coming up with an arrangement of allocating 1.5bn/-for the road fund as a strategy of opening that road as well as the central corridor road.
“Now that Mzee Mkapa is over 80 years, it is not right to say that we have failed to build for him a 12-kilometer tarmac road to his home village of Lupaso, a place where his parents are resting,” he remarked.
He explained that, the project of building the roads commenced when he was the Minister of Works, but later stopped, but when he returned as the president, he vowed to finish it.
The relationship between President Magufuli and the late Mzee Mkapa was revealed during the launch of Mzee Mkapa’s book ‘My life, My purpose’, where during his speech, he told the audience how the former president contributed to the growth of his political career.
“It was President Mkapa who taught me politics,” president Magufuli recounted, adding that during the 1995 elections when he was running for a seat in parliament for the first time through CCM, at the Biharamulo Constituency (now Chato Constituency), Mzee Mkapa, who was running for president at that time came to Biharamulo. “…I remember that day Mzee Mkapa held my hand and urged the crowd to vote for me. I think his statement was enough to get me elected.”
President Magufuli opened up and said that when he was the Deputy Minister for Works, Transport and Communications, he learned a lot about being confident and bold from Mzee Mkapa.
Speaking about lessons he picked from Mzee Mkapa, President Magufuli said, “Mzee Mkapa was fair to all his appointees.
What mattered to him was people who could deliver. Also, when he agrees to take your advice, no matter what, he will stand with you until the end.”
