Emotions high as Mawazo finally laid to rest
The body of Chadema Geita regional chairman, Alphonce Mawazo, is lowered into the grave at Chikobe village yesterday. PHOTO|MICHAEL JAMSON
What you need to know:
Mourners, who attended the burial ceremony, which was also attended by Chadema national leaders, were overcome by grief as Mawazo’s body was buried.
Busanda. The late Chadema chairperson for Geita Region, Mr Alphonce Mawazo, was finally laid to rest yesterday at his Chikobe home village.
Mourners, who attended the burial ceremony, which was also attended by Chadema national leaders, were overcome by grief as Mawazo’s body was buried.
The party’s chairman, Mr Freeman Mbowe, said as a way of remembering the late Mawazo, they will establish a special fund which will be known as Alphonce Mawazo Trust Fund to help his daughter and the widow.
The ceremony was attended by the party’s leaders as well as two former Prime Ministers Edward Lowassa and Fredrick Sumaye.
The late Mawazo’s body was laid to rest at around 3pm in his Chikobe home village in Geita with residents and thousands of people who attended the burial describing the deceased as a hero and a man of the people who had spent his life advocating for justice.
In his eulogy, Mr Lowassa who was also the presidential flag-bearer for Chadema in the just-ended General Election, called for the family to be strong during this trying period.
“I have said a lot and I want to console the family and mostly the mother of the deceased, may the good Lord be with you...we are together and we will not desert you,” he said.
The late Mawazo was slashed to death by a group of unknown people while attending a preparatory meeting for Ludete Ward civic seat by-election on the night of 14 November, this year, when a group of people invaded the Chadema meeting which was being chaired by him.
The outspoken cadre, also vied for Busanda parliamentary seat in the October 25 General Election.
He lost to CCM’s Lolencia Bukwimba in Busanda Constituency but remained Chadema’s Geita regional chairman. Reports of his death went viral on social media the following day with many wondering whether it was politically motivated.
His body was later taken to Mwanza where it has been preserved for almost two weeks after a wrangle between the party and the police on the kind of farewell he was supposed to be given.
The wrangle was on whether the ceremony to pay him last respects should be held in Mwanza or Geita. Chadema maintained they would have the ceremony in Mwanza while the police rejected the idea, saying the threat of the Cholera outbreak ruled out the option. Chadema filed a petition on the matter and the court ruled in its favour.
