Energy commission director-general dies

        Arusha. A sombre mood gripped the Tanzania Atomic Energy Commission (Taec) yesterday following the sudden death of its director-general Prof Iddi Mkilaha.

The don, who was on leave, collapsed and died on Friday evening at his residence in Dar es Salaam.

“It is true our director-general is no more,” said an information officer at the Commission’s headquarters in Arusha, Mr Peter Ngamilo.

He said Prof Mkilaha had been on a leave pending retirement since June 6, and that he was supposed to report for duty early next month. He said the don reportedly collapsed in a bathroom. The information officer said he was not aware of any other detail on the tragedy. But reports circulating on social media yesterday suggested he accidentally shot himself while cleaning his gun.

One of the late don’s brothers, Sembuli Mkilaha, said on phone from his home village of Kikuletwa in Hai District, Kilimanjaro Region, that they were yet to be informed on the cause of his brother’s death.

Prof Mkilaha was also the chairman of a steering committee of the Kikuletwa Hydro-Electric Power Project initiated by the Arusha Technical College (ATC) through the financial and technical support of Norway.

An official of the college said his death was a big blow to the project, which is to take off later this year. The last time the deceased engineering Professor spoke to The Citizen was during the 2015 General Election campaigns when he applauded the thenCCM presidential candidate John Magufuli’s plan to revive industries. The brother said the don is likely to be laid to rest in Kikuletwa. “He was left with a few months to mark his 60th birthday,” he told The Citizen.

Prior to his appointment to head the Arusha-based institution in September 2009, Prof Mkilaha was teaching in the University of Dar es Salaam’s College of Engineering and Technology (CoET).     

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