JK mourns Nyerere’s son as top leaders attend requiem mass
Mama Maria Nyerere is consoled by Mama Fatma Karume, widow of Zanzibar’s first president, Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume, in Dar es Salaam yesterday following the death of her son, John, on Saturday.
PHOTO | ANTHONY SIAME
What you need to know:
- Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda was among senior government leaders and prominent individuals who condoled with the family at Msasani on Sunday. He said John’s death was a big loss to the family.
- Others who went to Msasani included Retired President Ali Hassan Mwinyi and former prime ministers Salim Ahmed Salim and Joseph Warioba.
- Hundreds of people are expected to flock to Butiama tomorrow to attend John Nyerere’s burial tomorrow.
Dar es Salaam. President Jakaya Kikwete has sent his condolences to Mwalimu Nyerere’s widow, Mama Maria Nyerere, following the death of her son John Nyerere.
John, who is the fourth of Mwalimu’s seven children, died on Saturday at Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam.
According to Assistant Press Secretary to the President Premmy Kibanga, Mr Kikwete who is in Algeria for a three-day visit gave Mama Maria a call to console her following the demise of her son.
“There is no parent who would like to lose a member of the family and therefore I understand the pain you feel,’’ Mr Kikwete told Mama Maria, asking her to be strong in this trying moment.
Meanwhile, Vice President Mohamed Gharib Bilal was among several top government officials and politicians who attended a requiem mass for the son of the Founding Father of the Nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, John Nyerere who died on Saturday in Dar es Salaam.
The leaders later paid last respect to John after what his family described as “a long illness”.
Among other leaders attended the mass at Mwalimu Nyerere’s Msasani residence were First Lady Mama Salma Kikwete, Prime Minister’s wife Tunu Pinda, retired presidents Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Benjamin Mkapa.
Others were the Former Prime Minister Judge Joseph Warioba (rtd), Chadema national secretary general, Dr Willibroad Slaa, former finance minister Basil Mramba and Musoma Rural MP Nimrod Mkono.
Dr Slaa said the nation has lost the person whose life was reflecting the actual life of an ordinary Tanzanians.
“As far as the deceased was Mwalimu’s son, all of us are concerned with bereavement,” he said, adding:
“We have lost the model that lived the same simple life just his farther.”
He said despite the fact that the deceased came from the first family and a one-time jet fighter pilot with Tanzania People’s Defence Force (TPDF), he still led a simple life like an ordinary Tanzanian.
Dr Slaa used the opportunity to call on government leaders and other prominent figures to borrow a leaf from Mwalimu Nyerere’s family kind of life, saying in doing so it would be a relief to majority of Tanzanians who are facing hardships.
Delivering the eulogy, John’s younger brother, Makongoro, said the deceased who was born in 1957 and joined TPDF in 1974 before quitting the military to venture into agriculture.
John’s body will be flown to Butiama today for burial which will take place tomorrow.
