Lowassa eulogised for his bold stance as he is laid to rest

Arusha. Former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa was eulogised for his bold stance as he was laid to rest at his Monduli home on Saturday, February 17, 2024.

Political leaders and mourners from all corners of the country and beyond showered praise on him for sacrificing a lot for national development.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who led the nation at the well-attended funeral, said the late Premier would be remembered for what he did for the country.

"He was a force to be reckoned with. He was creative and sacrificed a lot for national development," she told thousands of mourners at Ngarash village.

President Hassan specifically cited Lowassa’s boldness to have Lake Victoria waters supplied to drought-prone regions in the Lake Zone.

He did this during his tenure as the minister for the water docket in early 2000, despite a colonial-era treaty that gave Egypt the monopoly on the use of Lake Victoria water.

Lowassa's position on water from the freshwater lake, for which Tanzania has the largest share, is seen as one of the late PM's most enduring legacies.

The fallen PM is also credited as a game changer in secondary school education through the ward secondary school programme he pioneered.

The programme rolled out when he was the prime minister saw an increase in secondary school enrolment from 265,000 students in 2004 to about 2.8 million last year.

The number of government-owned secondary schools, according to President Hassan, rose to a record high of 5,000 in 2023 from 281 in 2004.

"He was passionate for quality education for the youth to make them eligible for employment or create jobs for themselves," she said.

President Hassan said the CCM-led government does not regret that the late Lowassa once crossed over to the opposition before returning to the ruling party.

"Even in the opposition, he was a force to be reckoned with, especially during the 2015 polls," she said in apparent response to remarks made earlier by Chadema leader Freeman Mbowe.

In his remarks, the opposition leader expressed his displeasure that the late Lowassa's sojourn to Chadema was not mentioned in the eulogies read earlier.

Messages that were read by the senior government officials, one after another, missed out that the popular politician in Maasailand once joined the leading opposition party.

During the heat of the 2015 polls, Lowassa crossed over to Chadema and was later picked as a presidential candidate for Ukawa, a coalition of opposition parties which included Chadema.

He did so after his name was deleted from the list of CCM presidential candidates at the nomination stage, leading to an outcry from his supporters within the ruling party.

Lowassa immediately joined Chadema and was soon nominated to contest for the presidency under the Ukawa coalition, giving the ruling CCM a stiff challenge during the polls.

In the 2015 General Election, Lowassa garnered 6 million votes, or 39.9 percent, against CCM flag bearer John Pombe Magufuli's 8.8 million votes (58 percent).

Mr Mbowe wondered why the protocol did not mention that Lowassa was once a force to be reckoned with in the opposition camp.

"How can Lowassa's biography miss his service in Chadema? This person was a member of the Chadema central committee for four years, and that’s undisputable history," he said.

He added that during the 2015 general election, he was a presidential candidate who gave CCM a stiff challenge never seen before.

"It has not happened before for an opposition presidential candidate to have such an impact in the presidential race in the history of multipartism in Tanzania," he said, raising eyebrows at the funeral.

The elaborate funeral at Ngarash village on the outskirts of Monduli town was attended literally by the entire top tier of national leadership.

Besides the Head of State, others were Vice President Phillip Mpango, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa, and Zanzibar President Hussein Mwinyi.

Others were the Speaker of the National Assembly, Tulia Ackson, Prof Elisante Ole Gabriel, who represented the Chief Justice, and retired President Jakaya Kikwete.

The Zanzibar leader's principal deputies, the heads of defence and security organs, a host of cabinet ministers, and regional commissioners were also in attendance.

There was also a delegation of governors and other officials from Kenya's counties bordering the Arusha region, specifically Kajiado and Narok.

Both counties are inhabited by the livestock-keeping Maasai communities. Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku led the delegation of about 100 people. 

Mr Lenku said the late Lowassa was recognised by members of the Maasai community in both countries as one of their respected elders, commonly known as Laigwanan.

The entire compound of the late PM's home was bedecked with white banners bearing his photos and Biblical inscriptions on life after death.

A sea of humanity forced the organisers to mount screens all over the place to enable people to follow the burial proceedings.

The prayers were said by bishops from different dioceses of the Lutheran Church, led by the recently re-installed Head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT), Bishop Alex Malasusa.

The late Lowassa was buried in the compound of his residence, which, during his lifetime, attracted visitors who came to consult him.

It did not matter whether he was a PM, a cabinet minister, or a Member of Parliament; the late Lowassa attracted crowds from near and far when he was at Ngarash.

Residents of the area said the situation changed during his long absence when he was hospitalised in South Africa and Dar es Salaam, as only a few people were seen there.

Members of the deceased’s family, led by his wife, Ms Regina Lowassa, and their children, laid a wreath of flowers ahead of the dignitaries led by President Hassan.

As the body was lowered into the grave, a 17-gun salute from the Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) rented the air, as is required for a deceased former PM.

Today's high-profile burial is the second for Monduli district. Exactly 40 years ago, a former prime minister, Edward Sokoine, was laid to rest not very far from Monduli town.

The late Sokoine, who, like Lowassa, served for many years as a Monduli legislator, died in a road crash near Morogoro on April 12th, 1984.

He was buried at Monduli Juu, some 10 to 15 kilometres from Ngarash, during a funeral led by the nation's founder, President Julius Nyerere, the then Zanzibar leader, Ali Hassan Mwinyi, and others.

An autobiography of the late Lowassa read yesterday revealed where he worked before getting into politics in 1985, when he was elected an MP on the CCM youth wing.

Also read: Lowassa was closer to top seat than any other former Premier

The fallen PM served in different capacities in different regions in the service of the ruling CCM from 1977 to 1985.

During that period, he worked in Shinyanga, Arusha, Kilimanjaro, and the party headquarters in Dodoma/Dar es Salaam. He graduated from the University of Dar es Salaam in 1977.