Prime
Should Tanzania have official burial grounds for national leaders?
Former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa’s grave following his burial in Monduli District, Arusha Region, earlier this month. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- In September 2009, it was written in the media that Tanzania was to become the first East African country to provide an official resting place for deceased national leaders and other great Tanzanians who have shaped the nation’s history. Serving and retired presidents, vice presidents, prime ministers, chief justices and the speakers of the national assembly would be buried in the multi-faith national cemetery.
When former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa died recently, there was possibly no official worry as to where he should get buried. Why, that was to be in his home village, Ngarash, in Moduli District, Arusha Region. Before the funeral arrangements, Ngarash was hardly known to the Tanzanian public, but there it was. All the government machinery descended on this, otherwise unknown village, for the state funeral of a departed national figure.
This has been the case with nearly all former leaders. Mwalimu Nyerere was buried in his home village of Mwitongo, Butiama; President Benjamin Mkapa was buried in Lupaso, Masasi; President John Magufuli was buried in the hitherto unknown Chato, his home town/village; former Prime Minister Edward Sokoine was buried in Monduli and so on.
Conversely, when the Namibian President Hage Geingob died recently, he was buried in Heroes Acre Cemetery, not in his home village.
Tanzania, has at some time in the past, rooted for there being a National Leaders’ Cemetery. The National Leaders’ Funeral Act of 2006 stated so, that the deceased leader was to be buried in the National Cemetery in Dodoma. However if the deceased had left a written will specifying where and how they should be buried then the will should be observed.
In September 2009, it was written in the media that Tanzania was to become the first East African country to provide an official resting place for deceased national leaders and other great Tanzanians who have shaped the nation’s history. Serving and retired presidents, vice presidents, prime ministers, chief justices and the speakers of the national assembly would be buried in the multi-faith national cemetery.
At that time, that is 2009, the then Capital Development Authority (CDA) had announced that it was setting up a large area where national leaders and heroes would be buried. Moreover, it was pointed out that the government was looking for an international firm to provide a detailed design for the national leaders’ cemetery at Iyumbu village in the capital city of Dodoma.
The government had acquired 120 hectares of land for the purpose, and President Jakaya Kikwete had already assented to the Act for the establishment of the national leaders’ burial site.
The then Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, said that the government had already set aside funds for the national cemetery; and that a 50-metre memorial monument would be constructed at the highest point of the site, with the Uhuru Torch at the top and a base that offered a 360-degree view of the site. The graveyard would take into account the religious customs of Muslims, Christians and other religions, pointing out that the National Leaders’ Funeral Act, 2006, stipulated funeral rites of the national leader or specified leader that would be conducted according to the religion, custom and traditions of the deceased depending on the cause of death.
The law was silent on whether the graves of national leaders who had been buried elsewhere before the creation of this National Leaders’ Cemetery would be relocated.
So far, no national leader has been buried in this area and it appears that the idea was quietly abandoned. The Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments), (No 7) Act of 2019 section 53 amends the Principal Legislation, removing the need to have a national Leader buried in the National Leaders’ Cemetery and instead, provides as follows:
“A national leader or specified leader will be buried at such place: (a) as the family of the deceased shall decide; or, (b) as may be specified in the will of the deceased, if any, in accordance with the rites and procedures for state funeral or Government funeral as may be appropriate”.
Besides, the word “the National Cemetery” was substituted by “a cemetery”.
It therefore looks like it is within the national psyche that leaders should be buried at family locations. On the one hand, this saves the state from the duty of looking after these Heroes Cemeteries.
On the other hand, the after-life of a departed person becomes very much a family affair. In many African cultures, where a person is buried has consequences for the family left behind.
In terms of national cohesion, it can be argued that, when national leaders are buried in their home areas, attention, now and in the future, is drawn to these areas.
Visits of family members, friends, well-wishers, national leaders, and so on continue to take place to these areas even if they are far from national capitals. Some of these areas become areas of pilgrimage and tourism.
The idea of a National Leaders’ Cemetery could be substituted with the idea of a National heroes Square, which would accommodate various monuments of such leaders.
The monuments should not be controversial, like the one of Mwalimu Nyerere recently unveiled in Addis Ababa, which, according to many observers, bears little resemblance to Mwalimu.
For the time being, it appears like the idea of a national Leaders’ Cemetery is premature.
