ODM leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has mourned the death of Tanzania President John Pombe Magufuli.
Magufuli died in Mzena Hospital in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday evening, where he was receiving treatment for a heart condition, Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan told the nation in a television address.
Raila penned a eulogy for the late president saying:
“It is with deep sadness that I have learned of the passing of my friend, President John Pombe Magufuli of the United Republic of Tanzania.
President Magufuli and his family have been close friends for a long period of time. He has been by my side at my most difficult and painful moments. Over the years, we have worked together especially in the areas of connecting Eastern Africa by way of infrastructure.
On behalf of my family and the Orange Democratic Movement, I send our deepest condolences to the President Magufuli’s family and the people of the United Republic of Tanzania at this profoundly difficult and sad time.
To First Lady Mama Janeth Magufuli, our thoughts and prayers are with you as a family. We thank you for the occasions you welcomed us at your home and we stand with you at this hour of grief and sorrow in your family.
To the people of the United Republic of Tanzania and to the party of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Chama Cha Mapinduzi, we mourn with you and join you in celebrating the extraordinary life and career of President Magufuli.
We recognize his experiment with uplifting the stature of the Tanzania nation in the region and among the community of nations.
At this moment of sorrow, I call on the Tanzania nation to remain united and peaceful. I appeal to the nation to fall back on the tradition set by Mwalimu Nyerere and followed meticulously by predecessors of a peaceful, orderly and constitutional transfer of power.
The tradition of peaceful and orderly transfer of power, brotherhood and constitutionalism needs to hold in Tanzania now, more than ever in the interest of the peaceful and friendly people of Tanzania, the East African Community and the Continent of Africa.”
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