NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 18- Leaders across Africa have hailed Tanzania’s President the late John Pombe Magufuli who died on Wednesday night as an African statesman whose contribution in empowering Africans will not be forgotten.
In his message of condolence, President Uhuru Kenyatta who is also the Chairman of the East African Community (EAC) said Magufuli’s death is a major blow to the region.
“Africa and the world have, indeed, lost an illustrious leader; whose vision, passion, and immense leadership propelled the Nation of Tanzania forward, and also steered the East African Community to closer integration and cooperation. On the continental stage, the Late President Magufuli was a champion of pan-Africanism,” Kenyatta said in a televised address from State House, Nairobi.
Magufuli died from a heart condition, his vice president Samia Suluhu said in an address on state television Wednesday night, after days of uncertainty over his health and whereabouts.
“It is with deep regret that I inform you that today on the 17th of March, 2021 at 6 pm we lost our brave leader, the President of the Republic of Tanzania, John Pombe Magufuli, said Vice-president Samia Suluhu Hassan.
She said Magufuli died of a “heart condition”, which he has suffered for a decade, at a hospital in Dar es Salaam.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said Magufuli was a pragmatic leader who believed in and worked for the economic empowerment of East Africans.
Rwanda’s Paul Kagame said he had lost a ‘brother and a friend’ whose contribution to his country and to the East African region will not be forgotten.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country was united in grief with the government and people of Tanzania and sent his condolences Magufuli’s family and the people of Tanzania.
Retired President of Kenya Mwai Kibaki, in a statement to newsrooms, said: “To his family, friends, Tanzania as a whole and East Africa at large, I convey my message of condolence and pray for the Almighty God’s comfort as we all come to terms with this irremediable bereavement.”
President Uhuru Kenyatta has declared a 7 -day mourning period in Kenya following the death of Tanzania’s President John Pombe Magufuli who had been missing for several days.
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