Farewell Speaker of the people

 
THERE was great outpouring of emotions yesterday as President John Magufuli led hundreds of Dar es Salaam residents who thronged the Karimjee Hall to pay their last respects to the body of the former Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Samuel Sitta.

People from all walks of life, top government officials and former leaders were in somber mood as they queued up for the ritual. Many people wept openly or gasped as they passed through the body, lying in the casket.

Speakers paid tribute through different testimonies. In an interview with the ‘Daily News’, former Speakers of the National Assembly, Ms Anne Makinda and Pius Msekwa, eulogised him by giving dramatic accounts of his life.

The accounts were of a firm, courageous and hands-on Samuel Sitta. “I knew Mr Sitta since 1975 when I joined active politics. He campaigned for me and we later worked together as ministers,’’ she said, adding: “We worked together in Parliament when he was the speaker and I was his deputy for five consecutive years.

He surely accorded me any necessary assistance,’’ she remarked. In his tribute, Mr Msekwa said Mr Sitta was a good leader, fighter who made everything for his nation possible.

“When he succeeded me, he made immediate amendments in the Parliamentary Standing Orders that brought influential changes in the Parliament,’’ he said.

Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr Paul Makonda, CCM Spokesperson, Mr Ole Sendeka and the Minister of State in the President’s Office, Public Service Management and Good Governance, Ms Angela Kairuki, are among the leaders that eulogised the man commonly known as “The man of Speed and Standards.”

Mr Makonda elicited emotions to thousands of people who thronged the Karimjee Hall grounds as he narrated his education and family escapades and Mr Sitta’s interventions.

“In 2010 when I was studying at the Moshi University College of Cooperatives and Business Studies (MUCCoBS), I could not get money for my tuition fees. Therefore, I went to CCM headquarters to seek assistance.

On the same day I met Mzee Sitta who promised to help me until I finished my studies,’’ he narrated.Mr Makonda went on to say that Mr Sitta continued to help him and that he introduced him to his family.

He said even when he was preparing to get married; the fallen leader was the main organiser of the pre-wedding meetings. “The day he left for Germany for treatment, as a family member I carried him into an ambulance and at the airport, I prayed for him before boarding time,’’ he added.

Representing the ruling party, Mr Ole Sendeka remarked: “I just can’t explain my feelings today. I worked with Mr Sitta and he was a great man.

Mr Sitta introduced the Constituency Development Catalyst Fund (CDCF), that is currently helping MPs to undertake development projects in their constituencies.

Paying tribute on behalf of the government, Ms Kairuki said Mr Sitta wrote his own history for the record of accomplishment he set in Parliament and in various leadership positions in the executive since 1967.

“Mr Sitta did so many things that we need to cherish as we bid him farewell and he has indeed left us with a big gap that is hard to fill, what we can only do is to begin from where he ended,’’ she said.

The former speaker and cabinet member died in the wee hours of Monday at the Technical University Hospital in Munich, Germany, where he had been flown for medical treatment. He was admitted to the Clinic of Nuclear Medicine.

Meanwhile, CHRISTOPHER MAJALIWA reports from Dodoma that Members of Parliament (MPs) have described the former Speaker of the National Assembly, the late Samuel Sitta, as a man of unparallelled leadership skills who thrived to create an independent, powerful and free legislative body. 

In their eulogies yesterday before paying their last respects to the fallen former speaker, the MPs including Prime Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa and current Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Job Ndugai, explained that Sitta’s legacy will remain in Tanzanians’ minds.

Premier Majaliwa said the late Sitta will be remembered for his broad-shouldered endeavour in strengthening democracy and standing firm on national interest issues.

Mr Majaliwa stated that even if he was given days or weeks to explain former speaker’s contribution to the country’s democracy, he would not manage to describe the whole lot. “He applied well his education, strength and talent to lead in various positions he held ... we have lost a strong leader,” the premier said.

Speaker Ndugai commented that the transformations he made in the legislative body leadership remain exemplary.

Having served as the chairman of the National Assembly under the leadership of Sitta, Mr Ndugai expounded that the late long serving cabinet minister groomed him and other two House chairpersons into competent leaders.