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MP Wangwe`s burial put on hold
2008-08-01 10:49:29
By Bigambo Jeje, PST, Tarime
Arrangements for the burial of Tarime legislator Chacha Zakayo Wangwe (52) were shelved yesterday following demands by members of his family for a police report with full details on the cause of his death.
Family spokesman Prof. Samwel Wangwe, who is also the late MP’s elder brother, revealed that clan members had met a few hours before the scheduled burial time and decided that a family doctor should examine the body to certify the cause of the death.
The decision followed suspicions that the opposition Chadema MP sustained bullet wounds and had not actually died in a car accident as officially reported.
``As clan members, we have unanimously resolved to put his burial on hold until our family doctor arrives from Dar es Salaam and conducts a thorough examination of the body and issues an official report on his death,`` said Prof. Wangwe.
He requested the government, through Tarime District Commissioner Stanley Kolimba, to bear with the family ``until the family doctor is through with the autopsy``.
The professor explained that a second medical examination by a medical expert in whom family members had full confidence was of fundamental importance ``because the family has no faith in the first medical report that suggests that he died in a road accident``.
The family members also called on the police to ``interrogate very closely`` Deus Mallya, the person said to have been with the legislator at the time of the said accident.
They said there were indications that Mallya was the first person to witness the tragic incident near Kongwa in Dodoma Region on Monday night and he would thus be in position to give proper details on what happened.
Some clan members who made a close physical examination of the body concurred with other mourners that there were ``very strong indications`` that the MP was shot in the mouth, with the fatal bullet tearing through the backside of the head.
As the controversial reports spread, groups of young men went on the rampage and demanded thorough elaboration on the death of the legislator, with some hurling stones in all directions.
Others moved around holding placards with all manner of messages, including: `Did you really die in a road accident or was it an assassination?``, `Why is it that most people fighting for human rights die in so-called accidents or blood pressure complications?`, `No burial before the truth comes to light`, and `There must be something sinister behind your death`.
A timetable earlier drawn up and released by Mara regional authorities showed that the MP was to be buried at his home village of Kemakorere yesterday afternoon.
Scores of leaders representing political parties had gathered there alongside hundreds of other mourners ready for the solemn occasion.
Reverend Muso Stephen of the Seventh Day Adventist Church was scheduled to lead the service.
But it was ultimately announced that the burial had been put off until further notice.
The government was represented at the occasion by Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives minister Stephen Wasira, while party leaders present included Zanzibar CCM deputy secretary general Salehe Ramadhan Feruzi and Chadema national chairman Freeman Mbowe, secretary general Wilbrod Slaa and deputy secretary general Zitto Kabwe.
Among the others were Mara regional CCM chairman Charles Makongoro Nyerere, CCM National Executive Committee member Christopher Gachuma, TLP national chairman Augustine Mrema, and NCCR-Mageuzi national chairman James Mbatia.
Police reports say the Tarime MP died at Pandambili village, some 100 kilometers from Dodoma on the Morogoro-Dodoma highway, when the saloon car he was travelling in was involved in an accident.
The car was badly damaged but Mallya, the only person said to have been travelling with the MP, sustained minor injuries.
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