Chakwera leaves for Magufuli state funeral in Tanzania

President Lazarus  Chakwera has this morning left the country for Dodoma, Tanzania to attend the state funeral of that country’s former president, John Pombe Magufuli.

Chakwera was seen off at Kamuzu International Airport  in Lilongwe by vice president Saulos Chilima, cabinet ministers, government and party officials.

Speaking before departure, Chakwera described Magufuli as a visionary leader with whom he shared transformative plans for the mutual benefit of the people of the two countries.

“He was a man whom I related with so well. He was a man who ran with a vision and a mission because he knew that he had a special ministry,” he said.

The president has since called upon the people of Tanzania to forge ahead in creating a Tanzania that the late Magufuli wanted.

“My deepest condolences to the people of Tanzania. I believe that the Tanzanians will not only accept this, but move on to achieve and be a kind of people that Magufuli always wanted them to be,” said the President.

The state funeral will take place at the Jamhuri Stadium in Dodoma.

The Malawi leader is expected  to return later in the afternoon at around 15:30 hrs through the KIA  in Lilongwe. —Additional reporting by Patricia Kapulula, Mana