Msiba Boston - Bibi Sipora Minani

 Familia ya Mzee David Mvuyenkure, wa Chelsea, Massachusetts, USA inasikitika kutangaza kifo cha mpendwa wao..Bi Sipora Minani, kilichotokea jan, Ijumaa Tarehe 13, Januari nyumbani kwao.  Alikuwa ni muamini wa siku nyingi wa kanisa la The International Gospel Church, Chelsea, Ma.

Mipango ya mazishi ni yafuatayo:

The Late SIPORA MINANI  

1950 – January 13^th, 2023

Wake and Viewing

  Thursday, January 19^th, 2023   from 4:00PM to 8:00PM

Vazza Beechwood Funeral Home - 262 Beach St, Revere, MA 02151

Funeral

Friday, January 20^th, 2023 

Viewing from 9:30 – 11:00AM

Service 11:00AM – 12:30PM

Vazza Beechwood Funeral Home - 262 Beach St, Revere, MA 02151

Burial 

Woodlawn Cemetery   - 302 Elm St, Everett, MA 02149

Repas Immediately After Burial

The International Gospel Church, 85 Crescent Ave., Chelsea, MA 02150

Please Help Lay Boston Actor Charles L Jackson to Rest!

UPDATE - Charles L. Jackson was laid to rest in his family plot in Springfield, MA on Friday November 1, 2019.   may he rest in eternal peace. Amen.



Please help lay Charles Lee Jackson to rest. He died on October 7, 2019 in his apartment in Dorchester, Massachusetts. His body wasn't found until Wednesday, October 9, 2019 and his notified on October, 10, 2019. His family is struggling to put the money together to give him a proper burial. A GOFUNDME has been set up. Please help if you can. Charles did a lot of background acting work, he also did numerous play in Roxbury, and Boston. He was a father and grandfather. Rest in peace Charles (1955-2019)

https://www.gofundme.com/f/his-final-scenelaying-to-rest-charles-l-jackson

GO FUND ME FOR CHARLES L. JACKSON

The Late Charles Lee A Jackson at Revere Beach in 2011.  

Tanzia - Charles Lee Jackson (Actor) 1955-2019

It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I announce the passing of my friend and acting buddy, Charles Lee Jackson aka. Mzee Matumbi. He was also a fellow member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG AFTRA). He died at his apartment in Dorchester, MA from natural causes. Funeral arrangements are pending. We will miss you Charles.

Rest in eternal peace Charles Lee Jackson 1955-2019

He did background work in several TV shows and  Hollywood movies filmed in the Boston Area.

Charles was nominated for Best Actor in a Short Film, Downbeat, at the Massachusetts Independent Film  Festival  in 2017.

You can see the Late Charles Jackson's acting chops in this short film, Downbeat. He was nominated for Best Actor in a Short film at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival in 2017.

https://vimeo.com/210828895 Best Actor Short: Brooklyn In July - Thaddeus Daniels WINNER What Weighs Us Down - Adam Masnyk Fils (Son) - Herve Sogne Le Risque Zero - Hugues Boucher Downbeat - Charles Jackson http://www.massiff.org/2017nominees

Rest in Peace Robert Mugabe - Former President of Zimbabwe

The Late President Robert Mugabe (1924 -2019)

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Robert Mugabe will be buried at a hilltop shrine reserved exclusively for Zimbabwe's ruling elite, an official said Saturday, as the southern African nation began several days of official mourning.

   Mugabe, who was 95 when he died Friday in Singapore, will be laid to rest in Harare at the National Heroes Acre, which has been set aside for Zimbabweans who have made huge sacrifices during the war against white-minority rule and who dedicated themselves to the nation, which emerged from the ashes of colonial Rhodesia.

   "Comrade Mugabe will be buried at the Heroes Acre," deputy information minister Energy Mutodi said. "That is where he deserves to rest."

   Leo Mugabe, a nephew of Robert Mugabe and a family spokesman, told The Associated Press that the date of the funeral and other details, including when Mugabe's body will arrive in Zimbabwe, weren't yet available.

   "Arrangements are not in place yet," he said in a text message.

   Located on a hilltop, and built with the help of North Korean architects, the plot has a commanding view of Harare, features a huge bronze statue of three guerrilla fighters and boasts black marble and granite flourishes.

   Mugabe is viewed by many as a national hero despite decades of rule that left the country struggling. He was an ex-guerrilla chief who took power in 1980 when Zimbabwe shook off white minority rule and presided for decades while economic turmoil and human rights violations eroded its early promise.

   Mugabe had been forced to relinquish power by a previously loyal military in November 2017.

   Flags flew at half-staff Saturday, but there were no public activities to mark the death of a man who singularly shaped the once-prosperous country in his own image and created a repressive system that some say remains even today.

   Reaction to his death was mixed, although praise ironically came mostly from ruling party officials and military leaders.

   The state-run Herald newspaper, which vilified Mugabe when he was forced to resign and when he subsequently voiced support for the opposition, carried glowing tributes.

   In a "commemorative edition," the newspaper, which often acts as a mouthpiece of the government, carried a montage of his pictures with the headline: "Robert Mugabe-1924-2019" on its front page and glowing reports throughout.

   In an editorial page, the newspaper praised Mugabe for "his uncompromising stance when it came to the rights of Africans."

   "Whatever happened towards the end of his leadership should not be used to rubbish the good things that he did during his life," the commander of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces and one of the commanders who led the military campaign to oust Mugabe after years of propping his rule, was quoted as saying in a separate story in the newspaper.

   Others were less charitable. "95 and out," read the privately-owned Newsday newspaper.

   "Despite his intellectual prowess, Mugabe's failure to let go of power when it was time was his major undoing . In short, he was a liberator who turned villain. Leaders need to know when to draw the line," said the newspaper in an editorial.

   "End of an era as Mugabe dies, leaves Zim poor, divided," read the front page headline of another privately-owned newspaper, the Daily News.

   "Notwithstanding the many mistakes that he made, many Zimbabweans will probably agree that had he not held on to power beyond the 1990s, he would today be largely remembered as one of Africa's best leaders in history," the paper said in an editorial.

   Both newspapers were major targets of Mugabe's vitriol, with editors and reporters routinely arrested during Mugabe's rule.

   On the streets of the capital, Harare, few seemed bothered as people struggled to cope with biting economic problems largely blamed by critics on Mugabe's rule and perpetuated by his successor and an ally who later turned foe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Mnangagwa took power in 2017 with the help of the military.

   "Who cares?" said Percy Maute, a street vendor pushing a cart full of tomatoes along a busy street named after the former president.  "I don't care. I am too busy looking for money to mourn a man who put me in this position."

   A small group of people drank beer and sang pro-Mugabe songs outside a liquor outlet and wore T-shirts with Mugabe's face. Although only a few people cared to join or commiserate with them, they danced vigorously and spoke glowingly of a man they said fought for the liberation of not just Zimbabwe, but "the rest of Africa."

   "Bob was our hero, he taught us that the white man is not a master," they sang. Mugabe was popularly known by the nickname Bob.

Uchu wa Mafuta yaua watu zaidi ya 70 Morogoro - Ajali ya Lori la Mafuta

Jamani wadau, mkiona  mafuta yanavuja kutoka kwenye gari kimbia, siyo mnakimbilia kupata mafuta dezo!  Yanawaka kwa kirahisi mno. Umaskini kitu kibaya sana, maana si ajabu wengine waldihani watuuza hayo mafuta wapate hela ya ugali!   Ona sasa watu zaidi ya  sabini wamepoteza maisha baada yakuungunguzwa! 

Wengine waliokufa ni madereva wa bodaboda na mama nitilie!  Walizoa mafuta hata kwenye ndoo! Na wanasema, mafuta yalilipuka baada ya mtu kuchomoa  betri ya lori  na mtu mwingine alikuwa anavuta sigara!   Nasikia huyo mvuta sigara aliambiwa asivute karibu na mafuta.  Alijibu mafuta ya kisasa hayawezi kuwaka moto! Nadhani watakuwemo kwenye watu waliokufa!

Mungu alaze roho za waliokufa mahala pema mbinguni. Amen.

Kutoka Associated Press

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AP) — A damaged tanker truck exploded in eastern Tanzania as people were trying to siphon fuel out of it Saturday, killing at least 62 in one of the worst incidents of its kind in the East African country.

Tanzanian state broadcaster TBC, citing police figures, said at least 70 more people were injured during the explosion in the town of Morogoro, located about 120 miles (200 kilometers) from the economic hub of Dar es Salaam.

Regional police commissioner Steven Kabwe told the local Azam TV that many suffered serious burns.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that a crowd had gathered around the fuel tanker after it was involved in an accident early Saturday and some people were trying to siphon away fuel when the truck burst into flames.

Video footage posted on social media showed people collecting fuel into jerry cans before the fire incident.

In a statement expressing condolences, Tanzanian President John Magufuli said he was dismayed people attacked vehicles involved in accidents instead of offering help.

Residents are routinely killed by explosions while stealing fuel from incapacitated tankers in East Africa. Those who steal the fuel usually hope to be able to sell it cheaply to motorists.

In 2013, at least 29 people were killed on the outskirts of the Ugandan capital, Kampala, as scores swarmed around the scene of an accident.

There is limited awareness about the danger of explosions of damaged fuel tankers, said Henry Bantu, a road safety expert who runs the Tanzania-based Safe Speed Foundation. Local leaders need to do more to educate people on the risks, he said.

Tazama VIDEO KWA KUBOFYA HAPA:

Watazamaji kwenye shemu ya mlipuko Morogoro

Rest in Peace Hodan Nalayeh

Thanks for your contributions to the Somali Diaspora as well as African Diaspora overall!  Your beautiful  blogs and short films about life in Kismayo  were/are enlightening!  Rest in peace, you are gone too soon.

The late Hodan Nalayeh

By NATALIE SCHACHAR and TRACEY LINDEMAN
Associated Press

   OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) - As bombings and attacks rocked the African nation of Somalia in recent years, Canadian-Somalian journalist Hodan Nalayeh found what she believed was a higher calling: Showcasing the hidden beauty of her homeland and its people.

   On Twitter, she shared posts featuring marine life dangling from the hands of fishermen, a small boat setting out in cerulean waters, and locals holding leopard-spotted stingrays.

   "Dried fish is big business on the island of (hash)Ilisi. They call this fish `Shabeelka Bada,' or `tiger of the ocean,"' Nalayeh wrote Thursday.

   "People save all their lives to have a retirement by the beach, yet we have plenty of it and cannot see its value. Let's appreciate the beautiful blessings we have," she wrote in an earlier posting.

   On Friday, the journalist dedicated to telling positive stories from a country suffering through decades of civil war, extremist attacks and famine was killed along with her husband, Farid Jama Suleiman, entrepreneur Mahad Nur and at least 23 others after a bomb exploded outside the Asasey Hotel in the Somalian city of Kismayo and gunmen stormed inside. Fifty-six other people were wounded in the attack, according to the Jubbaland regional president.

   Somalia's Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility for the 14-hour assault that ended as troops killed the gunmen.

   On Saturday, friends and family reeled as they heard that Nalayeh, 43, a journalist and mother expecting her third child, was among the dead.

   Maaz Khan, a 24-year-old filmmaker in Toronto, said Nalayeh had shared her hard-earned wisdom when he met her a few years ago.

   "She was always very inspiring," he told The Associated Press. "She would say, `It's tough in the beginning, but always push through and don't give up on your passion."'

   Ahmed Hussen, Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, mourned the journalist's death, saying on Twitter that she "highlighted the community's positive stories and contributions in Canada" through her work.

   "We mourn her loss deeply, and all others killed in the (hash)KismayoAttack," he said.

   Nalayeh was born in the northern Somalian city of Las Anod but moved with her parents and 11 siblings to the Canadian province of Alberta in the winter of 1984, when temperatures dropped to -40 degrees Celsius. Her father, a former Somalian diplomat, took a job as a parking attendant, she told Toronto.com in a 2014 interview.

   The family relocated to Toronto in 1992, and Nalayeh later completed a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Windsor and worked in sales and business, she said.

   In the podcast "Meaningful Work, Meaningful Life," Nalayeh told host Francine Beleyi that she made a mid-career pivot, going back to school to earn a postgraduate certificate in broadcast journalism and fulfill her childhood dream of being a journalist and television host. She became the world's first woman Somali media owner, according to statements she made to Canada's Status of Women committee in 2014.

   "I went back to work three months after giving birth. I said "This is not for me anymore," she told Beleyi.

   In 2014, she launched the Integration TV platform as a way to tell Somali stories, moving to the coastal city of Kismayo in 2018 to continue her work after visiting Somalia several times.

   The platform, widely known among members of the Somali diaspora, had gained hundreds of thousands of social media followers in the last five years. It also led Nalayeh to meet Suleiman, who was recently helping to build a drinking well in the drought-stricken African country. The couple was married last November in Kenya, according to her sister.

   Saciido Shaie, a Somali activist in Minnesota, said Nalayeh had wanted her two sons and younger generations of the Somalian diaspora to know about her country of birth.

   "She was like, `I will take this platform and I will use it to shed a light both to Somalians in Somalia and Somalians outside," Shaie said, adding "I'm heartbroken" at her death.

   Aw Hirsi, who knew Nalayeh's husband from their time together as government ministers in Jubbaland, described him as a dedicated husband.

   "He was a magnificent, creative guy who deeply cared for the (average) man. He was so kind, so understanding and down to Earth," Hirsi said.

   Shaie said when someone asked Nalayeh what she would like to be remembered for, the journalist said she didn't want to be "famous and all of that."

   Rather, she said, Nalayeh responded: "I just want people to remember me as someone who is a unifier."


   ---

Terror attack on Kismayo, Somalia Hotel. 26 Dead

The Asasey Hotel in Kismayo, Somali after Al Shabab Terror Attack

By ABDI GULED
Associated Press

   MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Islamic extremists blew up the gate of a Somali hotel with a car bomb and took over the building for more than 14 hours, leaving 26 people dead before Somali forces who besieged the hotel overnight killed the attackers. The victims included a prominent Canadian-Somali journalist.

   Three Kenyans, three Tanzanians, two Americans and a Briton also were among the dead, said Ahmed Madobe, the president of Jubbaland regional state which controls Kismayo. Fifty-six people, including two Chinese, were injured in the hotel attack, he told reporters.

   At least four al-Shabab assailants attacked the Asasey Hotel Friday evening, beginning with a suicide car bomb at the entrance gate and followed by an assault by gunmen who stormed the hotel, which is frequented by politicians, patrons and lawmakers.

   The attack lasted more than 14 hours before troops shot dead all attackers inside the hotel compound, Col. Abdiqadir Nur, a local police officer, told The Associated Press.

   Somalia's Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility for the attack. Al-Shabab, which is allied to al-Qaida, often uses car bombs to infiltrate heavily fortified targets like the hotel in Kismayo, which has been relatively quiet in recent years.

   The attack is a blow to the Somalia government's efforts to hold nation-wide, one-person one-vote elections next year.

   Security officials cordoned off the site of the attack and prevented journalists from taking photos or video of the damaged hotel and in some cases destroyed journalists' cameras. Government officials have not been available for further interviews.

   Canadian journalist Hodan Nalayeh and her husband, Farid Jama Suleiman, died in the attack, Mogadishu-based independent radio station Radio Dalsan confirmed to AP.

   "I'm absolutely devastated by the news of the death of our dear sister Hodan Nalayeh and her husband in a terrorist attack in Somalia today. What a loss to us. Her beautiful spirit shined through her work and the way she treated people," Omar Suleiman, a Texas-based imam who knew the victim, wrote on social media.

   Nalayeh was born in Somalia in 1976, but spent most of her life in Canada, first in Alberta and then in Toronto. She founded Integration TV, an international web-based video production company aimed at Somali viewers around the world. She was the first Somali woman media owner in the world.

   Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen mourned Hodan Nalayeh's death on Twitter, saying she "highlighted the community's positive stories and contributions in Canada" through her work as a journalist. "We mourn her loss deeply, and all others killed in the (hash)KismayoAttack," he wrote.

   Nalayeh's endless "positivity" and "love for people" was inspiring, said Canada's New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horwath on Twitter.

   "In Ontario, Hodan launched (at)IntegrationTV to tell the beautiful stories of the Somali Diaspora, and took that same humanity and love to her reporting and storytelling in Somalia. My thoughts are with her family, and the victims of the (hash)Kismayo attack during this horrific time."

   A top official of the African Union condemned the attack.

   "This is an attack meant to derail progress in Somalia as the country rebuilds and consolidates the gains made on peace and security," said Francisco Madeira, special representative of the chairman of the African Union Commission. "Somalia has made tremendous progress in seizing territory and pushing out the terrorists from many places across the country."

   He said the African Union's multinational force in Somalia will continue to work to stabilize the country.

   ---

Kongamano la Kumuenzi Fidel Castro

Nilibahatika kuhudhuria japo kwa muda mfupi Kongamano ya Kumuenzi Marahemu Rais Fidel Castor wa Cuba, iliyofanyika mjini Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, jumapili iliyopita December 11, 2016 kwenye hall ya Taasisi ya Watu Wazima. (Symposium to Honor the Legacy of Fidel Castro).  Waliongolea jinsi Castor alivyotoka kwenye familia ya matajiri lakini alipenda kusaidia na kunyanua maskini.  Pia jinsi Cuba ilivyosaidia Tanzania.

Jenerali Ulimwengu Akiongea

Audience Participants

The Symposium Leaders

Aliyekuwa Rais wa Cuba , Fidel Castro Afariki Dunia

Rais Castro na Mwalimu Julius Nyerere mwaka 1977

Aliyekuwa Rais wa Cuba, Fidel Castro, amefariki dunia akiwa na umri wa miaka 90.  Castro alifariki usiku wa kuamkia leo.  Mdogo wake, Rais Raoul Castro aliwatangazia waCuba kuwa Castro amefariki saa nne na nusu usiku.  Alisema kuwa maiti ya kaka yake itachomwa moto leo (cremation) huko Cuba. Kutakuwa na Misa ya kumkumbuka  Taifa la Cuba itakuwa na siku kadhaa za kuomboleza.

Rais Raoul Castro alivyowantangazia wananchi:

The commander in chief of the Cuban revolution died at 22:29 hours this evening (03:29 GMT Saturday)," he said. "Towards victory, always!" he added, using a revolutionary slogan.

Marehemu Castro anakumbukwa kwa kuwa Dikteta. Alipindua serikali ya Cuba mwaka 1959, na hakutoka madarakani hadi mwaka 2006.  Alimwachia madaraka mdoo wake Raoul.  Castro alifanya mengi kusaidi nchi za Afrika ikiwemo Tanzania. Nchi ya Marekani waliweka vizuizi vingi juu ya Cuba ili kujaribu kumkomesha Castro lakini walishindwa.

Video ya Ziara ya Rais Castro nchini Tanzania kwa hisani ya AP

Rest in Peace Sharon Jones

The Late Singer Sharon Jones 1956-2016

   NEW YORK (AP) - Sharon Jones, the stout powerhouse who shepherded a soul revival despite not finding stardom until middle age, has died. She was 60.

   Jones' representative, Judy Miller Silverman, said Jones died Friday at a Cooperstown, New York, hospital after battling pancreatic cancer. Loved ones and members of her retro-soul band, the Dap-Kings, were among those surrounding her, Silverman said.

   The story of Jones' battle with cancer, first diagnosed in 2013, was told in Barbara Kopple's documentary, "Miss Sharon Jones!" released earlier this year. Though she triumphantly returned to the stage in 2015 after the cancer went into remission, Jones late last year announced its return. Still, Jones mounted another comeback with the defiant single "I'm Still Here" and hit the road again this summer with the Dap-Kings even while undergoing chemotherapy.

   "You got to be brave," a debilitated Jones told the Associated Press in July , in between tour stops. "I want to use the time that I have. I don't want to spend it all laid up, wishing I had done that gig."

   Jones' death was immediately noted on social media and throughout the music industry. The British producer Mark Ronson, who brought the Dap-Kings in to play backing band to Amy Winehouse on her breakthrough album, "Back to Black," said, "Sharon Jones had one of the most magnificent, gut-wrenching voices of anyone in recent time."

   The youngest of six children, Sharon Lafaye Jones was born on May 4, 1956, in Augusta, Georgia. Her family lived in nearby North Augusta, South Carolina, across the Savannah River from the birthplace of James Brown. Jones, who would grow into a dynamic, show-stopping performer, grew up idolizing the Godfather of Soul and would later be frequently tagged as "the female James Brown."

   But for decades, such a fate was unimaginable. On "I'm Still Here," she sings of being turned down by music executives for being "too short, too fat, too black and too old."

   After growing up in Brooklyn (her mother moved to escape an abusive husband), Jones regularly sang gospel at her church, performed for years in a wedding band and sang back-up for various session bands. To make ends meet, she worked as a corrections officer at the Rikers Island jail complex and was a bank security guard.

   But in one recording session, she caught the attention of Gabriel Roth and Philip Lehman. The two, blown away by Jones' fiery voice, made her the lead singer of their newly formed Dap-Kings and launched the Bushwick, Brooklyn-based label, Daptone Records, around her unlikely star power.

   They debuted with 2002's "Dap-Dippin' With Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings," released when Jones was 46. Three more albums followed in the ensuing decade, and two compilations. Standouts included a soulful rendition of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" and the single "100 Days, 100 Nights," in which she belts: "100 days, 100 nights to know a man's heart/ And a little more, before, he knows his own."

   The sound, backed by walls of horns and tightly guided by bandleader Roth, was propelled by Jones' grit and ferocity. For her, soul and survival went hand in hand. Her torrid performances began, like Brown's, with a prolonged introduction from her bandmates.

   Jones never disparaged the better-selling British soul revival led by Ronson and Winehouse that coincided with her rise. But she wasn't shy about claiming to be the more genuine article.

   "We've been there, and we're still doin' this," Jones told New York magazine in 2010. "In another few years, what are they gonna be doin'?"

   Their sixth album, "Give the People What They Want" earned Jones her first Grammy nomination for best R&B album. Their last album, "It's a Holiday Soul Party," was released last year.

   Kopple witnessed the charismatic Jones light up hospital wards while undergoing chemo. "When people are around or there's an audience, that gives her fuel and she forgets her pain," the director said ahead of the release of "Miss Sharon Jones!"

   Even while suffering the effects of her cancer and its treatments, the workmanlike Jones toured relentlessly

   "It's therapy," Jones said of performing in July. "I know I need rest and sleep. But I want to work and that is our job."

Mazishi ya Marehemu Mzee Richard Binagi Yafanyika Jijini Dar es Salaam

Mazishi ya Mzee Richard Binagi (88) aliyefariki dunia Jumanne Novemba 08,2016 Jijini Dar es salaam baada ya kuugua, yamefanyika jana Jumamosi Novemba 12,2016 nyumbani kwake Kipunguni Jijini Dar es salaam. Alikuwa askari mstaafu wa JWTZ.

Na BMG

Taratibu za kuuaga mwili wa Mzee Binagi zikifanyika

Askari wa JWTZ wakitoa heshima za mwisho kwa mwili wa marehemu Mzee Richard Binagi

Askari wa JWTZ wakiusindikiza malaloni mwili wa Mzee Richard Binagi

Gwaride la heshima

Gwaride la heshima

Askari wa JWTZ wakitoa heshima zao 

Wanafamilia (Profesa Lloyd Binagi na mkewe) wakiweka shada la maua

Wanafamilia (Mzee Chacha Binagi na mkewe) wakiweka shada la maua

Wanafamilia (Mama Binagi) akiweka shada la maua

Wanafamilia (Zakari Binagi na mkewe) wakiweka shada la maua

Wanafamilia wakiweka shada la maua

Wanafamilia wakiweka shada la maua

Wanafamilia wakiweka shada la maua

Wanafamilia

Wanafamilia

Wanafamilia

Ndugu, jamaa na marafiki

Bonyeza HAPA Kuhusu Msiba

Mh. Zitto Kabwe Amkumbuka Marehemu Mh. Samuel Sitta

Mh. Zitto Kabwe akiongea na Mh. Samuel Sitta nje ya Karimjee Hall Miaka ya Nyuma

Makala hii imeandikwa na Zitto Zuberi Kabwe, Mbunge wa Kigoma Mjini na Kiongozi wa Chama cha upinzani cha ACT-Wazalendo

ALFAJIRI ya Novemba 7, 2016, tuliamka na kukutana na habari za kusikitisha ya kwamba mzee Samwel John Sitta, Spika Mstaafu wa Bunge la Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania ametangulia mbele ya haki.

Mimi, kwa sababu ya heshima zangu kwake, nilikuwa nikimwita Babu. Ninafahamu kwamba alikuwa mgonjwa kwa kitambo kidogo akisumbuliwa na saratani ya tezi dume. Habari hizi zilisambaa kwa kasi kubwa kupitia mitandao ya kijamii. 

Hatimaye taarifa rasmi ikatoka kuthibitisha habari hizo.

Sitta aliitumikia nchi yetu kwa muda mrefu na kwa uadilifu mkubwa sana. Sisi wengine pia kwa kiasi fulani kukua kwetu kisiasa kumetokana na utumishi wake uliotukuka kwa nchi yetu alipokuwa Spika wa Bunge la Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania.

Babu yangu huyu ananigusa mimi binafsi moja kwa moja. Alikuwa mtu wangu wa karibu. Tukiwa bungeni akiniandikia kitu alikuwa akitumia neno hilo “babu” kwa mwandiko wake mzuri usiotoka kwenye kumbukumbu zangu kabisa.

Labda siku zijazo, ‘vi- note’ hivi vinaweza kuchapishwa pindi watafiti watakapokuwa wakiandika historia ya nchi yetu na Bunge letu.

Aliniapisha kiapo cha ubunge tarehe 29/12/2005. Maneno ambayo aliniambia baada ya kunikabidhi Kanuni za Bunge na Katiba ya Nchi niliyaandika kwenye daftari langu la kumbukumbu siku hiyohiyo jioni.

Baada ya kula kiapo cha Utii na cha Uaminifu, kawaida wabunge hupewa mkono na mwapishaji na kupewa nyaraka za kazi. Kwa upande wangu, Sitta alinikumbatia na kuniambia “ utakuwa kiongozi muhimu sana kwa nchi yetu. You have a bright future”.

Maneno haya hayajawahi kutoka katika kumbukumbu zangu na kila nikipata misukosuko yangu kisiasa huyakumbuka na wakati mwengine yeye mwenyewe alikuwa akinipigia na kunikumbusha na kunitia moyo. Babu alikuwa mlezi wa wanasiasa vijana.

Sitta pia naweza kusema amenilea kwa kunisomesha. Mwaka 1996 nilikuwa mwanafunzi wa Shule ya Sekondari ya Galanos jijini Tanga nikisomea mchepuo wa Historia, Jiografia na Uchumi (HGE).

Hali ya hewa ya Tanga haikunipenda, hivyo nikawa naumwa umwa sana. Pia nilitaka kusoma Hesabu badala ya Historia.

Wakati wa likizo ya mwezi Disemba mwaka 1996, nilitoka Tanga nikaenda Dar es Salaam, Wizara ya Elimu kuomba uhamisho kwenda shule yenye Somo la Hesabu, kidato cha Tano na Sita.

Nikakataliwa. Lakini nikaambiwa kuwa Mkurugenzi wa Elimu ya Sekondari wakati ule, Alexander Ndeki, alisoma na Sitta. Kipindi hicho Sitta akiwa Mkurugenzi wa Investments Promotion Centre (IPC) kabla haijabadilishwa jina kuwa Tanzania Investments Centre (TIC).

Nikaenda ofisi za IPC mahala ambapo leo ni CRDB Tawi la Azikiwe. Nilipofika Katibu Muhtasi wake akaniuliza kama nina miadi na bosi wake, nikasema hapana. Akaniambia hawezi kukuona. Nikasisitiza sana na kumlilia dada yule aniruhusu dakika chache tu. Akaniruhusu.

Nilipofika Sitta aliniuliza shida zangu kwa heshima kubwa. Nikamwambia kwamba ninataka kuhama shule. Akaniomba matokeo yangu ya Kidato cha Nne, nikampa maana nilikuwa natembea nayo.

Alipoyasoma akaniambia, “ wewe hupaswi kuhangaika kutafuta shule maana kwa matokeo yako unaweza kusoma shule yeyote nchini ya chaguo lako”.

Akainua simu akampigia Ndeki. Kisha akaniandikia kikaratasi niende wizarani muda uleule. Nilipofika wizarani nikapewa uhamisho kwenda Shule ya Sekondari Mazengo.

Nilipotoka nje ya wizara, nikakutana na kijana mwengine anaomba uhamisho, yeye anatoka Mazengo anataka kwenda Tosamaganga, Iringa. Akaniambia, achana na Mazengo hakuna Mwalimu wa Uchumi na hali ya vyoo ni mbaya sana. Nikarudi kwa Mkurugenzi.

Mzee aliyenipa uhamisho aliponiona narudi na kumwambia sitaki Mazengo akachukua fomu zangu za uhamisho na akachukua ‘whiteout’ akafuta Mazengo na kuweka Tosamaganga huku akisema kwa hasira “ nyie watoto wa wakubwa bwana”.

Sikujali nikaenda zangu Tosa kusoma Uchumi, Jiografia na Hesabu (EGM). Tangu wakati huo, Sitta akaendelea kufuatilia maendeleo yangu shuleni hapo, kisha Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam na baadaye Taasisi ya InWent nchini Ujerumani.

Nilipotoka Ujerumani kusoma masomo ya Juu ya Biashara ya Kimataifa mwaka 2004, ilipaswa niwe na mradi wa kitaaluma. Nikachagua kuunganisha kampuni za Kijerumani na zile za Tanzania kwa kuandika mradi wa kuchukua wafanyabishiara 20 kutoka Tanzania na kuwaunganisha na wengine 20 kutoka nchi za Jumuiya ya Ulaya.

Ilibidi kupata Taasisi ya Tanzania kwa ajili mradi huo na Sitta akawa mstari wa mbele kuhakikisha mradi unafanikiwa na tukautekeleza kwa umakini kwa msaada wa afisa wa TIC aitwaye Phina Lyimo.

Mwaka mmoja baadaye, tukakutana na Sitta bungeni, yeye akiwa Mbunge wa Jimbo la Urambo Mashariki na mimi nikiwa Mbunge wa Jimbo la Kigoma Kaskazini. Ulezi wake ukaendelea mpaka mauti yalipomkuta wiki hii. Nimempoteza Babu mlezi.

Sitta alikuwa mwana mageuzi (reformer) na kupitia uanamageuzi wake alifanya mabadiliko makubwa sana katika uendeshaji wa Shughuli za Bunge.

Sisi tuliohudumu kwenye Bunge la Tisa, tukimwita Spika wa Kasi na Viwango, tuliona wenyewe juhudi zake za kuliweka Bunge katika nafasi yake ya Kikatiba. Licha ya kuhakikisha kuwa maslahi ya wabunge yanakuwa yanayolingana na hadhi ya Bunge, alihakikisha pia kuwa Bunge linaisimamia Serikali sawasawa.

Haikuwa kazi rahisi sana kwani kulikuwa na mvutano mkubwa sana kati ya Spika Sitta na Waziri Mkuu, Edward Lowasa, katika kuleta mabadiliko hayo.

Tulikuwa tunaambiwa kuwa mvutano ule ulitokana na tetesi kwamba Sitta ndiye alipaswa kuwa Waziri Mkuu wa Tanzania na hivyo kuwa na msuguano na aliyeteuliwa kushika nafasi hiyo.

Sio Sitta wala Lowasa ambaye alithibitisha ama kukanusha tetesi zile. Sitta ametangulia mbele ya haki, labda Lowasa ataweza kusemea hili siku za usoni.

Sitta alitumia fursa ya msuguano huo kufanya mabadiliko makubwa ya kanuni za Bunge na kutoa uhuru mpana wa mawazo ndani ya Bunge na kuhakikisha kuwa Taarifa za Kamati za Bunge na hususan Kamati za Usimamizi wa Serikali zinakuwa zinasomwa na kujadiliwa ndani ya Bunge kwa mujibu wa Kanuni.

Wakati wa Bunge la Nane, taarifa za CAG hazikuwahi kusomwa hata mara moja. Ni kutokana na mabadiliko haya ya kanuni ndipo Kamati ya Bunge ya Hesabu za Mashirika ya Umma (POAC ) ilianzishwa mwezi Machi, mwaka 2008. Nilichaguliwa kuwa Mwenyekiti wa kwanza wa Kamati ile na kuingia kwenye Kamati ya Uongozi ya Bunge ambayo kipindi hicho tuliiona kama Kamati ya wabunge wazee.

Namna nilivyoingia kuwa Mwenyekiti wa POAC nayo ni hadithi nyengine ya namna ya malezi ya kiuongozi yaliyofanywa na Spika Sitta.

Sikuwa nimejaza fomu kuomba Kamati ya POAC. Wakati huo ulikuwa ni wakati wa vuguvugu la Buzwagi (Mkataba wa Madini uliosainiwa kwa siri na Waziri wa Nishati Hotelini nchini Uingereza ).

Nilikuwa mjini Bagamoyo kwenye kazi za Kamati ya Bomani nikiwa na Harrison Mwakyembe na Ezekiel Maige. Spika wa Bunge akanipigia simu, akaniambia “ Babu, kesho kuna uchaguzi wa Kamati za Bunge.

“Nimekuteua Kamati ya POAC ambayo ni kamati mpya itakayokuwa chini ya Kambi ya Upinzani. Najua hukuomba kuwa mjumbe wa kamati hii, lakini nahitaji damu changa kwenye Kamati ya Uongozi ya Bunge.

“Naomba unikubalie na kesho uwepo Dar es Salaam kwa ajili ya uchaguzi na ugombee. Utashinda maana nimeshafanya kazi yangu”. Sikuwa na namna ya kukataa japo nilitaka sana kuendelea kuwa Kamati ya Fedha na Uchumi chini ya Dk. Abdallah Kigoda, ama Kamati ya Nishati na Madini chini ya William Shelukindo.

Ombi la mzee ni amri. Nikawa Mwenyekiti wa POAC na kuwa mmoja wa washauri wakuu wa Spika wa Bunge. Kamati ya PAC ikawa chini ya John Cheyo na Kamati ya LAAC ikawa chini ya Dk. Willibrod Slaa. Ilikuwa ni Bunge lenye meno kwelikweli.

Sitta alikuwa mbabe. Ubabe wake ulimpelekea kufanya maamuzi ambayo wakati mwingine yalimweka kwenye matatizo na wananchi. Mfano mzuri ni suala la Hoja Binafsi ya Buzwagi na Hoja ya Wizi wa Fedha Benki Kuu ( EPA).

Mwanzoni, Spika alikuwa upande wa wabunge wenye hoja hiyo, mimi na Slaa kiasi cha kuziboresha hoja zile kwa kalamu yake mwenyewe. Wabunge wa chama chake hawakuwa wanapenda hoja hizi na hivyo Lowasa akamweka kwenye wakati mgumu sana wa kuegemea upande wa serikali.

Hoja ya Slaa akaitupa kuwa ‘ ni makaratasi ya kuokoteza’. Hoja yangu akaiingiza bungeni na akasimamia kusimamishwa kwangu Bunge.

Wananchi walimkasirikia sana. Siku moja usiku, nikiwa nyumbani kwa Freeman Mbowe Mikocheni, Samwel Sitta, akanipigia simu kulalamika kuwa wafuasi wangu wanamtukana kwa sms. Akaniambia niwakataze. Nilimkubalia tu, lakini sikuwa na uwezo huo.

Spika Samwel Sitta akawa ni Spika pekee wa nchi yetu aliyeshuhudia uundwaji wa Serikali mbili ndani ya miaka mitano ya Uspika wake. Mzee Msekwa yeye alikaa miaka 10 na Waziri Mkuu mmoja, ingawa mwaka 1993-1995 naye aliona mabadiliko ya Mwaziri Wakuu, kutoka John Malecela kwenda kwa Msuya.

Baada ya kujiuzulu kwa Lowasa, Sitta hakurudi nyuma tena. Aliendelea kuwa Spika wa viwango mpaka alipomaliza muda wake katika Bunge la Tisa.

Spika Sitta alikuwa mwepesi kuomba msamaha alipokosea.

Nakumbuka siku moja mwaka 2009 alimfukuza bungeni Cheyo kwa makosa ambayo mzee Cheyo hakufanya. Baadhi yetu tukakasirishwa na kitendo kile.

Nikaenda kumwona Sitta ofisini kumwuliza kulikoni amdhalilishe mwenzake namna ile. Akanieleza kuwa hakuwa sawa na atamwomba radhi Cheyo.

Tukiwa kwenye Kamati ya Uongozi ya Bunge, kwa ajenda zake za kawaida tu, Sitta akamwomba radhi Cheyo. Nikikumbuka kisa hiki nacheka sana maana Jaji Frederick Werema aliyekuwa Mwanasheria Mkuu wa Serikali alicheka mpaka kuanguka chini. Sababu?

Sitta aliketi kwenye kiti chake, wenyeviti wote wa Kamati tukiwa tumetulia tuanze kikao. Mzee Sitta akasema “ John, naomba radhi kwa tukio lililotokea bungeni wiki iliyopita.

“Sijui nilikuwa nina nini siku hiyo, nadhani nilisumbuliwa na watu wanaopitapita jimboni kutaka kunitoa, nisamehe mzee mwenzangu”.

Baada ya maneno hayo ukumbi mzima ulitawaliwa na vicheko na Cheyo akamkubalia radhi yake huku naye akicheka na yakaishia hapo. Wazee hawa wawili wameandika pamoja kitabu “ Bunge lenye Meno”. 

Nimwelezeje zaidi Babu? Nimwelezeje zaidi Spika huyu wa Kasi na Viwango? Mwanasiasa shupavu, jasiri, mwenye ngozi ngumu, mbabe, mnyenyekevu inapobidi na mwenye uthubutu.

Tangulia Babu. Tangulia Mtemi wa Unyanyembe Samwel John Sitta. 

Raia Mwema