Dar Mayor eulogises Mzee Sykes as his ‘mentor’

BERNARD LUGONGO7

Former Dar es Salaam City mayor Kleist Sykes

FRESH details have surfaced over the last days of former Dar es Salaam Mayor, Kleist Sykes who passed away yesterday, that he usually visited the incumbent Mayor, Mr Isaya Mwita to offer him pieces of advice on how to rebuild the city.

Mzee Sykes who would be buried today at the Kisutu Cemetery after funeral services in his Kawe home in Dar es Salaam, died yesterday in the morning at the Aga Khan Hospital in the city, where he was admitted for treatment. The fifth mayor, who was at the helm of the city from 2000 to 2005, was like he wanted his ideas to live on after realising that his days were painfully coming to an end.

Mr Mwita, while speaking to the Daily News yesterday upon hearing of the sad news, admitted that despite Mzee Sykes’s struggle with the undisclosed ailment, he routinely visited him in his office to share his experiences and advised him on how to go about his duties.

“Specifically, there was a day he came here with some people supporting him to walk. We talked at length and he advised me on things connected with issues in my office and operations, I will never forget him,” he pointed out.

On his eulogy, Mayor Mwita described Sykes’s family as a people, who had a long history in the struggle for independence in Tanzania, adding: “His father was one of the aides of the founder of the nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere during the independence struggle.”

Recently, when he had already fallen weak, he took time with Mr Mwita discussing a range of issues over the city’s development for the sake of its residents. He said, the fallen former mayor told him to work hard on the idea of introducing Dar Rapid Transit system during his time as mayor.

“During his tenure, Mzee Sykes enthusiastically desired to turn Dar es Salaam into a modern city,” Mr Mwita further said. The late Sykes served as mayor of the city for five years from 2000 to 2005 succeeding Mr Wilson Mukama, who was also preceded by Abdulkarim Karimjee with Mr Amir Abedi and Manilal Mathuradas Devani, being in the list as the first and second mayors respectively.

The list further highlights Mr Adam Kimbisa being the city’s mayor between 2006–2010 and followed by the late Didas Massaburi from 2010 to 2015.