Catholic Church Bishop for Rulenge-Ngara Diocese, Severine Niwemugizi
Chato. The Catholic Church Bishop for Rulenge-Ngara Diocese Severine Niwemugizi has on Thursday said that it was after an order from President John Magufuli that the immigration department returned his passport.
Bishop Niwemugizi is known for speaking his mind, something that has landed him in trouble on numerous occasions with authorities in the past.
In September 2017, he was summoned by immigration officials after he said that Magufuli’s presidency would fail if he did not resume the stalled constitutional review process.
The immigration officials then confiscated Bishop Niwemugizi’s passport and details of what happened there after has been scanty.
Today, while leading a burial mass for the body of Dr Magufuli at the Mary the Virgin Catholic Church in Chato, Bishop Niwemuguzi said the departed leader ordered immigration officials to return him his passport.
This, he said , it was all due to his belief that being a Bishop he was the person who would lead a mass at his burial.
Dr Magufuli died at Mzena Hospital in Dar es Salaam on March 17 after suffering heart complications.
Tanzanians have been paying last respect to the fallen leader during the exercise that started in Dar es Salaam before proceeding to Dodoma, Zanzibar, Mwanza and Chato in Geita Region and that he is expected to be buried here today.
"This is the second time I'm telling you that President Magufuli told me in 2015 that being a Bishop, I'm the person who would bury him. In the second time, he instructed the immigration commissioner to return my passport hinting on the same reasons," he said.
He added: "My response to the Head of State has been that nobody knows who will die first, therefore let it be a responsibility of the person who will remain behind to take care of the burial of another."
According to him, the content of their conversation has come true following the death of Dr Magifuli who served the country in various ministerial positions before becoming president after winning the 2015 General Election.
The Bishop who commended, the late President for efficient execution of his duties, cited verses in the Holly Bible as he called on church believers to get prepared for death.
He reminded the audience of songs composed by a Tanzanian musician, the late Ramadhani Mtoro aka Dr Remmy Ongala on how death saying has no mercy.
"The musician says in the song that he would appeal against death, something all of us in the Rulenge -Ngara Diocese would have done for Dr Magufuli to continue serving the country," he said.
The Bishop said Dr Magufuli has left the world through the first death, noting that the buring question was whether he will overcome the second death. However, the country should believe that he has rested in peace.
He hailed President Samia Sukuhu Hassan, challenging her to fulfill the promise he made to emulate her predecessor, ex-president, Dr Magufuli.
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