The late Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli’s funeral will be on March 25.
On Friday, newly sworn-in President Samia Suluhu said laid down the procession which will start on Saturday.
From Dar es Salaam, his body will be taken to Dodoma, Mwanza and finally his native home in Chato where he will be laid to rest.
Magufuli died on Wednesday at a Dar es Salaam hospital where he had been receiving treatment for a heart disease.
Before the Tanzanian government communicated of Magufuli’s death, there were questions by the opposition on his whereabouts.
He was last seen in public on February 27.
CHADEMA party leader Tundu Lissu led the opposition in asking the government of Tanzania to speak on the health condition of the deceased president.
“The President’s well-being is a matter of grave public concern. We’re informed when Kikwete had prostate surgery. We’re told when Mkapa went for hip replacement. We’re not kept in the dark when Mwalimu fought leukemia. What’s it with Magufuli that we don’t deserve to know? he posed on March 7.
He went on to claim that Magufuli was covertly receiving treatment at a Kenyan hospital.
On March 10, Lissu who was exiled in Belgium tweeted: “Latest update from Nairobi: The Man Who Declared Victory Over Corona “was transferred to India this afternoon.” Kenyans don’t want the embarrassment “if the worst happens in Kenya.” His COVID denialism in tatters, his prayer-over-science folly has turned into a deadly boomerang.”
After the news of Magufuli’s passing, he said that it was not a big surprise but insisted that the public be told the truth on the cause of the president’s death.
He maintained that Magufuli died from Covid-19 and not a heart disease as the public has been told.
“The only thing that surprises me is that they continue to lie, even now that he is dead, his government continues to lie. Magufuli died of corona.”
