EAC: Mengi played important role in regional integration

Arusha. The East African Community (EAC) has hailed the late Reginald Mengi for his immense contribution in the development of private sector in the region.

It said the former business mogul and executive chairman of the IPP Group Limited was instrumental during the negotiations of the EAC Customs Union Protocol which was signed in 2004.

“Indeed the late Mengi played a big role in deepening the EAC integration process,” said the secretary general Liberat Mfumukeko.

Mengi, the self-made media magnate and philanthropist, died last Thursday in the United Arab Emirates at the age of 77. He will be buried at his Nkuu home village in Hai District, Kilimanjaro Region tomorrow.

Thousands of people lined up in Dar es Salaam streets on Monday to say goodbye to the businessman who touched the lives of many.

In a condolence message sent to IPP Group of Companies, a Dar es Salaam-based conglomerate, the late tycoon was showered praise for his immense contribution to regional integration.

“He was very instrumental and contributed immensely during the negotiations for the EAC Customs Union Protocol,” the EAC chief said in a statement released yesterday.

The late Mengi was the chairman of the East African Business Council (EABC), an apex body of private sector associations and corporates based in Arusha between 2008 and 2009.

He is credited to have spearheaded the private sector views during the negotiations for the EAC Common Market protocol and advocated for its signing.

EABC was established by the region’s business fraternity in 1997 shortly after the re-launching of the Community to drive the EAC integration process through trade and investment.