Tanzania: Mwapachu delivers touching eulogy at Mengi funeral

Dar es Salaam. The death of Tanzanian dollar millionaire and executive chairman of IPP Group of Companies, Mr Reginald Mengi, has touched millions of Tanzanians and a veteran diplomat, Ambassador Juma Mwapachu, is one of them.

Eulogizing at the event to pay the last respects to the body of Mr Mengi in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, May 07, 2019, Ambassador Mwapachu said the departed businessman believed in seven issues that shaped his life.

Mr Mengi died on May 2, 2019 – aged 77 - in Dubai and his body was flown to Dar es Salaam on Monday, May 6, 2019.

Speaking at Dar es Salaam’s Karimjee Hall where mourners from across the country gathered to pay their last respects, Ambassador Mwapachu, who formerly served as Secretary General, said: “Mr Mengi has been my friend for a period of 38 years. During the days, I came to realise that he believed in seven key issues.”

He described the late Mengi as someone who had a strongly conviction that all the money he had accumulated through his business dealings was from God. “He always put God first,” he stressed.

According to Ambassador Mwapachu, the fallen tycoon hated poverty and showed that through actions.

He (the late Mengi) hated to see Tanzanians grapple with abject poverty yet the country is blessed with abundant natural resources.

 “This was why he came up with various initiatives to help the needy. We all remember how he used to foot the bills of children with heart complications so that they can receive specialist treatment in India…From education point of view, Mr Mengi was the man behind the success of Maasai girls in Simanjiro,” he said.

Ambassador Mwapachu said the late Mengi was the kind of a person who would be touched by the plight of people with disabilities, including those with albinism so much that he came up with initiatives to support them financially.

From a business point of view, said Ambassador Mwapachu, said the late Mengi was a down to earth entrepreneur who was never satisfied with what he had acquired.

“Much as we could all believe that he was rich, he still had new plans of setting up manufacturing industries, in line with President John Magufuli’s goal to industrialise Tanzania. Recently, he signed contracts for the manufacturing of electronics and for vehicle assembly,” said Ambassador Mwapachu.

Despite his age, Mr Mengi’s brain was never tired of thinking about new business ventures.

“During the past few months, he had been busy talking to health experts in India, Thailand and US to discuss ways of bringing the much-needed technologies to Tanzania,” he said.

Through his Twitter page, the late Mengi would promote the youth with entrepreneurial thinking by giving them seed capital to realize their dreams.

“It was basing on the belief that one does not need to rush into getting an employment, instead they should consider self-employment and that’s why Mr Mengi kept on pushing the government to include entrepreneurial skills in the country’s curriculum,” he said.

Though he had little interest in politics, his views were always respected. He believed in the private sector as an engine of economic growth.

“This was why be decided to establish media companies so as to create a good relationship between the public and private sectors,” said Ambassador Mwapachu.

Besides, Ambassador Mwapachu said, the late Mengi loved the environment and sensitised people to plant trees to overcome the adverse effects of climate change.