Mererani holds final send-off of gunned-down gemstone dealer

Arusha. He lived the life which bore all hallmarks of a rich person; expensive gold chains and rings, driving expensive and latest car models and living in posh house in the low density suburb on the outskirts of the city.

Today will be the final journey for the tanzanite gemstone dealer, the late Erasto Msuya, when he is finally buried at Mererani, close to the mines which made him a billionaire after skipping university in the late 1990s.

He was gunned down by unidentified people on Wednesday afternoon in Hai District. He had gone there to meet the two strangers probably over a mineral deal.

Although no suspects had been arrested by late yesterday, it is believed that the assailants made away with a huge sum of money or minerals after gunning him down.

A requiem mass for the deceased would he held at a Lutheran Church in the dusty town of Mererani.

The deceased is belived to own some pits in Block B and Block D, two of the three blocks reserved for mineral dealers often referred as small scale miners. Strangely this class includes investors owning mansions, tourists hotels and commercial buildings in Arusha as Msuya did.

Farewell prayers were held at his residence at Kwa Idd along the Namanga Road yesterday, attracting hundreds of mourners from Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions.

The funeral of Mr Msuya, an ambitious 43-year-old gemstone trader whose life was cut short in a hail of bullets will be one of the most extravagant ever seen here.

According to a brother of the deceased, Mr Gady Msuya, up to Sh100 million has been raised for the funeral and that Sh8 million alone would be spent on hiring the hearse from the Nairobi-based Montezuma and Molanisa Funeral Home.

Other expenses, including hiring vehicles to Mererani -- 60km away -- will consume about Sh80 million. Hundreds of people are expected to travel to the mining town for the final send-off opf the man already bapstized ‘Billionaire’.

Arusha regional commissioner Magesa Mulongo told journalists at the Ngurudoto Mountain Lodge where he was attending some functions that he would be there and that his office would provide transport to reporters keen to go to the funeral.

As the late Msuya and one of the emerging property owner in Arusha is buried today, the Tanzania Mineral Dealders Assocaition has warned people on speculating on who was behind the death of the mineral trader.

“Let us give chance to the police to complete their investigations,” insisted Tamida chairperson Sammy Mollel when reached by The Citizen. He, however, promised that Tamida and other mineral bodies would issue an official statement on the growing insecurity in the Mereani mines and other places after the police investigations are over.