Msuya’s family thanks nation for honouring Mzee

DAR ES SALAAM: THE family of the former Prime Minister and First Vice President, Cleopa David Msuya has extended heartfelt gratitude to the country and all Tanzanians for entrusting the late various delicate leadership positions during his life time.

The family gratitude comes as the family and the nation mark one-year anniversary today, May 7, 2026 since the demise of Mr Msuya at the age of 94 in 2025. Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Daily News last Sunday at the family’s Upanga Residence in Dar es Salaam, the former Premier’s son Dr John Msuya extended the thanks to the incumbent President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan for her passionate support from medical treatment to final burial of the late.

More notably, he thanked all Tanzanians for sympathising with their family during the grief time.

“As the family, we have decided to honour Mzee, first of all we thank God for granting our father a 94-year lifetime. We extend our gratitude to the government and all people for showing up sympathizing with us during the burial ceremony,” Dr John said. Adding “till his end, his mental faculty was intact,” Former Prime Minister Msuya was born Sunday on January 4, 1931 in UsangiMwanga District, Kilimanjaro and breathed his last in May 7, 2025.

Dr Msuya also sent his gratitude to all former presidents including the father of the nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Mr Ali Mwinyi and who appointed the late in different government positions during his active practice in leadership and politics.

“We thank Nyerere for recognizing him and appointing him in various government positions. Mwalimu Nyerere appointed our dad three times as Member of Parliament and cabinet member.It was a great honour to be trusted by the father of the nation,” Dr John said.

He said Mwalimu Nyerere continued to trust Mzee Msuya even after his retirement.

“I remember three weeks before Nyerere passing on, together they had cordial talks in London pertaining to the numerous national development issues,” the son commented.

Adding “Our Mzee during the first phase of the government, held the government positions including as Finance Minister when the country was navigating devastating economic challenges including the Kagar War impacts, a transition from command economy to free market, and the collapse of the East African Community (EAC),” He said as the Ministry of Industry, he laid the foundation for development of the country’s manufacturing sector including all textile industries.

“All private and public industries from Kamata to Gongolamboto were established during his tenure as Industry Minister,” he said.

Mzee Msuya became the Minister for Industry and Trade in the period spanning from 1990 and 1994 during Mr Mwinyi’s presidency. Prior to that period, he served as the Minister for Industry in 1980. His rise to the Ministry of Industry earned him the nickname of ‘Father of Industries’.

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His unmatched performance in the portfolio is widely regarded as the best Tanzania has ever produced. He among others oversaw the establishment of an array of factories including tanneries, garment cashew nuts and agricultural equipment.

The idea was to capacitate local industries by enabling them to produce from within the country. He led the country’s efforts to establish cement factories in Dar es Salaam, Tanga and Mbeya. Unknown to many, Mzee Msuya was also the brains behind a number of industrial strategies that were bent on hastening agricultural development.

They include Tanzania Industrial Research and Development Organization (TIRDO), Centre for Agricultural Mechanization and Rural Technology (CAMARTEC), Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS), Tanzania Engineering and Manufacturing Design Organization (TEMDO) and TISCO. Surprisingly, Mzee Msuya achieved all this when Tanzania was still reeling from economic hardship having affected by the Kagera War and the transition to a market economy, a capitalism ideology anchored by the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP).

Dr John noted that the country’s industry initiative was due to collapse of the EAC that pressed the need for our country to have a selfsufficient economy.

“During Mr Benjamin Mkapa presidency, our Mzee was at the backbencher in the parliament. However , Mr Mkapa used to seek audience to Mzee in range of government activities,” the son said.

In a related development, Dr John said Mzee Msuya had a closer tie with Mr Jakaya Kikwete, the Fourth President even though they previously all contested for presidential candidature in the 1995 election in which Mr Mkapa emerged as flag bearer.

The son noted that when Kikwete was nominated as presidential candidate in 2005, Mzee Msuya was appointed by CCM to accompany the flag bearer in conducting electoral campaign in the Northern Zone.

“It is during these campaigns, the water challenge in Mwanga District was rose in which Kikwete pledged to address it with a major project. Within one week, Kikwete started implementation of the project with commencing funds of about 25 million US dollars (about 65bn/-” Dr John said.

Even though the project stalled for over 20 years, President Samia made it a reality in 2025. “We are grateful for President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan for completing the project,” Dr John said. He said his father remained instrumental to the country after his retirement by sharing advice to national leaders including Dr John Pombe Magufuli (during tenure) and Dr Samia.

Furthermore, he appreciated Mwanga’s residents for electing Mzee Msuya over three times as their Member of Parliament during his lifetime. However, he clarified that the family’s thanks came late as during the burial ceremony due to the tight schedule encompassing a state funeral the family did not get enough time to thanks the nation. Dr John said this year’s one anniversary seeks to put the memories of the former prime minister and first vice president alive.

“The anniversary offers an opportunity for the nation to understand his footprints he left and contributions in building the country. We want to keep alive his thinking and legacy,” he said.

He narrated that the former Prime Minister, Mr Msuya’s spotlight in politics started early in 1955 while pursuing his Bachelor of Arts with History and Geography in Political Science. By that time Mwalimu Nyerere was strategizing the means for Tanganyika’s independence,” Dr John hinted.

Upon his return to the country from Uganda in 1956, he was served with a letter, instructing him to report in Moshi as a Social Development Officer. He stayed in Moshi before he was posted to Tabora the year after charged with developmental issues, particularly promotion of local produce which included tobacco and peanuts. Mzee Msuya would later return to Dar es Salaam and be posted at a Local Government and Housing Ministry, at a time when the struggle for independence had reached fever pitch.

Fast forward to Independence, the former Prime Minister and First Vice-President’s career path began to take shape. He was deployed at the Ministry of Culture Development as a Permanent Secretary before getting transferred to Lands, Water and Settlement, at the peak of Ujamaa villages.

Mzee Msuya’s tenure at the Lands, Water and Settlement docket was however short lived after Mwalimu Nyerere transferred him to the Finance and Planning Ministry, when the country was setting stage for the preArusha declaration.

Mzee Msuya assumed as the Minister for Finance and Planning in 1966. A multi-faceted committee of experts had been constituted at that time and he was among them. His role was to coordinate the experts’ work per the country’s economic parameters. Mzee Msuya served as Prime Minister under two presidents, Mwalimu Nyerere and Mr Mwinyi, from 1980 to 1983 as well as in the period covering from 1994 to 1995, in the latter tenure he also assumed as the first vice president.

One of Mzee Msuya’s lowest moments in his administrative and political career was the hustle of constructing the Tanzania-Zambia Railway line (TAZARA). The line was built between 1970 and 1975 by TAZARA to give landlocked Zambia a link to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam, as an alternative to export routes via rail lines to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), South Africa, and Mozambique.

Looking forward, Dr said the family within the next nine months is expecting to launch Mzee Msuya’s book as the summary of the late life in 94 years. To keep his social impact alive, he said the family has been planning to establish a Trust Fund as the social body to run family affairs while upholding Mzee Msuya’s ideals on among others giving back to the community.

Driven by the desired to see the young generation inheriting leadership traits of the great national leaders advised the government to consider building a prime ministers’ library or presidential centres purposely to preserve history as the blueprint for grooming future leaders.

Dr John is the second child Mzee Msuya in the family of six children including Engineer George Msuya (first born), Geofrey Msuya (died in 2005), Joyce Msuya Mpanju, Eng Job Msuya and NangelaEsther Msuya