HUNDREDS of mourners paid last respect to the former Government Chief Chemist, the late Dr Ernest Mashimba in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday.
He died in Tanga on Saturday night. The mourners included the Minister for Livestock Development and Fisheries, Dr John Magufuli, the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Ms Blandina Nyoni and other government officials and health experts.
Ms Nyoni told the mourners that she had written a congratulatory letter last week to the late Dr Mashimba for his new book which was expected to be on sale soon. The PS explained that she had planned to hand over the letter to the late Dr Mashimba but unfortunately he died over the week-end.
The deceased left five children and a widow and preliminary findings had shown that blood pressure was the cause of the death.
"The media announced that my husband's source of death was suspected to be food poisoning but it was blood pressure," said the widow, Ms Rose Mashimba.
The children include Happy (18) who is in form Four at Kifungilo Girls Secondary School in Lushoto District, Tanga Region, Goodluck (17) Form Four student at Shaaban Robert Secondary School in Dar es Salaam , Janeth (12) and Neema (9) - pupils of Mbuyuni Primary School and Suzane (6), a pupil at a Kindergarten school.
The deceased was found dead on September 18, in a room at Exclusive Hotel in Lushoto where he had gone for his daughter's graduation ceremony.
The former government Chief Chemist was invited by the school as special parent. Following his death, the school administration had promised to sponsor Happy for 'A' level education at the same school.
The body of the late Dr Mashimba was transported on Tuesday to Ngudu village, Kwimba District in Mwanza Region for burial ceremony. The deceased was born on December 31, 1953 in Ngudu, Mwanza. He took his first degree of Chemistry and Statistics at the University of Dar es Salaam from 1975 to 1978.
In 1981 to 1982 he was an acting headmaster of Fidel Castro in Pemba and in the 1983 he completed a Diploma in Research and Techniques at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
At the same university, the late Dr Mashimba took Master of Chemistry from 1984 to 1985 and PhD in Chemistry from 1986 to 1990 while lecturing from 1986 to 1991 at the university.
From 1992 to 1997, the late Dr Mashimba was the Chief Chemist of the Zanzibar Revolutionary Government, whereby from 1997 he was selected to become the Chief Chemist of the Tanzania government under the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, where he was till his death.
While he was the Chief Chemist in the government, he was also taking Masters in Business Administration at Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI), Arusha.
The former Chief Government Chemist was among the experts under Chemical Review Committee Expert for International Rotterdam Convention on Chemicals.
He was also among contributors of the published book of science called "The Rotterdam Convention and its Implementation in Tanzania" which is expected to be out soon.
Other posts held by the deceased included Registrar of Industrial and Consumer Chemicals, Vice-Chairperson of National Plant Protection Advisory Committee (NPPAC) and a member of National Environment Management Council (NEMC).
He was also a board member of Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority and Chairman of Eastern and Southern African Laboratory Managers Association (E-SALAMA) Tanzania Chapter
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