Tanzanian president skips Kenya’s Independence Day celebrations due to recent deadly deluge
DAR ES SALAAM, Dec. 12 — President Samia Suluhu Hassan could not attend Kenya’s Jamhuri Day or Independence Day celebrations because she was preoccupied with overseeing the recovery process of the recent flash floods and landslides, said Tanzania’s Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwinyi Tuesday. “At the moment President Hassan is leading government efforts in dealing with the deadly deluge,” Mwinyi, who represented the president at the Jamhuri Day celebrations, told Kenyan President William Ruto in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. Jamhuri Day, observed on Dec. 12 each year, is one of the most important national holidays in Kenya. Kenya obtained its independence from the United Kingdom on Dec. 12, 1963. The flash floods and landslides that occurred on Dec. 3 in Hanang district in the Manyara region in northern Tanzania have killed 89 people, injured 139 more people, left 5,600 other people homeless, destroyed more than 750 hectares of farm crops, and killed many livestock.
