Manumba’s condition still fragile

The condition of the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Mr Robert Manumba, is still fragile.
He was still in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) yesterday after being admitted nearly three days ago at Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam suffering from severe malaria.

In a brief statement to the media on the progress of his treatment, the hospital’s medical director, Dr Jaffer Dharsee, said Mr Manumba’s condition still requires close watch of doctors and nurses.
Said he: “The DCI is here since Tuesday evening undergoing treatment and he still requires a close watch of doctors and nurses.”

Dr Dharsee told The Citizen that Mr Manumba, 60, was sent to the hospital on Tuesday evening and directly taken to the ICU and initial tests showed that he was suffering from severe malaria.

Ironically at the hospital it was also said that Mr Manumba was in a comma. Some relatives who spoke unanimously said the DCI had been taken to the hospital unconscious and was still in a comma by yesterday evening.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Said Mwema visited the patient at around 07.00 am. He returned later at 12: 40 to visit him but was not able to do so.

He later told journalists that he was waiting for President Jakaya Kikwete, who was expected at the hospital in the afternoon.

But after nearly an hour the IGP left the hospital accompanied by Dar es Salaam Special Zone Police Commander Suleiman Kova, promising that he would return later. He said the President had another urgent commitment.
The IGP assured reporters that his office would release a report on the illness of Mr Manumba through the Police spokesperson, Ms Advela Senzo.

However, Ms Senzo told The Citizen that there was no more additional information apart from that released by Aga Khan Hospital’s administration.

Mr Manumba’s close friend, who asked not to be named as he is not a spokesman for the family, told The Citizen that the doctors told him the patient’s kidneys were not working since yesterday.
“Since he was admitted to the hospital, I have been monitoring his condition very closely ... the doctors have said his two kidneys have failed to work and he was using a breathing machine,” he noted.

He added that the government was planning to send him outside the country for further treatment because doctors were waiting for him to get better for travelling to India. However, the source did not say to which hospital he would go.

Outside the hospital, Mr Manumba’s wife and other relatives were in a state of grief. The Vice Bishop of Africa Inland Church Tanzania (IACT), Coast Diocese, Rev David Ntugwa, was among people who were not allowed in to see the patient.

President Jakaya Kikwete and his wife, Ms Salma, were among wananchi who flocked to see Mr Manumba yesterday.
Mr Manumba was appointed the new DCI in March 2006 by President Jakaya Kikwete to replace Mr Adadi Rajabu, Tanzania’s high commissioner to Zimbabwe.

Mr Manumba, together with the IGP Mwema, with whom they were appointed the same month, tried hard to reign in on armed robbery that was rampant in the country.