Samia Suluhu To Be Sworn In As First Female President In Tanzania Following John Magufuli’s Death

Samia Suluhu Hassan will be sworn in as the first female president in Tanzania following the death of 61-year-old President, John Magufuli.

KanyiDaily had earlier reported that Magufuli died from heart complications on Wednesday night, after two-week speculation that he had contracted coronavirus.

Ms Hassan, who became the first female vice-president when Magufuli was elected in 2015 is now set to be sworn in as the first female president in Tanzania and East Africa.

According to the Tanzania Constitution; “Where the office of President becomes vacant by reason of death, then the Vice-President shall be sworn in and become the President for the unexpired period of the term of five years.”

After consultation with the political party to which she belongs, Suluhu shall then propose the name of the person who shall be Vice-President.

Thereafter, the National Assembly will confirm the appointment by votes of not less than fifty per cent of all the Members of Parliament.

Suluhu will lead for the remainder of late Magufuli’s five-year team which he began November last year until 2025.

Born on January 27, 1960, Suluhu was an MP for Makunduchi constituency from 2010 to 2015 and has been Minister of State in the Vice-President’s Office for Union Affairs since 2010.

Suluhu was born in the Sultanate of Zanzibar and after completing her secondary education in 1977, she was employed by the Ministry of Planning and Development as a clerk.

She schooled in Zanzibar and studied statistics at the Zanzibar Institute of Financial Administration.

Suluhu later joined Mzumbe University where she studied Public Administration before joining the Institute of Management for Leaders, Hyderabad in India for a course in management.

Later, she went to the United Kingdom where she did a postgraduate diploma in economics at the University of Manchester.

In 2014, she served as the vice-chairperson for the Constitutional Assembly which was tasked with drafting Tanzania’s new constitution.

Suluhu is married to Hafidh Ameir, a retired agriculture officer, and together they have three sons and a daughter. Their daughter Mwanu Hafidh Ameir is a member of the Zanzibar House of Representatives.

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