The new Tanzania acting President Samia Hassan will be the very first female president in Tanzania, and East Africa. – By Gerald Gekara
Born on 27 January 1960, Suluhu is a,Chama Cha Mapinduzi stalwart who will hope to replace Magufuli.
A native of Zanzibar, the semi autonomous region in Tanzania, the Manchester educated technocrat was charged with the difficult task of announcing the sad news to a sceptic nation.
She will be sworn in today following the death of President John Magufuli on 17 March 2021.
She became Tanzania’s first female vice-President following the 2015 General election, after being elected on the CCM ticket along with president John Magufuli.
Suluhu and Magufuli were reelected to a second term in 2020.
Before her tenure as vice-president she served as the Member of Parliament for Makunduchi constituency from 2010 to 2015, and was also the Minister of State in the Vice-President’s Office for Union Affairs from 2010 to 2015.
Tanzania, under Magufuli largely ignored the Covid 19 pandemic, fronting for economic growth and taking advantage of the slow down in its neighboring countries.
Its neighbour Kenya is still observing a curfew a year after the disease was first reported.