DAR ES
SALAAM, Tanzania
Tanzania’s Vice President Samia Hassan is set to be sworn in as President today at 10am at State House in the commercial city of Dar es Salaam to take over from the late President John Magufuli who died on Wednesday.
“After being sworn in, Her Excellency Samia Suluhu Hassan will
address the nation through the media before holding a Cabinet meeting,” reads a
statement from State House Tanzania.
According to the Tanzanian Constitution, the Vice President now
takes over for the remainder of the term.
With just five months into their second term, it means Vice
President Samia Suluhu will become the first female President of Tanzania, and
the first female Head of State in the East African Community.
Suluhu was born on January 27, 1960 in the Sultanate of
Zanzibar and completed her secondary education in 1977.
While pursuing a number of short courses
part-time, Suluhu was appointed as a clerk in the office of the Ministry of
Planning and Development.
During her stint there, she graduated with an advanced diploma
in Public Administration from Mzumbe University and was almost immediately
afterward employed by the World Food Programme.
READ ALSO: Tanzania to get first female president
While there she attended the University of Manchester and graduated with a postgraduate diploma in Economics in 1994.
Suluhu first joined active politics in 2000 when she was elected
to the Zanzibar House of Representatives holding a special seat; upon which
then Zanzibar President Abeid Amani Karume appointed her to the Cabinet.
She was re-appointed to the same seat 5 years later before she,
in 2010, set foot in the National Assembly by clinching the Makunduchi
Parliamentary seat after garnering over 80% of the votes.
Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete, then serving his second and
final term, appointed her the Minister for State Union Affairs before – in 2014
– she was tasked with drafting the country’s new constitution as
Vice-Chairperson of the Constituent Assembly.
In Tanzania’s next general elections in 2015, Chama Cha
Mapinduzi (CCM) presidential nominee – the late John Pombe Magufuli – picked
her as his running mate, making her the first female running mate in the
dominant party’s history.
She, hence, made history by becoming Tanzania’s first female
Vice President when Magufuli clinched the seat. - Africa
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