Samia Hassan to be sworn in as Tanzania President today

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