Samia Suluhu to be sworn in as Tanzania president today

Addis Ababa, March 19, 2021 (FBC) – Tanzania’s Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan is set to be sworn in today as the sixth president of the country following the death of John Magufuli.

The swearing-in ceremony will take place at 10am Friday at State House in Dar es Salaam, government spokesperson said. Suluhu will make history by becoming the first female president in Tanzania.

Under the constitution, Suluhu, 61, will serve the remainder of Magufuli’s second five-year term, which does not expire until 2025.

The oath ceremony will be followed  by a high level meeting of her party’s central committee on Saturday. Analysts say, during the meeting, new vice president will be picked.

A former office clerk and development worker, Suluhu began her political career in 2000 in her native Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous archipelago, before being elected to the national assembly on mainland Tanzania and assigned a senior ministry.

A ruling party stalwart, she rose through the ranks until being picked by Magufuli as his running mate in his first presidential election campaign in 2015.

The Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) comfortably won and Suluhu made history when sworn-in as the country’s first-ever female vice president.

The pair were re-elected last October in a disputed poll the opposition and independent observers said was marred by irregularities.

She would sometimes represent Magufuli on trips abroad but many outside Tanzania had not heard of Suluhu until she appeared on national television wearing a black headscarf to announce that Magufuli had died at 61 following a short illness.

In a slow and softly spoken address — a stark contrast to the thundering rhetoric favoured by her predecessor — Hassan solemnly declared 14 days of mourning.

Source: Nation