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Samia Suluhu Hassan is at the moment the president of Tanzania who has been sworn as new president of the country, following the passing of Late President Magufuli.
Hassan, now 61, had earlier made history, when she became the first female vice-president in 2015.
She will complete Magufuli’s five-year second term, which he began in November 2020.
Below are 19 things to know about Samia Suluhu Hassan.
1. Samia Suluhu Hassan was born in the semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar on 27 January, 1960.
2. She completed her secondary education in 1977.
3. She got married in 1978 and now has four children, one of whom is a parliamentarian in Zanzibar.
3. Her first job was when she was employed by the Ministry of Planning and Development as a clerk.
4. She pursued a number of short-courses on a part-time basis while working.
5. In 1986, she graduated from the Institute of Development Management (present-day Mzumbe University) with an advanced diploma in public administration.
6. Upon graduation, she was employed on a project funded by the World Food Programme.
7. Between 1992 and 1994, she attended the University of Manchester and graduated with a postgraduate diploma in economics.
8. In 2015, she obtained her MSc in Community Economic Development via a joint-programme between the Open University of Tanzania and the Southern New Hampshire University.
9. In 2000, she decided to join politics. She was elected as a special seat member to the Zanzibar House of Representatives and was appointed a minister by President Amani Karume.
10. She was the only high-ranking woman minister in the cabinet and was “looked down on” by her male colleagues because of her gender.
11. She was re-elected in 2005 and was re-appointed as a minister in another portfolio.
12. In 2010, she sought election to the National Assembly, standing in the parliamentary constituency of Makunduchi and winning by more than 80%.
13. President Jakaya Kikwete appointed her as the Minister of State for Union Affairs.
14. In 2014, she was elected as the Vice Chairperson of the Constituent Assembly tasked with drafting the country’s new constitution.
15. In July 2015, CCM’s presidential nominee John Magufuli chose her as his running mate for the 2015 election, making her the first female running mate in the party’s history.
16. She subsequently became the first female vice-president in the history of the country following Magufuli’s victory in the election.
17. After Magufuli’s death on 17 March 2021, Hassan automatically became the 6th President of Tanzania. The First female president of the country.
18. She is also first Tanzania president from Zanzibar.
19. The history-making Hassan is also the first woman to be president in East Africa.
