Tanzania To Swear In First Female President

Tanzania is set to swear in the country’s first ever female vice president, Samia Hassan Suluhu, as president for the unexpired period of the recently deceased head of state’s five-year term as required by the country’s constitution

She will be Tanzania’s first female president and also the first in East Africa.

After consulting with her Chama Cha Mapinduzi ruling political party, Suluhu will propose her possible successor as Vice-President – with the official appointment being confirmed by the National Assembly via votes of no less than fifty per cent of all the Members of Parliament.

Born in 1960 in the Sultanate of Zanzibar, Suluhu has an international education and holds a postgraduate degree in economics among other qualifications.

She was a parliament member for the Makunduchi constituency from 2010 to 15 and has been Minister of State in the Vice-President’s Office for Union Affairs since 2010.

In 2014, she served as the vice-chairperson for the Constitutional Assembly which was tasked with drafting Tanzania’s new constitution.