Tanzania’s Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan is set to be sworn in as President today to replace the former immediate late President John Pombe Magufuli.
Vice President Suluhu Hassan will be sworn in at 10am at State House Tanzania to take over from the late President 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.
Ms Suluhu made history by becoming Tanzania’s first female Vice President when Magufuli clinched the seat.
Suluhu was born on January 27, 1960 in the Sultanate of Zanzibar and completed her secondary education in 1977.
Before she was picked by the late President, she was appointed as a clerk in the office of the Ministry of Planning and Development.
During her assignment there, she graduated with an advanced diploma in Public Administration from Mzumbe University and was almost immediately afterward employed by the World Food Programme.
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.
