Tanzania set to inaugurate first executive East African female president

ARUSHA – Tanzania is set to get its first female president following the death of John Pombe Magufuli on Wednesday night.

Samia Hassan Suluhu, who became the first female vice-president when Magufuli was elected in 2015, is now set to be sworn in as president.

“Where the office of President becomes vacant because of death, then the Vice-President shall be sworn in and become the President for the unexpired period of the term of five years,” the Tanzania constitution reads.

The same may also happen if a vacancy occurs due to resignation, loss of electoral qualifications or inability to perform his functions due to physical infirmity, or failure to discharge the duties and functions of the President’s office.

After consultation with her political party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi, Suluhu will then propose the name of the person who shall be Vice-President.

The National Assembly shall confirm such appointment by votes of not less than fifty per cent of all the Members of Parliament.

In a televised address on Wednesday night, Tanzania vice-president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, said that Magufuli had died of heart complications.

Born on January 27, 1960, Suluhu was an MP for Makunduchi constituency from 2010 to 2015 and has been Minister of State in the Vice-President’s Office for Union Affairs since 2010.

“Suluhu was born in the Sultanate of Zanzibar and after completing her secondary education in 1977, she was employed by the Ministry of Planning and Development as a clerk. She schooled in Zanzibar and studied statistics at the Zanzibar Institute of Financial Administration,” a report by the Star stated.