Tanzania- Tanzania’s Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan was sworn in as president on Friday, becoming the first female head of state in the east African country after the death of President John Magufuli.
Ms Hassan, 61, was sworn in at State House in the country’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam. She assumes the presidency after Wednesday’s announcement of the death of Magufuli, after a more than a two-week absence from public life that drew speculation about his health.
She becomes the only serving female head of state in Africa alongside Ethiopia’s President Sahle-Work Zewde, whose role is mainly ceremonial.
Among the few other women to hold the post of president in Africa are Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who led Liberia from 2006 to 2018, and Joyce Banda of Malawi, who held office from 2012 to 2014.
A stalwart in the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, Ms Hassan rose through the ranks from local government to the national assembly over a 20-year political career.
national news
