Tanzania to swear in Suluhu as East Africa’s first female president

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

The East African country is about to get its first female president following the death of Magufuli on Wednesday night, March 17.

Ripples Nigeria learned that the Tanzanian constitution reads, “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 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, according to the section of the constitution.

Read also: Tanzania’s President, Magufuli dies at 61

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 Reuters stated.

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