Samia Suluhu Hassan

Her Excellency Samia Suluhu Hassan
185px Suluhu in May 2017, as Vice-President
6th President of Tanzania
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 March 2021
Prime Minister	Kassim Majaliwa
Vice President	Philip Mpango
Preceded by	John Magufuli
10th Vice-President of Tanzania
In office 5 November 2015 – 19 March 2021
President	John Magufuli
Preceded by	Mohamed Gharib Bilal
Succeeded by	Philip Mpango
Minister of State for Union Affairs in the Vice President's Office
In office 29 November 2010 – 5 November 2015
President	Jakaya Kikwete
Preceded by	Muhammed Seif Khatib
Succeeded by	January Makamba
Member of Parliament for Makunduchi
In office November 2010 – July 2015
Succeeded by	Ameir Timbe
Minister of Tourism, Trade and Investment
In office 2005–2010
President	Amani Karume
Preceded by	Mussa Silima
Succeeded by	Said Ali Mbarouk
Personal details
Born	(1960-01-27) 27 January 1960 Makunduchi, Sultanate of Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania)
Political party	Chama Cha Mapinduzi
Spouse(s)	Hafidh Ameir (m. 1978)
Children	4
Education	Mzumbe University (AdvDip) University of Manchester (PGDip) Open University of Tanzania (MSc)
Website	official website

Samia Suluhu Hassan (born 27 January 1960) is a Tanzanian politician who has been serving since 19 March 2021 as the sixth and first female president of Tanzania. She is a member of the ruling social-democrat Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party and the third female head of government of an East African Community (EAC) country. Upon the death in office of President John Magufuli, she was sworn in as president.

A native of Zanzibar, Suluhu served as a minister in the semi-autonomous region during the administration of President Amani Karume. She served as the Member of Parliament for the Makunduchi constituency from 2010 to 2015 and was the Minister of State in the Vice-President's Office for Union Affairs from 2010 to 2015. In 2014, she was elected as the vice-chairperson of the Constituent Assembly tasked with the drafting of the country's new constitution.

Suluhu became Tanzania's first female vice-president following the 2015 general election, after being elected on the CCM ticket with President Magufuli. Suluhu and Magufuli were re-elected to a second term in 2020. She briefly served as the second female interim Head of State in the EAC – 27 years after Sylvie Kinigi of Burundi, spanning a period around the end of the year 1993.

As President, Suluhu's government enacted policies to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic in Tanzania – in contrast to denialism under Magufuli – and made efforts towards political reconciliation with opposition parties.

Early life

Suluhu was born on 27 January 1960 in Makunduchi, an old town on Unguja island, in the Sultanate of Zanzibar.

She completed her secondary education in 1977 and began working. Subsequently, she pursued a number of short-courses on a part-time basis. In 1986, she graduated from the Institute of Development Management (present-day Mzumbe University) with an advanced diploma in public administration.

Between 1992 and 1994, she attended the University of Manchester and earned a postgraduate diploma in economics. In 2015, she obtained her MSc in Community Economic Development via a joint-programme between the Open University of Tanzania and the Southern New Hampshire University.

Political career

In 2000, she decided to run for public office. She was elected as a special seat member to the Zanzibar House of Representatives and was appointed a minister by President Amani Karume. She was the only high-ranking woman minister in the cabinet and was "looked down on" by her male colleagues because she was female. She was re-elected in 2005 and was re-appointed as a minister in another portfolio.

In 2010, she sought election to the National Assembly, standing in the parliamentary constituency of Makunduchi and winning by more than 80%. President Jakaya Kikwete appointed her as the Minister of State for Union Affairs. In 2014, she was elected as the Vice Chairperson of the Constituent Assembly tasked with drafting the country's new constitution.

In July 2015, CCM's presidential nominee John Magufuli chose her as his running mate for the 2015 election, making her the first female running mate in the party's history. On 5 November 2015, she subsequently became the first female vice-president in the history of the country upon Magufuli's victory in the election. Both Magufuli and Suluhu were re-elected for a second five-year term on 28 October 2020.

Presidency

File:Map showing countries President Samia Suluhu of Tanzania has visited.svg

Map highlighting countries where Hassan made official visits while president

See also: Suluhu Cabinet and List of international presidential trips made by Samia Suluhu

On 17 March 2021, Mama Samia announced that Magufuli had died after a long illness; Magufuli had not been seen in public since late February. She was sworn in as his successor on 19 March 2021, and will serve the balance of Magufuli's second five-year term. The delay in the start of her term came because the Constitution of Tanzania explicitly requires the vice-president to take the presidential oath before ascending to the presidency; opposition leaders had expressed concern about a possible "vacuum" when 18 March passed without Suluhu being sworn in. Upon her swearing-in, Suluhu became Tanzania's first female president. She is also the second Zanzibari to hold the post, and the third Muslim after Ali Hassan Mwinyi and Jakaya Kikwete. She also became one of two serving female heads of state in Africa, alongside Ethiopia's Sahle-Work Zewde. Under the Constitution, since she took office with more than three years remaining in Magufuli's term, if she completes this term she will only be eligible for one full term in her own right should she decide to stand at the next election.

File:International leaders sign joint statement at COP26 (51649202102).jpg

Suluhu (second from right) with Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, Kaja Kallas of Estonia and Nicola Sturgeon of Scotland at COP26.

Suluhu's administration initiated efforts to curb the COVID-19 pandemic in Tanzania, in stark contrast to the skepticism of the virus under Magufuli's tenure. Mandatory 14-day quarantines for travellers entering Tanzania from countries housing newly risen variants of SARS-CoV-2 were imposed. Visitors were recommended to wear face masks, sanitize themselves, and practice social distancing. Suluhu permitted embassies and other international organizations to import vaccines into the country to vaccinate foreign nationals for their Tanzanian day-to-day work, aided by the Ministry of Health.

In 2022, she was named among the top 100 most influential people in the world by American magazine Time.

Political reforms and unity

President Samia inherited a politically highly divided situation in which her predecessor, Magufuli, had centralized governance towards single party politics. Upon phase 6, Suluhu's government, Mama Samia voiced desire to reverse the political direction of Tanzania. None-the-less, shortly after Suluhu became President the leader of the opposition party CHADEMA, Freeman Mbowe, was arrested under charges of treason. All charges would later be dropped. Upon day of his release Mbowe was summoned and met with Mama Samia at the State House in Dar es Salaam. The meeting was said to be greatly successful, and has led to further meetings between the two as well as other opposition leaders to improve communication and repair the political division and create unity within the countries' political parties. On February 16, 2022, Mama Samia met with opposition leader Tundu Lissu in Belgium, where he had been living in exile after he was shot 16 times in an attempted assassination in 2017. Both spoke greatly of the conversation and for Lissu to return home to Tanzania to again participate in politics.

President Samia's meetings and reconciliations between the parties has not been universally welcomed, and has received criticism particularly within her own party. Following the release of Freeman Mbowe, and his immediate conversation with Mama Samia, his first appearance days later was at the International Women's Day event in Iringa. This caused critics to accuse Mama Samia of releasing Mbowe on condition of support for Western feminist policies.

In addition to meeting and repairing the divide between the politicians of the parties, Mama Samia has lifted restrictions of press put in place by her predecessor and reissued licenses to opposition publications. Most notably the reissue of licenses for the publications of Mwanahalisi, Mawio, Mseto, and Tanzania Daima which is owned by opposition leader Freeman Mbowe.

Infrastructure

Since taking over the presidential position in 2021, Samia has ensured that the flagship projects that were initiated by the late President Magufuli are completed on time. Besides that, she has also approved new development projects. In 2022, she attended the Expo 2020 to promote Tanzanian products and opportunities which led her to sign a business partnership deal with Dubai.

Personal life

In 1978, Suluhu married Hafidh Ameirin, an agricultural officer who, by 2014, had retired. They have four children. Her daughter Wanu Hafidh Ameir (born 1982), the couple's second child, is a special seat member of the Zanzibar House of Representatives. On 28 July 2021, COVID-19 vaccination campaign started under her charge in Tanzania, with her receiving the first dose of the vaccine and urging all Tanzanians to get their vaccines saying that the country "is not an island".

Honours and awards

Awards

• 2022: Africa Road Builders–Babacar Ndiaye Trophy

Honorary academic awards

Year	University	Country	Honour
2022	University of Dar es Salaam	Tanzania	Doctor of Letters (D.Litt)

Tanzania: The Royal Tour

In early 2021, she filmed a movie of "The Royal Tour" with journalist and filmmaker Peter Greenberg with the intention of promoting tourism and getting different investors to invest in her country. It premiered in Los Angeles, Paramount Theatre, followed by Tanzania.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2022	The Royal Tour Tanzania	Herself	Documentary film
2023	The Hidden Tanzania	Herself	Pre-production

External links

• Professional Newsletter Production by Samia Suluhu et al., (PDF) 2005, OUT/NSHU.

Political offices
Preceded by Mussa Silima	Minister of Tourism, Trade and Investment 2005–2010	Succeeded by Said Ali Mbarouk
Preceded by Muhammed Seif Khatib	Minister of State for Union Affairs in the Vice President's Office 2010–2015	Succeeded by January Makamba
Preceded by Mohamed Gharib Bilal	Vice-President of Tanzania 2015–2021	Succeeded by Philip Mpango
Preceded by John Magufuli	President of Tanzania 2021–Present	Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Mohamed Gharib Bilal	CCM nominee for Vice-President of Tanzania 2015, 2020	Most recent