Samia Suluhu Hassan

Samia Suluhu Hassan

Samia Suluhu Hassan (born 27 January 1960) is a Tanzanian politician who is serving as the sixth and current president of Tanzania. She is a member of the ruling social-democrat Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party. Suluhu is the third female head of government of an East African Community (EAC) country, after Sylvie Kinigi in Burundi and Agathe Uwilingiyimana in Rwanda, and is also the first female president of Tanzania. She took office on 19 March 2021 after the death of President John Magufuli on 17 March 2021. 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.

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