Samia Suluhu Hassan was elected president of Tanzania on March 19tth. Hassan is Tanzania's sixth president and the country's first female leader. She was born on January 27, 1960, in the town of Makunduchi, Tanzania, on the island of Zanzibar. She presides over a country of 58 million people.
Tanzania’s former president John Magufuli's sudden death due to COVID-19, thrust Samia Suluhu Hassan, a Muslim , from her obscure position as vice president into the role of Tanzania's first female executive. Hassan’s ascension to power ushered in a new era of leadership. Her presidency has the potential to bring positive changes to the region. Some see Hassan's presidency as defying stereotypes that women cannot hold high-ranking positions. Hassan is the second Muslim woman elected president of a country where Muslims constitute a minority. She is Tanzania's third Muslim leader, the third woman to serve as a head of government in East Africa. Other women who have served as heads of state in East Africa included Sylvie Kinigi in Burundi and Agathe Uwillingyimania in Rwanda
Hassan's political career started in 2000, when she was elected to Zanzibar's House of Representatives in a special election. She faced misogyny from male lawmakers despite Tanzania's requirement that women make up at least 15% of the total body in parliament. She served as Minister of Tourism, Commerce, and Finance and Minister of State for Union Affairs from 2010 to 2015, during which she tried to prevent a burgeoning independence movement in Zanzibar’s birthplace in favor of Tanzania's continued union. Zanzibar is a Tanzanian island that is partially self-governing but not autonomous. The archipelago was once a separate state called Zanzibar, which later merged with Tanganyika to form the United Republic of Tanzania in 1964. Under the union, Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous territory with its own administration. In 2015, Hassan was elected Tanzania's 10th Vice President. She took her oath on the Qur'an in a ritual at the State House in Dar es Salaam, the East African country's commercial capital. Unlike her predecessor, who largely denied the impact of COVID-19, Hassan wants to strengthen the country's pandemic response. She also want to stimulate the economy, which includes expanding a $3.5 billion crude oil pipeline.
Hassan has proclaimed her womanhood as the most important component of her political personality, "I know there are people who have doubts and ask, 'Can this woman be the President of the United Republic of Tanzania?'" she said during her swearing-in ceremony in front of a packed stadium. “Ok, I'd like to remind them that the president is standing here. I reiterate, the president of the United Republic of Tanzania, who is genetically a woman, is standing here.” Messages of congratulations have been sent to her from female leaders around the world. Hassan becomes one of two serving female heads of state in Africa. The other leader is Ethiopia’s Sahle-Work Zewde. Hassan will serve out the remaining three year of her predecessor. Once the term is completed, she will be able to run for one full term in her own right.