Tanzania makes history as the country’s new hijab-wearing president takes the reigns and steps out of the shadow of John Magufuli’s Covid-19 denying presidency.
Tanzania has sworn its first female Muslim president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, days after she announced the death of her predecessor John Magufuli who suddenly died of a heart attack.
The 61-year-old politician was vice president under Magufuli’s presidency, and her sudden rise to the top of Tanzanian politics has made history in the country and the continent.
In a televised swearing-in ceremony, Hassan, who is also affectionately known as Mama Samia, in a sign of high respect that she is held in the country, described her sorrow at the events leading to her inauguration.
“It’s not a good day for me to talk to you because I have a wound in my heart,” she said, adding that “today I have taken an oath different from the rest that I have taken in my career. Those were taken in happiness. Today I took the highest oath of office in mourning.”
Hassan, an economist by training, has been described as a consensus builder and a soft-spoken politician. Her premiership is likely to introduce a different tone in Tanzanian politics, and she may even seek a break from the late president’s style of governance, which was marked by long televised speeches and brazen populism.
Under the constitution, she will serve the remainder of the term until 2025 after winning elections last year. Hassan is the third Muslim president in the country’s history and joins Ethiopia’s Sahle-Work Zewde as the second female president in Africa.
