![Samia Suluhu Hassan](https://editor.theguardiannig.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Samia-Suluhu-Hassan-1.jpg)
Samia Suluhu Hassan on Friday was sworn in as the sixth President of Tanzania after the sudden death of John Magufuli, making her the country’s first female president.
The soft-spoken 61-year-old will finish Magufuli’s second five-year term, set to run until 2025. She rose through the ranks over a 20-year political career from local government to the national assembly.
Here are some quick facts about Samia Suluhu Hassan:
- Samia Suluhu Hassan was born on the 27th of January, 1960 in the Sultanate of Zanzibar.
- 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 graduated with 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.
![Samia Suluhu Hassan](https://editor.theguardiannig.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Samia-Suluhu-Hassan-2.jpg)
Hassan was an activist before she joined politics. “Having worked as an activist at grassroots level and witnessing on first-hand what people go through on a daily basis; I thought it was high time I joined politics and made changes in society,” she said in an interview quoted in Tanzania’s Daily News.
- A former office clerk and development worker, Hassan was elected in 2000 as a special seat member to the Zanzibar House of Representatives and was appointed by President Amani Karume as the Minister for Employment, Youth, Women and Children Development.
- She was appointed by President Karume again in the Tourism, Trade and Investment docket where she served between 2005 and 2010.
- 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.
- She became Tanzania’s first female vice-president following the 2015 general election, after being elected on the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party ticket with President Magufuli.
- Samia Suluhu Hassan is married to Hafidh Ameir, who is a retired agricultural officer. They have four children. Her daughter Mwanu Hafidh Ameir is a special seat member of the Zanzibar House of Representatives.