POLITICS

Characteristics Of Samia Suluhu Hassan, Tanzania’s First Woman President

<p><em>Characteristics Of Samia Suluhu Hassan have been unveiled<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that the world in general and East Africa in particular woke on Wednesday&comma; March 17&comma; unsuspecting of what would happen in Tanzania&comma; an East African country known for its vast wilderness areas&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;By the end of the day&comma; the 60 years old country by the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;big five” game &lpar;elephant&comma; lion&comma; leopard&comma; buffalo&comma; rhino&rpar;&comma; and Kilimanjaro National Park&comma; went to bed&comma; mourning&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The President of the country&comma; John Pombe Joseph Magufuli&comma; was announced dead at age 61&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Magufuli died in a Dar es Salaam hospital&comma; twenty days after his last public appearance&period; The late president was rumored to be suffering from COVID-19&comma; which he long denied was present in Tanzania&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;However&comma; official statement said he died of heart failure&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He served as the fifth president of Tanzania from 2015 until his death in 2021&period; He served as Minister of Works&comma; Transport and Communications from 2000 to 2005 and 2010 to 2015 and was chairman of the Southern African Development Community from 2019 to 2020&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He was first elected as a Member of Parliament in 1995&comma; he served in the Cabinet of Tanzania as Deputy Minister of Works from 1995 to 2000&comma; Minister of Works from 2000 to 2005&comma; Minister of Lands and Human Settlement from 2006 to 2008&comma; Minister of Livestock and Fisheries from 2008 to 2010&comma; and as Minister of Works for a second time from 2010 to 2015&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He ran as the candidate of Chama Cha Mapinduzi &lpar;CCM&rpar;&comma; the country&&num;8217&semi;s dominant party&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Magufuli won the October 2015 presidential election and was sworn in on 5 November 2015&semi; he was re-elected in 2020&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He ran on a platform of reducing government corruption and spending while also investing in Tanzania&&num;8217&semi;s industries but was accused of having had increasingly autocratic tendencies seen in restrictions on freedom of speech and a crackdown on members of the political opposition&period; Magufuli was known for promoting misinformation about COVID-19 during his leadership over the pandemic in Tanzania&period; After a lengthy absence from public appearances&comma; unconfirmed rumours circulated that he&comma; himself&comma; had been hospitalized with the disease&period; His death on 17 March 2021 was attributed to a long-standing heart issue by the government&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Magufuli will be remembered for infrastructural renewal and promoting the country’s airline&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Since nature abhors vacuum&comma; his deputy&comma; Samia Suluhu Hassan&comma; has been sworn in as President of Tanzania&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Hassan&comma; mother of four&comma; was born on January 27&comma; 1960 in Zanzibar&comma; a former slaving hub and trading outpost in the Indian Ocean&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Then still a Muslim sultanate&comma; Zanzibar did not merge formally with mainland Tanzania for another four years&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Her father was a school teacher and her mother&comma; a housewife&period; Hassan graduated from high school but has said publicly that her finishing results were poor&comma; and she took a clerkship in a government office at 17&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;By 1988&comma; after undertaking further study&comma; Hassan had risen through the ranks to become a development officer in the Zanzibar government&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>She was employed as a project manager for the UN’s World Food Programme &lpar;WFP&rpar; and later in the 1990s was made executive director of an umbrella body governing non-governmental organisations in Zanzibar&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In 2000&comma; she was nominated by the CCM to a special seat in Zanzibar’s House of Representatives&period; She then served as a local government minister – first for youth employment&comma; women and children and then for tourism and trade investment&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In 2010&comma; she was elected to the National Assembly on mainland Tanzania&period; Then-President Jakaya Kikwete appointed her as Minister of State for Union Affairs&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;She holds university qualifications from Tanzania&comma; Britain and the United States&period; The mother of four has spoken publicly to encourage Tanzanian women and girls to pursue their dreams&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Hassan is the only other current serving female head of state in Africa alongside Ethiopia’s President Sahle-Work Zewde&comma; whose role is mainly ceremonial&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The 61-year-old Tanzania first-ever female president took the oath of office on Friday&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The inauguration was witnessed by members of the cabinet and former presidents at the statehouse in Dar es Salaam&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Some citizens say Hassan&&num;8217&semi;s new leadership could bring about positive changes to the country&period;&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;We are praying &lbrack;for&rsqb; the best to her&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Joseph Aboubakar&comma; who lives in Dar es Salaam&comma; told VOA&period; &&num;8220&semi;Our mother has already taken the country&&num;8217&semi;s leadership and we believe she will lead the country in a good direction&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Aboubakar added that Hassan is not new to leadership&comma; as she has been in a top position for more than five years&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Kyande Muro&comma; a small kiosk owner in Dar es Salaam&comma; said raising people&&num;8217&semi;s incomes would be the best thing the new president could do&comma; and that he would like the new president to attract more investment in the country so people in the streets can find jobs&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Some see Hassan&&num;8217&semi;s presidency as challenging the stereotype that women cannot hold top leadership positions&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Rose Reuben&comma; a chairperson of the Tanzania Media Women Association&comma; said she believes that Tanzania is going to move forward under Hassan&&num;8217&semi;s leadership&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In addition&comma; Nadou Sasegbon&comma; a journalist&comma; while speaking with OpenLife Nigeria said Hassan is a quite woman whose actions speak louder than words&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;She is well loved by Tanzanian and among party members&period; The characteristics <strong>of<&sol;strong> Hassan are enviable ”<br &sol;>&NewLine;Continuing Sasegbon stressed that Hassan’s first assignment would be to recall exiled Tanzanians who fled the country as a result of what has been described as the hostile tendency of late Magufuli&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;To demonstrate that her regime would enjoy peaceful co operation&comma; the opposition political party in the country is said to have congratulated her&comma; a development that speaks volume of acceptance and belief&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>List of Female African Presidents<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Slyvie Kiningi&comma; Acting President of Burundi &lpar;February – October 1993&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The first female President in Africa was Slyvie Kiningi&period; She was the Prime Minister of Burundi from February 10&comma; 1993 to October 7&comma; 1994&period; During this period&comma; she served as the acting President of the country from October 27&comma; 1993 to February 5&comma; 1994 when the incumbent President Melchior Ndadaye was shot together with 6 of his officials&period; After his death&comma; Kiningi gathered 15 ministers to continue to govern the country&period; Thus&comma; technically making her the first female president on the continent&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Ivy Matsepe-Cassaburi&comma; Acting President of South Africa &lpar;September 2005&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ivy Matsepe-Cassaburi also served temporarily as the acting President of South Africa when the President and his vice were out of the country for four days in September of 2005&period; She was also selected by the cabinet to serve as the constitutional and official head of state for an interim period of 14 hours on September 25&comma; 2008&period; This was the period between the resignation of the current President Thabo Mbeki and the taking of office by the Kgalema Motlanthe&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Ellen Johnson Sirleaf&comma; President of Liberia &lpar; January 2006 – January 2018&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is Africa’s first elected President who served two consecutive terms after winning the 2005 and 2011 Presidential elections&period; She had initially run for Presidential office in 1997 against Charles Taylor&comma; but she lost&period; During her tenure she was also elected Chair of the Economic Community of West African States in June of 2016&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Rose Francine Rogombe&comma; Interim President of Gabon &lpar;June 2009 – October 2009&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rose Francine Rogombe served as interim President of Gabon from June 2009 to October 2009 after the death of President of Omar Bongo&period; As President of the Senate at that time&comma; she automatically became the Head of State because she was constitutionally the first in line for presidential succession&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Agnes Monique Ohsan Bellepeau&comma; Acting President of Mauritius &lpar;March – July 2012 and May – June 2015&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Agnes Monique Ohsan Bellepeau was the Acting President of Mauritius from March 31&comma; 2012 – July 21&comma; 2012&period; This was the transition period between the resignation of the current President Anerood Jugnauth to the inauguration of the new President Kailash Purryag&period; She served again as Acting President between the resignation of Purryag and the inauguration of the new President&comma; Ameenah Gurib from May 29&comma; 2015 – June 5&comma; 2015&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Joyce Hilda Banda&comma; President of Malawi &lpar;April 2012 – May 2014&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Joyce Hilda Banda served as President of Malawi from April 7&comma; 2012 to May 31&comma; 2014 following the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika&period; She was the country’s fourth President&period; She was also the country’s first female Vice President &lpar;May 2009 to April 2012&rpar;&period; In 2014&comma; Forbes named President Banda as the 40th most powerful woman in the world and the most powerful woman in Africa&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Catherine Samba&comma; Acting President of Central African Republic &lpar;January 2014 – March 2016&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Catherine Samba Panza was the Acting Head of State of the Central African Republic from 2014 to 2016&period; She became interim President when rebel leader Michael Djotodia resigned from his self appointed Presidency&period; Before she took on this role&comma; she was the mayor of the capital city Bangui from 2013 to 2014&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Ameenah Gurib-Fakim&comma; President of Mauritius &lpar;June 2015 – March 2018&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ameenah Gurib-Fakim was the first female President of Mauritius from 2015 to 2018&period; She was selected to be a Presidential candidate in 2014 following the resignation of then President Kailash Purryag&period; She was unanimously elected President by the National Assembly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Sahle-Work Zewde&comma; President of Ethiopia &lpar; October 2018 – Present&rpar;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sahle-Work Zewde is the first elected female President of Ethiopia and currently the only female out of the 54 Presidents in Africa&period; She took office on October 25&comma; 2018 after being unanimously elected by members of the National Parliamentary Assembly&period; Prior to her election as President&comma; she worked as Special Representative of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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