Samia Suluhu Hassan was born on January 27, 1960, in Zanzibar, which is currently known as the United Republic of Tanzania.

She is the sixth President of the United Republic of Tanzania.

She is the first woman to serve as the president of Tanzania since 2021.

She married Hafidh Ameir in 1978, and they have four children.

Education Background

She completed her secondary school education in 1977.

After secondary school, she spent the next three decades working in various positions, including posts with the World Food Programme and the Zanzibar government, while furthering her higher education.

Samia earned various diplomas and degrees in various tertiary institutions.

In 1994, Samia earned a postgraduate diploma in economics from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.

She also earned a Master’s degree in community economic development in 2005 via a joint program between the Open University of Tanzania and Southern New Hampshire University in the United States.

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Political Career of Samia Suluhu

Suluhu has been a long member of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party which is the Tanzania ruling party.

On her political debut, she was elected as a member of the Zanzibar House of Representatives and later appointed as minister.

In 2005, she was re-elected and received another ministerial portfolio.

She was elected to Tanzania’s National Assembly in 2010 as the representative of Makunduchi constituency.

She was appointed as the Minister of state for union affairs while serving in the National Assembly by former President Jakaya Kikwete.

In 2014, she was named vice chair of the Constitutional Assembly, the group charged with writing the country’s new constitution.

Vice president

She was picked by former President John Magufuli of CCM to be his running mate ahead of the October 2015 general elections.

They emerged victorious, and Hassan was inaugurated as the Vice President, becoming the first woman to hold that post.

Hassan and Magufuli ran together again in the October 2020 election and won another term.

COVID-19 Pandemic

Their second tenure in office faced some challenges due to increasingly autocratic tendencies as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Magufuli ignored many of the recommended safety precautions and later declared Tanzania free of the virus.

There was a rumor that Magufuli himself had contracted COVID, and on March 17, 2021, Samia announced that he had died from heart-related complications.

After the death of Magufuli, Hassan was sworn in as the president on March 19 to complete the remainder of his term as it is drawn in the constitution.

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Presidency

After taking over the presidential role, she quickly moved to counter Magufuli’s COVID missteps and address the pandemic.

Her government took actions such as recommending that people employ social distancing measures and wear masks in public.

Samia also urged Tanzanian’s to get vaccinated against the virus.

At the regional level, she worked relentlessly to improve relations with other East African countries.

She further formed a task force on political reform and democracy based on views from the members of civil society, media, and other leaders.

Samia focused on what she called the “4Rs”—reconciliation, resilience, reforms, and rebuilding.

Meanwhile, in early 2023, she loosened the restrictions on opposition parties by lifting a ban on political rallies that her predecessor had enacted six years prior.

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Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan speaking at a past event. PHOTO/Samia X