Samia Suluhu Hassan taking her oath of office
* Hides her high qualifications and achievements deep in the report
* Suluhu holds university qualifications from Tanzania, UK and the US
* The Western world did not particularly love the fallen President Magufuli
* But Tanzanians themselves are glorifying their new President
* Saying her new leadership could bring about positive changes to the country
By Duncan Mlanjira
Friday marked a new chapter of leadership in Tanzania as the first-ever female president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, took the oath of office but while the media glorified her, Times newspaper in UK decided to demean her.
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The Western world did not particularly love the fallen President John Pombe Magufuli even though Tanzanians and the rest of the African continent marveled his rule — that saw the east African country transform economically.
A headline to her ascendancy in UK’s Times newspaper goes: ‘Autocratic’s death makes mother of four Africa’s only female president’ — while hiding her high university qualifications from Tanzania, UK and the US as well as her achievements deep in the report.
The report — surprisingly written by a woman, Jane Flanagan — also singles out her religious affiliation as a Muslim and describes her birthplace of Zanzibar as a “semi-autonomous which has a fractious association with the mainland”.
The Times quotes an allege expert on Tanzanian politics, Thabit Jacob as saying: “For those who were expecting a breakaway from the Magufuli way of thinking, I would say hold your breath. She will struggle to build her own base. We shouldn’t expect major changes.”
Magufuli and Hassan being unveiled by former
President Kikwete in 2015
But Tanzanians themselves are glorifying their new President, saying her new leadership could bring about positive changes to the country.
“We are praying for the best to her,” Joseph Aboubakar, who lives in Dar es Salaam, is quoted as saying by Voice of America (VOA). “Our mother has already taken the country’s leadership and we believe she will lead the country in a good direction.”
Aboubakar added that Hassan is not new to leadership, as she has been in a top position for more than five years.
Another Tanzanian the VOA interviewed, Kyande Muro — a small kiosk owner in Dar es Salaam — said raising people’s incomes would be the best thing the new president could do, and that he would like the new president to attract more investment in the country so people in the streets can find jobs.
Hassan represented Magufuli on international
meetings
VOA reports that some Tanzanians see Hassan’s presidency as challenging the stereotype that women cannot hold top leadership positions.
Rose Reuben, a chairperson of the Tanzania Media Women Association, told VOA that she believes that the country is going to move forward under Hassan’s leadership.
Magufuli died last Wednesday in a Dar es Salaam hospital, 20 days after his last public appearance. The late president was rumored to be suffering from COVID-19, which he long denied was present in that country — thus the wrath he attracted from the Western world.
With Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera
soon after he took oath of office
A requiem mass was held at St Peter’s Catholic Church in Dar es Salaam on Saturday before the body was taken to Uhuru Stadium for the public in Dar es Salaam to bid their farewell.
According to media reports, Magufuli’s body will then be moved to Dodoma on March 22 and to Mwanza on March 23 for locals to bid goodbye.
Thereafter, the body will be moved to his ancestral home in Chato for the final interment on Thursday, March 25 — Suluhu is quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Malawi’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement that President Chakwera is expected fly to Tanzania on Monday, March 22 to attend the State Funeral of the fallen Magufuli.
The 61-year-old new President was first elected with Magufuli as vice-president in 2015 and re-elected last year. She will serve out the remaining four years of the late Magufuli’s term, which ends in October 2025.
Mama Samia — as she is affectionately called — is said to be a soft-spoken, veteran politician who is a former office clerk and development worker.
She began her political career in 2000 in her native Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous archipelago, before being elected to the national assembly on mainland Tanzania and assigned a senior ministry.
She rose through the ranks of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) until being picked by Magufuli as his running mate in his first presidential election campaign in 2015.
She represented Magufuli on trips abroad but many outside Tanzania had not heard of Hassan until she appeared on national television wearing a black headscarf to announce that Magufuli had died at 61 following a short illness.
In a slow and softly spoken address — a stark contrast to the thundering rhetoric favoured by her predecessor — Hassan solemnly declared 14 days of mourning.
She is expected to consult the CCM over the appointing of a new vice president. The party is set to hold a special meeting of its central committee on Saturday.
Her father was a school teacher and her mother a housewife. Hassan graduated from high school but has said publicly that her finishing results were poor, and she took a clerkship in a government office at 17.
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By 1988, after undertaking further study, Hassan had risen the ranks to become a development officer in the Zanzibar government. She was employed as a project manager for the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) and later in the 1990s was made executive director of an umbrella body governing non-governmental organisations in Zanzibar.
In 2000, she was nominated by the CCM to a special seat in Zanzibar’s House of Representatives. She then served as a local government minister — first for youth employment, women and children and then for tourism and trade investment.
In 2010, she was elected to the National Assembly on mainland Tanzania. Then president Jakaya Kikwete appointed her as Minister of State for Union Affairs.
She has spoken publicly to encourage Tanzanian women and girls to pursue their dreams.
“I may look polite, and do not shout when speaking, but the most important thing is that everyone understands what I say and things get done as I say,” Hassan said in a speech last year.
Hassan is the only other current serving female head of state in Africa alongside Ethiopia’s President Sahle-Work Zewde, whose role is mainly ceremonial.—Also reported by Kizzi Asala and Africanews with AFP
