Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu Hassan, Africa’s first hijabi President
Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu Hassan, Africa’s first hijabi President
9th Apr 2021
Samia Suluhu Hassan takes oath as Tanzania’s president, making the history as the first female leader of the East African country, in Dodoma on March 19. (Credit: Tanzanian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu Agency)
Ahmed Rajab
Tanzania’s new President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, is a good example of an unknown known. Although she had been in public life, both in her native Zanzibar and on Mainland Tanzania since 2000, she remains an enigma. Mama Samia, as she is now fondly called, became the country’s first female President on March 19 upon the death two days earlier of President John Pombe Magufuli, who ruled Tanzania with an iron fist. Samia was his Vice-President since they were elected in 2015 on a joint ticket of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM).