NAIROBI (KENYA) – Tanzania’s Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan was sworn in as president on Friday, marking herself as the first female head of state in the east African country after the death of president John Magufuli from heart disease.
Hassan, 61, was sworn in at State House in the country’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam. She assumes the presidency after the death of Magufuli was announced on Wednesday, after more than a two-week absence from public life that drew speculation about his health.
In a statement, the presidency said Hassan would address the nation after assuming the position and would also hold a cabinet meeting.
The absence of Magufuli since February 27 had triggered rumours that he had contracted the disease, despite officials denying he was ill. Hassan said he had died of heart disease.
Hassan will also be the country’s first president born in Zanzibar, the archipelago that forms part of the union of the Republic of Tanzania.
The new president will be entrusted with the task of finding panacea for a country that was polarised during the Magufuli years, according to analysts.
Hassan will also be relied upon, when it comes to the decision on whether to procure COVID-19 vaccines for the country of 58 million people. Under Magufuli, the government said it would not get any vaccines until the country’s own experts had done a review of the same.