Tanzania gets first female president as Magufuli dies at 61

TANZANIA is expected to announce its first female president in the country’s almost sixty years of existence as a sovereign nation.

This is following the death of President Pombe Magufuli at the age of 61.

Vice President, Mrs. Samia Suluhu Hassan made the sad development known last night.

In a televised speech on state-owned TBC , the Vice President announced that the President died of a heart condition on March 17, 2021, at about 6pm at Mzena Hospital in capital Dar es Salaam where he was admitted on March 14.

The Vice President said Magufuli was first briefly admitted to the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute on March 6, but was subsequently discharged.

But he was rushed to hospital again on March 14 after feeling unwell. She announced that the nation will observe  a 14-day  period of mourning.

According to the Tanzanian Constitution the Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan is now the acting president of Tanzania.

While a date for her swearing in has not yet been announced, she will be Tanzania’s first female president.Born in Chato, Geita Tanzania, in 1959, Magufulu studied chemistry and maths at the University of Dar es Salaam.

He worked as a chemistry and maths teacher before he was first elected as an MP in 1995.

Mugufuli later became a cabinet minister in 2000 and was first elected president in 2015.