Tanzania Vice President Samia Suluhu is set to be sworn in as the country’s Head of State today following the death of John Pombe Magufuli.
The Tanzanian government has announced that the ceremony will take place at State House in Dar es Salaam from 10am.
Samia, 61, will become the first woman President of the East African nation since its independence from Britain in late 1961.
She will serve for the remaining period of Magufuli’s five-year second term in line with the country’s Constitution.
Read: Who is Samia Suluhu? Tanzania’s Next First Female President
Magufuli, who according to the government, died on Wednesday from “heart complications” had just served for about five months in his second term in office.
There is a possibility that Samia will vie for another term in 2025.
Reports indicate that her swearing-in today will be quickly followed by a high-level meeting of her party’s Central Committee on Saturday at the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Sub-Office in Dar es Salaam.
It’s highly likely that Samia’s Vice President will be picked during the meeting.
Samia became Tanzania’s first female Vice-President in 2015 after being elected on the CCM ticket along with President Magufuli.
Read Also: Gains Late Tanzania President Magufuli will be Remembered For
Before her tenure as vice-president, she served as the Member of Parliament for Makunduchi constituency from 2010 to 2015 and was also the Minister of State in the Vice-President’s Office for Union Affairs from 2010 to 2015.
She previously served as a minister in the semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar in the administration of President Amani Karume.
In 2014, she was elected as the Vice-Chairperson of the Constituent Assembly tasked with drafting the country’s new constitution.
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