Exclusive interview

Tanzania President Samia Hassan Suluhu on her first year in charge; Democracy, Nyerere, vaccines…

By Nicholas Norbrook

Posted on Friday, 18 March 2022 07:35, updated on Friday, 15 April 2022 13:45
President of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan in Paris, February 2022 (photo: Vincent Fournier for JAMG)

Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan was sworn in on 19 March 2021. She succeeded the iconoclastic John Magufuli. How much has she changed in the year that followed? In an exclusive in depth interview with The Africa Report, President Samia talks about the more liberal approach to the economy, opening up the political sphere, and connecting Tanzanian gas to global markets.

The arrival of a vice-president into the top seat is often preceded by tragedy. Theodore Roosevelt took charge in the US after the 1901 assassination of then president William McKinley; Tanzania’s vice-president Samia Suluhu Hassan followed suit after the death of John Magufuli in March 2021. The late president is largely believed to have died of complications from Covid-19, the disease he thought could be cured by prayers and herbal steam therapy.

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