Samia Suluhu Hassan

Born in Zanzibar on 27 January 1960, Suluhu Hassan spent a decade as a minister in the semi-autonomous region before entering parliament in 2010 and serving as Minister of State for Union Affairs. She became Tanzania's first female vice-president in 2015, running on the Chama Cha Mapinduzi ticket with John Magufuli, and the pair won re-election in 2020. When Magufuli died on 19 March 2021, she ascended to the presidency and quickly pivoted from his COVID denialism, implementing pandemic controls and pushing infrastructure expansion and foreign investment. But the early reformist sheen faded: i…