In 2000, Suluhu became a special seat member of the
Zanzibar House of Representatives
with the
Chama Cha Mapinduzi
(CCM) party, where she was appointed Zanzibar's Minister for Youth Employment, Women and Children.
[1]
[6]
While in this position, she ended the prohibition on new mothers returning to school.
[7]
She was the only high-ranking woman minister in the cabinet and was treated less seriously by her male colleagues because she was a woman.
[5]
She was re-elected in 2005 and was appointed as Minister for Tourism and Trade Investment.
[1]
[5]
In 2010, Suluhu sought election to the
National Assembly
, standing in the parliamentary constituency of Makunduchi and winning by more than 80%.
[5]
President
Jakaya Kikwete
appointed her as the
Minister of State for Union Affairs
.
[8]
In 2014, she was elected as the Vice-Chairperson of the Constituent Assembly tasked with drafting the country's new constitution.
[9]
Suluhu was the vice-presidential candidate for the CCM in the
2015 general election
, along with presidential candidate
John Magufuli
. She was an unexpected choice, as several more prominent and influential politicians were passed on for the role.
[7]
[10]
She was the first female running mate in the party's history.
[11]
They won the election, and they were sworn in on 5 November 2015.
[12]
Suluhu became the first female
Vice-President of Tanzania
. A dispute emerged between Magufuli and Suluhu in 2016 in which questions of her loyalty were raised, but Suluhu then made public statements in support of Magufuli.
[1]
Magufuli and Suluhu were re-elected in the
2020 general election
, though the victory was called into question after allegations of
electoral fraud
by independent observers.
[1]
[13]
Ascension and swearing in
edit
On 17 March 2021, Suluhu announced that Magufuli had died after a long illness; Magufuli had not been seen in public since late February. She was sworn in on 19 March 2021 to serve the remainder of his second term.
[14]
Opposition leaders had expressed concern about a possible vacuum when 18 March passed without Suluhu being sworn in.
[15]
Out of public view, there was an effort by factions of the party to prevent her from becoming president, and she was the last of the senior government officials to be briefed on Magufuli's death.
[16]
Immediately after being sworn in, Suluhu inspected troops at a military parade in her honour.
[13]
In her first statement as president, she declared three weeks of mourning for Magufuli's death.
[10]
Suluhu chose Minister of Finance
Philip Mpango
as her vice-president.
[17]
To strengthen her position in the government, she dismissed Magufuli's closest allies, including
Bashiru Ally
and
Palamagamba Kabudi
. She also restored the positions of people who had been removed by Magufuli, such as
January Makamba
,
Nape Nnauye
, and
Abdulrahman Kinana
. Suluhu expanded her influence over the party by aligning with former president
Jakaya Kikwete
.
[16]
Upon her swearing-in, Suluhu became Tanzania's first female president
[6]
and the second Zanzibari to hold the post,
[18]
after
Ali Hassan Mwinyi
. She became one of only two serving female heads of state in Africa at the time she was sworn in, alongside Ethiopia's
Sahle-Work Zewde
, who held only a ceremonial role.
[13]
She was the only female head of government in Africa after she was sworn in.
[19]
Presidential administration
edit
The
COVID-19 pandemic
was ongoing when Suluhu became president. She reversed the denialist position on the
COVID-19 pandemic in Tanzania
held by Magufuli, and she entered Tanzania into the
COVAX
program to begin distribution of
COVID-19 vaccines
in July 2021.
[20]
Mandatory 14-day quarantines for travellers entering Tanzania from countries with cases of new
variants of SARS-CoV-2
were imposed.
[21]
Suluhu permitted embassies and other international organisations to import vaccines into the country to vaccinate foreign nationals for their Tanzanian day-to-day work, aided by the
Ministry of Health
.
[22]
Since becoming president, Suluhu has pledged to see that the flagship development projects that were initiated by Magufuli are completed on time.
[23]
She has also approved new development projects.
[24]
Projects that she prioritised include establishing a railway line, building a hydropower plant, and making electricity and clean water available in rural Tanzania.
[19]
Suluhu filmed a movie,
The Royal Tour
, with journalist and filmmaker
Peter Greenberg
in early 2021 with the intention of promoting tourism and getting investors interested in Tanzania.
[25]
Suluhu became the fifth African woman to address the
United Nations General Assembly
in September 2021.
[26]
She reorganised her presidential cabinet in January 2022 to ensure that it was populated by loyalists,
[20]
while she gradually removed those who had served under Magufuli.
[27]
Suluhu adopted a more internationalist approach rather than the isolationism of her predecessor, and she has sought to entice both investors and tourists.
[19]
In 2022, she attended the
Expo 2020
to promote Tanzanian products and opportunities which led her to sign a business partnership deal with
Dubai
.
[28]
[29]
Suluhu took a neutral stance on the
Russian invasion of Ukraine
, saying that they should negotiate peace and that "we don't know why they are fighting".
[19]
In 2022, Suluhu was named among the top 100 most influential people in the world by American magazine
Time
.
[30]
By 2024, she began appealing to the supporters of her predecessor by appointing Magufuli loyalists like
Doto Biteko
and
Paul Makonda
to government positions.
[16]
She is expected to run for re-election in the
2025 general election
.
[19]
Writers for
France 24
,
The New York Times
, and
New Internationalist
have all described Suluhu as "soft-spoken".
[13]
[19]
[31]
Suluhu herself has referenced her quiet demeanour.
[1]
Al-Jazeera
correspondent Catherine Wambua-Soi described a collaborative nature in Suluhu's approach to government, saying that she consults her advisors instead of making unilateral decisions.
[1]
BBC News
cited a comparison to Magufili's predecessor, Jakaya Kikwete, who similarly engaged in diplomacy with the opposition instead of repression.
[32]
Suluhu is sometimes known as Mama Samia, a name meant to indicate reverence.
[7]
Suluhu has emphasised her femininity as part of her presidency, describing it as a factor in her attempts to create a culture of political unity.
[33]
When she became president, Suluhu was seen by the public and outside observers as a more democratically-inclined alternative to Magufuli, who had developed a reputation as an authoritarian.
[13]
[31]
[32]
After taking office, Suluhu took measures to increase
freedom of speech
and
freedom of the press
to reverse Magufuli's policies and to improve Tanzania's global image. These included releasing political prisoners, meeting with opposition leaders, and reopening newspapers that were shut down for criticising the government.
[20]
She also lifted a ban on political rallies in 2023, which her predecessor had implemented to stifle the opposition.
[34]
The opposition has approved of her changes, though some distrust still exists following the persecution they faced under Suluhu's predecessor.
[33]
Tanzania became more democratic during Suluhu's presidency. Though she has initiated several democratic reforms, there is no agreement as to how much can be attributed to her policies, and she has faced criticism for not challenging many authoritarian laws and practices.
[19]
[32]
Suluhu chose not to seek widely demanded amendments to the constitution when she took office, citing the poor state of the economy.
[19]
Following the release of
Freeman Mbowe
and his immediate conversation with Suluhu, his first appearance days later was at the
International Women's Day
event in Iringa in 2022. This caused critics to accuse Suluhu of releasing Mbowe on condition of support for Western
feminist
policies.
[20]
[35]
Suluhu's meetings and reconciliation with opposition leaders have conversely received criticism within her own party.
[20]