With the sudden death of controversial Tanzanian President John Magufuli (aka the ‘bulldozer’), Samia Suluhu became the East African country’s first woman president in March 2021. She was vice-presidential candidate on the ticket of Magufuli’s Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party that won first the 2016 and then the 2020 elections. According to the constitution she will finish out Magufuli’s term and then be eligible for another five-year term after that.
The change in leadership has come none too soon for those who value Tanzania’s reputation as a reasonably even-handed democracy – the country has never changed governments except through election. The meteoric Magufuli alarmed those both inside and outside the country with a rambunctious populism that featured both Covid denial and a cavalier approach to civil liberties. Rumours linger that the bulldozer crashed due to catching Covid himself.
