“It is a blessing in disguise. East Africa gets a nobel change, an African Woman has been waiting for this, Women voices gonna be heard! Karibu Samia Suluhu, Karibu another African female president.” Akida said joyously.
Today the East African state of Tanganyika gets her first ever female president in the region amid sorrows of the sudden death of the country’s president, John Pombe Joseph Magufuli.
Magufuli succumbed to heart complications on Wednesday March 17 at a hospital in Dar es salaam about 210 miles away from the capital city Dodoma. He died at the age of 62 and his contributions to continental politics and economies will forever be missed.
Samoa Suluhu has been serving as the Vice President and will now takeover as the country’s head of state for a period of four years and 8 months to end Magufuli’s second term.
She becomes the 6th president of Tanzania, first and sixth female president in East Africa and African continent respectively.
Suluhu’s appointment comes at a time when women in Africa are blowing trumpets to ruling governments demanding to end socioeconomic and political inequalities against women in the region.
Women in Africa are appointed to meagre slots while their male counterparts are served with bigger positions. A few women who get to fatty positions in governments, Non Government Organizations (NGOs) face stiff resentments from men chauvinist especially in decision making processes.
A number of women rights bodies have called on African governments to harness the role of women in social, economic and political aspects as well as including them in decision making processes particularly in issues pertaining their rights and lives.
Despite efforts by local and international bodies agitating for women inclusiveness, Leonard Kamugisha Akida, CEO, The Parrots Communication says many African statesmen have egocentricity towards including women in African politics.
“Our leaders in Africa appoint fewer prominent women to bigger administrative positions to appear pro gender in the face of EU and UN member states, but in realty, they’re selfish and egoistic about ‘women’ leadership. They want to dominated everything,” he said.
He is hopeful that the appointment of Suluhu will cause a greater impact.
“It is a blessing in disguise. East Africa gets a nobel change, an African Woman has been waiting for this, Women voices gonna be heard! Karibu Samia Suluhu, Karibu another African female president.” Akida said joyously.
Akida appeals to African women in politics and public service to serve with diligences so as to pave way for other women if women inclusiveness in social economic and political spheres is to be achieved.
Other Women Presidents in Africa.
Liberia: Pioneer Sirleaf
Dubbed “Africa’s Iron Lady”, Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made history when she became the continent’s first elected woman president in 2005.
The economist, a former international civil servant and finance minister, won a second term in 2011 and the Nobel Peace Prize the same year.
She stood down in 2018 at the end of her second mandate.
Sirleaf managed to maintain peace in the troubled West African country ravaged by civil wars, but her economic record was less strong and extreme poverty persists.
Malawi: Joyce Banda
Joyce Banda became Malawi’s first female president in 2012, stepping up from vice president to the position after the death of Bingu wa Mutharika.
She left the country in 2014 under a cloud, having lost the presidential election and facing questioning over a corruption scandal known as “Cashgate”.
She later returned to Malawi after four years in exile.
Central African Republic: Samba-Panza
The lawyer Catherine Samba-Panza was elected in 2014 as transition president when the country was in the grip of a civil war. She held the post until 2016.
She ran in the 2020 presidential election but lost to the incumbent.
Ceremonial presidents
Mauritius: Ameenah Gurib-Fakim , the world-renowned biologist was elected by the National Assembly in 2015, becoming the first woman to hold the largely ceremonial role in the archipelago. Implicated in a financial scandal, she resigned in 2018.
Ethiopia: diplomat Sahle-Work Zewde, she was elected president in 2018 by parliamentarians, also making her the first woman to hold the honorary role.
