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List Of Women Who Have Been Presidents In Africa

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Newspaper Mistakenly Announces Death Of Tanzania’s New President
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The Vice President of Tanzania, Samia Suluhu Hassan, is set to be declared as the head of state following the death of the country’s president, John Magufuli on Wednesday.

Liberia: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who is popularly called “Africa Iron Lady”, became the first woman president in Africa in 2005.

Sirleaf who is a former international civil servant and finance minister, won a second term in 2011 and the Nobel Peace Prize the same year.

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The first African woman president during her time in the office managed to maintain peace in Liberia, but her economic record was less strong and extreme poverty persists.

Malawi: Joyce Banda

Joyce Banda who step up from been a vice president in Malawi after the death of Bingu wa Mutharika, emerged as the first woman president in the country in 2012.

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Banda departed from Malawi in 2014 after losing 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

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Catherine Samba-Panza who is a legal practitioner 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 contested for presidency in 2020 but lost the electoral process to the incumbent.

Ceremonial presidents

In Mauritius the world-renowned biologist Ameenah Gurib-Fakim 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.

In Ethiopia, the diplomat Sahle-Work Zewde was elected president in 2018 by parliamentarians, also making her the first woman to hold the honorary role.