I will kneel for my husband, it doesn’t make me inferior says Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu

President Samia Suluhu of Tanzania has said she will remain submissive to her husband, Hafidh Ameir, despite her accomplishment.

In a video currently circulating online, the president said kneeling before her husband to show submission and honour would not make her inferior to him but was rather a sign of love and affection.

According to reports, Suluhu, who said this while she was Vice President to the late John Pombe Magufuli, said that despite the powerful position she occupies, Hafidh Ameir remains her husband and head of the family.

“Some of you will say we are equal in all aspects of society, No! That’s not the right position. Even as vice president, I will kneel before my husband. I don’t kneel because I am inferior, it’s because of love and affection.

Don’t leave this tradition so we can strengthen the bond of our families and bring up our children through good manners,” she said.

Samia Suluhu Hassan is the sixth President of the United Republic of Tanzania. She assumed office on March 19th 2021.

Previously, she was Vice President since 5th November 2015, under President Dr. John Pombe Magufuli.

Prior to that, she was a Minister of State, Vice Presidents Office in charge of Union Affairs.

In 2005-2010, she served as a Minister for Tourism, trade and Investment in Zanzibar and in 2000-2005 a Minister of Youth Employment, Women and Children Development in Zanzibar.

The 61-year-old is affectionately known as Mama Samia – in Tanzanian culture that reflects the respect she is held in, rather than reducing her to a gendered role.

First elected to a public office in 2000, Samia Suluhu came to national prominence in 2014 as the vice-chairperson of the Constituent Assembly, created to draft a new constitution.

Samia Suluhu’s calm demeanour in managing occasional outbreaks of pandemonium and the way which she dealt with some of the more outspoken members earned her some political points.

She was born in January 1960 on Zanzibar – the semi-autonomous islands off the coast of mainland Tanzania. Later she went on to study public administration, first in Tanzania and then as a post-graduate at UK’s Manchester University.

In 1978, Samia Suluhu married Hafidh Ameir, who is known to be an agricultural academic but has also kept a low profile. Since Ms Samia became vice-president, the two have not been pictured together.

They have four children with one, Mwanu Hafidh Ameir, who is currently a member of Zanzibar House of Representatives.