Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu: The African president with all-female security detail

Samia Suluhu Hassan has been in Tanzania’s political space for over two decades now, presently she is President of the East African nation.

As a Muslim, she is always pictured with her veil as she undertakes her mandate of running the country of over 40 million.

Soon after then Vice-President Suluhu was ‘elected,’ a viral photo emerged of the new President with her security detail. She was in the company of her aide de camp – Nyamburi Mashauri – and two female bodyguards – both veiled.

That sight has now become routine as she is usually seen with those three women in close proximity wherever she goes at home and abroad.

A recent photo of Suluhu with her ADC in tow and her two bodyguards has been shared by a Kenyan lawyer Ahmed Nasir Abdullahi, triggering varied reactions.

Suluhu, it is believed had returned from the recent AU-EU summit that took place in the Belgian capital, Brussels. Ahmed Nasir titled it: “The ALL FEMALE crew is breathtakingly elegant.”

There are those celebrating the photo along different lines; its elegance, the power of a women, instructiveness of it.

Others also point out the funny scenarios that could be triggered for instance how the guards will react in case of an attack. For others, it is to point out that guards are assigned based on competence than any other consideration.