Why I’m placing all my bets on Samia Suluhu Hassan

Tanzania's new President Samia Suluhu Hassan is seen after taking oath of office following the death of her predecessor John Pombe Magufuli at State House in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania March 19, 2021. [Tanzania State House Press/Handout via REUTERS]

When I was child, the journey to my village seemed never-ending. A long and gruelling drive that was punctuated by town after town, marketplace after marketplace. Granted, there was a lot to see along the way, from cattle to wildlife, flat lands to rolling hills, sisal fields to tea plantations.

But by the time we got to Ebusiekwe in Vihiga County, where my mother’s family is from, my body would feel like a crowded sack of flesh and bones. And we still had miles to go before we got to Bukhwamba, in Samia, Busia County, which is where my father took my mother when they were married back in 1965.