US Vice President Kamala Harris recently praised Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan as a “champion” of democracy while on the final chapter of her historic journey to Africa.
Hassan, Tanzania’s first female president who has been reversing the authoritarian practices of her late predecessor John Magufuli, spoke with Harris, the first black woman and vice president of the United States.
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During her visit to the East African nation, Harris stated that she and the country’s leader will talk about democracy, effective leadership, long-term economic growth, and the climate problem.
Harris called Hassan a “champion” of democracy and stated that, “on the subject of economic growth, good governance delivers predictability, stability, and rules which businesses need to invest,”Â
“There is so much potential for growth here.”
Harris is now traveling to three different African countries as part of the latest American effort to strengthen ties with the region to offset the rising influence of China and Russia.
Since taking office on March 19, Hassan has worked to put an end to Magufuli’s strict rule, which damaged Tanzania’s standing as a stable nation in a volatile area.
She pledged earlier this month to revive competitive politics and kick-start the long-stalled opposition demand to rewrite the constitution.
Hassan declared the lifting of a prohibition on political demonstrations in January, which paved the way for opposition leader Tundu Lissu to return later that month after spending the majority of the previous five years in exile.
In addition, Harris placed a wreath at a memorial honoring the US embassy bombing in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s commercial center, in August 1998.
More than 200 people were killed and more than 5,000 were injured in the virtually simultaneous assaults by Al-Qaeda on the US embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, and targets in Tanzania.
Harris unveiled a $1 billion program to increase women’s empowerment in Africa as she finished the first part of her journey on Wednesday in Ghana.
She mentioned three areas of emphasis Washington feels may profit from increased investment in a speech she recently made in Ghana’s capital Accra: women’s empowerment, the digital economy, and good governance and democracy.
She said, echoing US President Joe Biden’s remark during a conference of US and African leaders Summit last year, “We are ‘all in’ on Africa.”
Harris departs Tanzania on Friday for Zambia.
