Tanzania’s vice president, Samia Suluhu Hassan has been sworn in, Friday, as the country’s president after the sudden death of John Magufuli from an undisclosed ailment.

Hassan, 61, a soft-spoken Muslim woman from the island of Zanzibar, will finish Magufuli’s second five-year term, set to run until 2025, as the country’s first female president.

Hassan, who rose through the ranks over a 20-year political career from local government to the national assembly, was named Magufuli’s running mate in the 2015 presidential campaign.

The pair were re-elected in October last year in a poll reportedly marred by irregularities.

She was sworn in as the country’s sixth president, at a ceremony in Dar es Salaam, where neither she nor the majority of attendees wore a mask, in the Covid-sceptic nation.

Taking the oath of office at the inauguration, the new president said: “I, Samia Suluhu Hassan, promise to be honest and obey and protect the Constitution of Tanzania.”

She thereafter inspected troops at a military parade and received a cannon salute.

She joins Ethiopia’s President Sahle-Work Zewde, as serving female Heads of States in Africa, though with mainly ceremonial roles.

Hassan was little known outside Tanzania until she appeared on state television on Wednesday night to announce that Magufuli had died aged 61 from a heart condition after a mysterious three – week absence from public view.

But questions have been raised over the true cause of his death, after multiple rumours that Magufuli — one of the world’s most fervent Covid-sceptic leaders — had caught the virus and had sought treatment abroad.

Main opposition leader Tundu Lissu insists his sources said Magufuli had Covid-19 and had actually died a week ago.

The main concerns however, is whether she will usher in a change in leadership style from her “Bulldozer” predecessor, who was so nicknamed notably in his handling of the pandemic.

He called for prayer instead of face masks, refused to publish case statistics or implement lockdown measures, and championed alternative medicines.

The opposition and rights groups have urged Hassan to change course. “As we continue mourning, let us use this period to open up a new chapter for rebuilding national unity and respect to freedom, justice, rule of law, democracy and people-centred development,” said Freeman Mbowe, the chairman of opposition group, Chadema, in a statement Thursday.

He urged Hassan to lead the nation towards reconciliation

Tanzania is observing a 14-day mourning period and details on Magufuli’s funeral have yet to be announced.

Magufuli is the second East African leader to die under mysterious circumstances.

Burundi’s equally Covid-sceptic leader, Pierre Nkurunziza, died from “heart failure” last June after his wife was flown to Nairobi to be treated for coronavirus.