Elected on Tuesday 01 February in Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania, she received 376 votes from the MPs who attended the election. She becomes the second woman in Tanzania to hold this position after Anne Makinda, who held it from 2010 to 2015.
Tulia Ackson Mwansasu, who defeated eight of her fellow candidates, was deputy speaker of the National Assembly under the chairmanship of Job Ndugai who resigned on 6 January 2022 and whom she replaces. She is a member of the Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), the ruling party in Tanzania since independence.
Tulia Ackson, 45, is a lawyer by profession with expertise in social security law, labour law, wildlife management law, trust law, probate and estate administration, project finance and mining law. She also specialises in general commercial agreements, such as joint ventures, agency agreements, distribution agreements, service agreements, mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, management buy-outs, employment law, commercial law and competition law.
Former Deputy Attorney General
Tulia Ackson, a law professor at the University of Das Es Salaam, was appointed by the former President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Dr Jakaya Kikwete, as Deputy Attorney General on 14 September 2015. Two months later, on 16 November 2015, the late President of Tanzania, Dr John Magufuli, appointed her as a Member of Parliament of Tanzania. Dr Tulia Ackson was subsequently elected as Deputy Speaker of Parliament.
Tulia Ackson holds a PhD in Law from the University of Cape Town, South Africa and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Dar Es Salaam. She joined the University of Dar es Salaam in 2001, where she started working as a postgraduate teaching assistant. In 2004, she was promoted to assistant lecturer after obtaining her Master’s degree in law. In 2007, she was promoted to senior lecturer after obtaining her PhD.
In 2009, she became Associate Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Dar es Salaam and served in this position for six years, two terms of three years each. She was promoted to full professor in 2011. In February 2014, Tulia Ackson was appointed by the former President of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, as a member of the first Constituent Assembly of Tanzania, representing higher education institutions.
She is a member of the Tanganyika Law Society, the East African Law Society and the Southern African Development Law Society.
