Zuhura Yunus appointed as director of presidential communications

By Bethsheba Wambura

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Dar es Salaam. President Samia Suluhu Hassan has on February 01, 2022, appointed renowned journalist Zuhura Yunus the new Director of Presidential Communications.

According to a statement released by the outgoing Director of Presidential Communications, Jaffar Haniu, the appointment is with immediate effect.

She becomes the first woman to hold the position.

Mr Haniu had served in the position as the Director of Presidential communications since June 9, 2021, will be assigned other duties.

Prior to the appointment into public office, Ms Yunus worked as a producer and presenter at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

She announced that she would be leaving the BBC on January 14, 2022 after serving for 14 years.

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Zuhura joined the BBC Swahili Service in 2008 as a radio presenter and producer.

It was in 2014, that she moved to become news anchor for the BBC’s ‘Dira ya Dunia’. During her time at the BBC she contributed tremendously to the success of several programs that were broadcast on both radio and TV including the US elections of 2012, Cyclone Sandy, and the burial of South Africa’s first post-apartheid President Nelson Mandela in December 2013.

She has also interviewed several African leaders such as former Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and President Samia Suluhu Hassan during her days as Vice President.

Her interview with Opposition Presidential candidate Edward Lowassa in 2015 was a hit with the media fraternity in Tanzania and beyond.

Among some of the unique contentsthat she produced for the BBC World Service was a special article about MV Liemba in Tanzania.

The ship, which was built by Germans during the First World War is still in use in Kigoma, Tanzania.

In 2019, she set another record as the first female broadcaster from Tanzania to broadcast Focus on Africa TV and became the first person to broadcast on BBC World News wearing a hijab.

Prior to joining the BBC, Zuhura worked with Mwananchi Communications Limited (MCL) in Dar es Salaam as a journalist reporting for The Citizen newspaper.