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Speaker of the National Assembly
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Dr. Tulia Ackson (born 1976) is a Tanzanian legal scholar, the Speaker of the National Assembly of Tanzania, and the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). She ascended to the Speakership in 2022 following the resignation of Job Ndugai, and maintained her powerful position through the 2025 election cycle. A highly educated technocrat with a PhD in Law, Dr. Ackson initially entered government as the Deputy Attorney General before transitioning to elective politics. She is the Member of Parliament for Mbeya Urban, a seat she wrested from the opposition in 2020. In late 2023, she achieved global recognition by being elected President of the IPU in Geneva. Despite her global diplomatic prestige, domestically she is viewed as a staunch enforcer of CCM supremacy within the legislature, tightly controlling parliamentary debates and ensuring rapid passage of executive bills.
Elected President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in 2023, becoming the first East African woman to hold the global legislative post
Speaker of the Tanzanian National Assembly (2022–Present)
Elected MP for Mbeya Urban (2020), dismantling a long-standing opposition stronghold
Accused by the opposition of severe partisan bias in Parliament, actively gagging debate on the arrest of Tundu Lissu and the banning of CHADEMA in 2025
Her 2020 victory in Mbeya Urban was heavily contested by CHADEMA's Joseph Mbilinyi (Sugu), who cited massive voter intimidation and state interference
Criticized for rushing the ratification of the highly unpopular DP World port privatization agreement through Parliament in 2023 without adequate public participation
Former Deputy Attorney General of Tanzania (2015)
Holds a PhD in Law from the University of Cape Town