Epeli Nailatikau
|
|
Ratu Epeli Nailatikau (born 1941) (often referred to as Na Turaga Mai Naisogolaca) is a Fijian politician. Since 2001 he has served as Speaker of the House of Representatives - the lower and more powerful chamber of the Fijian Parliament. He is also the Chairman of the Parliamentary Appropriations Committee and of the House Committee.
| Contents |
Education and military career
Nailatikau's career spanned 20 years in the military and 17 years in the diplomatic service. Following his education at Bau District School, Draiba Fijian School, Levuka Public School and Queen Victoria School, Nailatikau trained as a soldier in New Zealand. In 1966, he served on secondment in the 1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment and was posted to Sarawak, Malaysia, during Indonesia's "Konfrontasi" against Malaysia. He proved to be a popular and highly respected officer. When he returned to the Fiji Infantry Regiment, he rose steadily through the ranks. By 1987, he held the rank of Brigadier-General, and was the Commander of the Royal Fiji Military Forces. While visiting Australia, he was deposed from this position, however, when the third-ranked officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka staged the first of two coups and seized power.
Diplomatic career
Nailatikau retired from the Army and decided to pursue a new career in the diplomatic service. After completing the Foreign Service Course at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, he was appointed High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and accredited as Fiji's Ambassador to Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Israel and the Holy See. He was later appointed as Fiji's Roving Ambassador and High Commissioner to the member states of the South Pacific Forum, before taking up a post as Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Trade in 1999.
Political career
In the aftermath of the failure of the Fiji coup of 2000, a coup which Nailatikau strongly opposed, he was nominated for the position of Prime Minister, to help rebuild Fiji's shattered institutions. He withdrew his nomination, however, in favour of Laisenia Qarase, who was considered more of a consensus candidate, but became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Fijian Affairs in the interim Cabinet. In 2001, after democracy had been restored in a general election, he defeated, by a vote of 41 to 29, Joeli Kalou for the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives, a position he continues to hold as of May 2005.
On 14 June 2005, Nailatikau was appointed the UNAIDS Special Representative for the Pacific. According to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, he was chosen because his political position, his respect throughout the Pacific region, and his outspokenness on AIDS-related issues. He has previously served as a UNAIDS Pacific spokesman, and in October2004 chaired the first conference of Pacific Parliamentarians on the Role of Pacific Parliamentarians in the fight against HIV/AIDS, in Suva.
Personal life
As a hereditary chief, Epeli Nailatikau has the title of Ratu. He is the second son of Ratu Edward Cakobau, who commanded the Fijian Battalion in World War II. He is also a great-great-grandson of Seru Epenisa Cakobau, the first monarch to rule over a unified Fijian kingdom after conquering all the tribes of Fiji and uniting them under his leadership, and who ceded the Fiji Islands to the United Kingdom in 1874. In addition, he is a grandson of King George Tupou II of Tonga.
In 1981, he married Adi Koila Mara, the second daughter of modern Fiji's founding father, Prime Minister and President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. Koila is also a politician in her own right; like her husband, she has served as a Member of Parliament, Cabinet minister, and, most recently, Senator. They have two children: a son, Kamisese (named after Adi Koila's father), and a daughter, Litia.