Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi | |
|---|---|
 Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi in 2013 | |
| Member of the Samoan Parliament | |
| Assumed office 9 April 2021 [a] | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Constituency | Faleata 3 |
| In office 4 March 2011 –9 April 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Ale Vena Ale |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Constituency | Faleata West |
| In office 31 March 2006 –14 May 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Ulu Vaomalo Kini |
| Succeeded by | Ale Vena Ale |
| Constituency | Faleata West |
| Chair of the Tautua Samoa Party | |
Interim | |
| In office 17 December 2008 –22 December 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Party established |
| Succeeded by | Vaʻai Papu Vailupe (as leader) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 1967 |
| Political party | Human Rights Protection Party (2016–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Tautua Samoa Party (2008–2016) |
Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi (born April 1967) [1] is a Samoan politician and member of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa. He is the founder of the Tautua Samoa Party. [2] [3]
Contents
Lealailepule was first elected to Parliament at the 2006 Samoan general election,representing the Faleata West (Faleata i Sisifo) as an independent. [4] [5] He had previously served as chief executive of the Samoan airport authority,and won election with 795 votes,165 more than his rival,the former minister of police. [6]
As an independent,Lealailepule campaigned against the planned government sale of the public broadcaster Radio 2AP. [7] Since the formation of Tautua Samoa,he has also expressed doubts about the ability of the police commissioner to function in office following a damaging Commission of Inquiry Report,and called for the release on parole of former cabinet minister Toi Aukuso,jailed in the 1990s for the murder of Minister of Works Luagalau Levaula Kamu. [8]
In November 2008,Lealailepule was one of twelve (later whittled down to nine) MPs from the Samoan opposition to form a new political party,Tautua Samoa. [9] Like the other Tautua Samoa members,Lealailepule registered as an independent MP to avoid the constitutional requirement to contest a by-election on changing parties. [10] [11] The party was in January 2009 ordered to formally notify the Speaker of its existence and membership. [12] Establishing the party,Lealailepule expressed his intention to form a stronger and more effective opposition to the ruling Human Rights Protection Party. [13] In May 2009,Speaker Tolofuaivalelei Falemoe Lei'ataua revoked the parliamentary membership of all nine of the party's MPs,on the grounds that joining a party after being elected "breached the provisions of the Electoral Act and the parliament standing orders". [14] [15] The expulsion was later overturned by the courts.
In March 2010,Lealailepule was deemed to have resigned from Parliament under anti-party-hopping laws after refusing to deny his support for Tautua Samoa. [16] He was defeated in the resulting by-election. [17] [18] He was re-elected at the 2011 election and appointed the Tautua Party's whip. [19] During this term he opposed the creation of reserved seats for women [20] and called for life imprisonment for drug smugglers. [21]
In February 2016 he announced that he was leaving the Tautua Samoa party and would run as a Human Rights Protection Party candidate in the 2016 election. [22] [23] He was successfully re-elected, [24] and appointed Associate Minister of Communications. [25] As Associate Minister he accused the United Nations of promoting same-sex marriage [26] and called for bloggers critical of the government to be hunted down. [27] [28]
Lealailepule ran again at the 2021 election and was elected unopposed. [29] [30]
On 31 January 2022 Lealailepule was suspended from parliament for 24 hours for making "misleading" public comments about a parliamentary investigation into the passage of the Land and Titles Bill and the Speaker's refusal to swear in MPs elected under the women's quota following the 2021 Samoan by-elections. [31]
On 23 March 2022 he was convicted alongside Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi of scandalising the court for his attacks on the judiciary during and following the 2021 Samoan constitutional crisis. [32] [33] On 24 May 2022 both were suspended indefinitely from the Legislative Assembly after the Privileges Committee found that they had bought parliament into disrepute. [34] [35] On 30 August,the supreme court ruled the suspension to be unconstitutional. [36]
The privileges and ethics committee subsequently reviewed Tuilaʻepa's case and recommended that he and Lealailepule be re-suspended without pay for 24 months. The legislative assembly then approved the committee's motion on 19 October,with all present FAST members and one from the HRPP voting for it. [37] On 4 July 2023 the Supreme Court ruled that Tuilaʻepa and Lealailepule's suspension was unconstitutional and void. [38]