Luagalau Levaula Kamu | |
---|---|
Minister of Public Works | |
In office 26 April 1996 –16 July 1999 | |
Prime Minister | Tofilau Eti Alesana Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi |
Preceded by | Leafa Vitale |
Member of the Samoa Parliament for Salega | |
In office 26 April 1996 –16 July 1999 | |
Succeeded by | Tapua'i To'ese |
Personal details | |
Died | 16 July 1999 Apia |
Political party | Human Rights Protection Party |
Luagalau Levaula Kamu (died 16 July 1999) was a Samoan lawyer and Cabinet Minister. His 1999 assassination was the first political assassination in Samoa since independence in 1962. [1]
Kamu trained as a lawyer in New Zealand,at Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Auckland. [1] He served as a chairman of the Samoan Advisory Council in New Zealand,and had practised law in Samoa before entering parliament at the 1996 election. He was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Public Works by Prime Minister Tofilau Eti Alesana. [2]
Kamu was married to fellow MP Maiava Visekota Kamu-Peteru.
Kamu was fatally shot during a social function at St Joseph's College hall,Apia,celebrating the 20th anniversary of the ruling Human Rights Protection Party. Kamu had just introduced Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi when he stepped into a back room to answer a phone call. [3] He was shot through a hole in the wall and declared dead on arrival at Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital in Apia. [1] His assassin,Eletise Leafa Vitale,was arrested ten days later. [4] The killer was the son of Cabinet Minister Leafa Vitale, [5] who had been the previous Minister of Public Works (and who had been dismissed from that position the preceding November following a scandal involving accusations of embezzlement of public funds). Vitale was arrested,along with a second MP,Communications Minister Toi Aukuso. [6] On 9 August 1999 Eletise Vitale pled guilty to murder and was sentenced to death; [7] his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. [8] Vitale senior and Toi were convicted of assassination in April 2000, [9] [10] [11] and their death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment in May 2000. [12] The assassination was motivated by corruption,as the Public Works portfolio was a lucrative source of bribes. [13]
Kamu's assassination is commemorated with an annual lecture series on transparency,accountability and good governance. [14]
Samoa,officially the Independent State of Samoa and until 1997 known as Western Samoa,is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands;two smaller,inhabited islands;and several smaller,uninhabited islands,including the Aleipata Islands. Samoa is located 64 km (40 mi) west of American Samoa,889 km (552 mi) northeast of Tonga,1,152 km (716 mi) northeast of Fiji,483 km (300 mi) east of Wallis and Futuna,1,151 km (715 mi) southeast of Tuvalu,519 km (322 mi) south of Tokelau,4,190 km (2,600 mi) southwest of Hawaii,and 610 km (380 mi) northwest of Niue. The capital and largest city is Apia. The Lapita people discovered and settled the Samoan Islands around 3,500 years ago. They developed a Samoan language and Samoan cultural identity.
The Mau was a non-violent movement for Samoan independence from colonial rule during the first half of the 20th century. Mau means ‘resolute’or ‘resolved’in the sense of ‘opinion’,‘unwavering’,‘to be decided’,or ‘testimony’;also denoting ‘firm strength’in Samoan. The motto for the Mau were the words Samoa mo Samoa. Similarly in Hawaiian Mau means to strive or persevere,and is often linked with Hawaiian poetry relating to independence and sovereignty struggles.
Tofilau Eti Alesana was a Samoan politician who served as the fifth prime minister of Samoa from 1982 to 1985,and again from 1988 until his resignation in 1998.
SusugaTuilaʻepa Lupesoliai Neioti Aiono Saʻilele Malielegaoi is a Samoan politician and economist who served as the sixth prime minister of Samoa from 1998 to 2021. Tuilaʻepa is Samoa's longest serving prime minister and was leader of the opposition from 2021 to 2022. Since 1998,he has led the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP). Tuilaʻepa first entered parliament in 1981 when he won a by-election to represent the electorate of Lepā. He also served as deputy prime minister and minister of finance in the government of Prime Minister Tofilau Eti Alesana,and also held the portfolios of Tourism and Trade,Commerce &Industry.
AfiogaFiamēNaomi Mataʻafa is a Samoan politician and High Chiefess (matai) who has served as the seventh Prime Minister of Samoa and leader of the Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party since 2021.
FiamēMataʻafa Faumuina Mulinuʻu II was a Western Samoan paramount chief and politician. The holder of the Mataʻafa title,one of the four main Samoan chieftainships,he became the first prime minister of Western Samoa in 1959,serving until 1970. He held the position again from 1973 until his death in 1975.
Toi Aukuso Cain was a Samoan politician.
Ta'isi Olaf Frederick Nelson was a Samoan businessman and politician. He was one of the founding leaders of the anti-colonial Mau movement.
Savea Sano MalifaOM is a Samoan poet,journalist,newspaper editor,and publisher. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Samoa Observer,the main newspaper in Samoa. He is the author of the novel Alms for Oblivion. The Pacific Islands News Association awarded him the Pacific Freedom of Information award for defending the right of the Samoan people to freedom of information and expression. In 1998,he received the Commonwealth Press Union's Astor Award and Index on Censorship's Press Freedom Award.
Eletise Leafa Vitale is the son of Women's Affairs Minister Leafa Vitale,who,along with former Communications Minister Toi Aukuso,conspired to assassinate the Prime Minister Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi,the Chief Justice,the Minister of Justice,and New Zealand's High Commissioner to Samoa.
Leafa Vitale was a Minister of Works and Minister of Women's Affairs in Samoa,who along with Toi Aukuso,former Minister of Post and Telecommunications,plotted the assassination of Samoan Minister of Public Works Luagalau Levaula Kamu in 1999.
Vitale is an Italian surname and given name which derives from the Latin word Vita meaning 'life'. The name may refer to:
Tupua Tamasese Lealofi-o-ā'ana III was a paramount chief of Samoa,holder of the Tupua Tamasese dynastic title and became the leader of the country's pro-independence Mau movement from early 1928 until his assassination by New Zealand police in 1929. Inspired by his Christian beliefs,traditional customs and culture of Samoa,Lealofi III became one of the first leaders of the 20th century to employ nonviolent resistance against colonial rule which laid the foundations for Samoa's successful campaign for independence,which it attained in 1962.
Muagututagata Peter Ah Him is a Samoan politician and former member of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa. He represented the constituency of Sagaga-Le-Usoga and was a member of the Human Rights Protection Party. He is the younger brother of Maualaivao Pat Ah Him.
Hans Joachim "Joe" Keil was a Samoan politician,Cabinet Minister,and diplomat. He was a member of the Human Rights Protection Party.
Siale ʻAtaongo Kaho,Lord Tuʻivakanō is a Tongan politician who served as the Prime Minister of Tonga from 2010 to 2014.
Matafeo George Latu is a Samoan lawyer and former dual international rugby union player who has played as a prop for both the Samoa national rugby union team and the Tonga national rugby union team. Since ending his rugby career he has worked as a lawyer in Samoa. He is the brother of lawyer and diplomat Leota Kosi Latu,and the husband of former Samoan Attorney-General Taulapapa Brenda Heather-Latu
Taulapapa Brenda Heather-Latu is a New Zealand-born Samoan lawyer and a former Attorney-General of Samoa. She was the first woman to serve as attorney general,and the first New Zealand-born Samoan to head a Government department in Apia. She is married to former dual international rugby player and lawyer George Latu.
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Capital punishment is not a legal penalty in Samoa. The death penalty was used in the colonial era,but the practice had ceased by the time of independence in 1962,with death sentences being commuted to life imprisonment,and it was formally abolished in 2004. The last execution was carried out in 1952.