Naama Maheu Latasi OBE | |
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In office 1989–1997 | |
Naama Maheu Latasi, Lady Latasi, OBE (died 16 March 2012) was a political figure from the Pacific nation of Tuvalu. She stood for election in the constituency of Nanumea in 1989 and was elected to the Parliament of Tuvalu. Lady Latasi served as Minister of Health, Education and Community Services in the first Government of Prime Minister of Tuvalu Bikenibeu Paeniu. She was the first female member of parliament in Tuvaluan history. An amazing feat, that served to both pave the way for other aspiring female members of parliament today, but propelled the movement of gender equality. She served in Parliament from 1989 to 1997. [1] Although she was not re-elected in the first 1993 general election but regained her seat in parliament in the second 1993 general election. [2]
In 1967 she set up the Olave Kindergarten, named after the founder of the Girl Guides movement, Lady Olave Baden Powell. [3] In 1975 Lady Latasi was influential in setting up the headquarters for the Girl Guides Association of Tuvalu in Funafuti following the separation of the Ellice Islands from the Gilbert Islands. She was appointed the first Tuvalu Girl Guides Commissioner. [3]
Lady Latasi was the first woman to be elected to the Parliament of Tuvalu. [4] She remained the only woman ever to have served in the Tuvaluan Parliament until Pelenike Isaia won the August 2011 by-election for the constituency of Nui. [1] [5]
In the 1993 New Year Honours she was appointed an OBE.
She was married to Sir Kamuta Latasi, a former Prime Minister of Tuvalu and subsequently Speaker of the Parliament of Tuvalu. [1] Lady Latasi died on 16 March 2012. [3]
The politics of Tuvalu takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, whereby the Monarch is the head of state, represented by the Governor-General, while the Prime Minister is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government.
Nanumea is the northwesternmost atoll in the Polynesian nation of Tuvalu, a group of nine coral atolls and islands spread over about 400 miles (640 km) of Pacific Ocean just south of the equator and west of the International Date Line. Nanumea is 4 km2 (1.5 sq mi) with a population of 512 people.
Tuvalu elects a legislature on a national level. The Parliament of Tuvalu has 16 members, elected for a four-year term in 8 double-seat constituencies. Tuvalu is a de facto non-partisan democracy since it does not have political parties.
Bikenibeu Paeniu, PC is a politician from Tuvalu. He represented the constituency of Nukulaelae in the Parliament of Tuvalu. He has served twice as the Prime Minister of Tuvalu.
Sir Tomu Malaefone Sione was a political figure from the Pacific nation of Tuvalu. He worked as a journalist from 1962–68, and held the post of radio announcer in the Broadcasting and Information Department of the administration of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (GEIC). He was the head of the southern Niutao clan. He was married to Segali.
The Parliament of Tuvalu is the unicameral national legislature of Tuvalu. The place at which the parliament sits is called the Vaiaku maneapa. The maneapa on each island is an open meeting place where the chiefs and elders deliberate and make decisions.
Sir Kamuta Latasi is a political figure from the Pacific nation of Tuvalu from Funafuti atoll. He was elected to the Parliament of Tuvalu in 1992. Latasi served as the 4th Prime Minister of Tuvalu from 1993 until 1996. He has served as the Speaker of parliament from 2006 to September 2010 and again from December 2010 to March 2014.
Apisai Ielemia was a Tuvaluan politician. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Tuvalu from 2006 to 2010, and was returned as a member of parliament in the 2010 Tuvaluan general election. He was re-elected to parliament in the 2015 Tuvaluan general election. On 5 October 2016 Chief Justice Sweeney of the High Court of Tuvalu declared that Ielemia’s parliamentary seat was vacant as he was not qualified to be a member of parliament, as the consequence of the short time the opposition MP served time in jail following his conviction on 6 May 2016 in the Magistrate’s Court of charges of abuse of office during the final year of his term as Prime Minister. The abuse of office charges related to payments deposited into a National Bank of Tuvalu personal account. The 5 October 2016 decision of the Chief Justice was controversial as it appeared to contradict the June 2016 decision of Justice Norman Franzi of the High Court of Tuvalu that had quashed Ielemia’s conviction and acquitted him of the abuse of office charges. The appeal to the High Court held that the conviction was "manifestly unsafe," with the court quashing the 12-month jail term.
The Scout and Guide movement in Tuvalu is served by:
The Girl Guides Association of Tuvalu was previously a member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, however membership was withdrawn in 2005.
Kausea Natano is a Tuvaluan politician who is serving as Prime Minister of Tuvalu, in office since 19 September 2019. He is also serving as an MP for Funafuti, having also served as the country's deputy prime minister and minister for communications in former prime minister Willy Telavi's Cabinet.
The Cabinet of Tuvalu is the executive branch of the government of Tuvalu.
General elections were held in Tuvalu on 27 September 1989. Bikenibeu Paeniu was elected Prime Minister following the elections and formed a five-member cabinet composed largely of opponents of the previous Prime Minister Tomasi Puapua.
Early general elections were held in Tuvalu on 25 November 1993, after the previous elections in September had resulted in a deadlock in Parliament, with supporters of incumbent and former Prime Ministers Bikenibeu Paeniu and Tomasi Puapua holding an equal number of seats.
A by-election was held in the Nui constituency in Tuvalu on 24 August 2011. It was triggered by the death of the incumbent, MP Isaia Italeli, the Minister for Works, who died quite suddenly in late July while in Samoa on government business. Although there are no political parties in Tuvalu, Members of Parliament align themselves with the government or with the Opposition, and Italeli's death had resulted in Prime Minister Willy Telavi's government losing its one-seat majority in Parliament. The by-election was thus highly important to the government's survival.
Pelenike Tekinene Isaia served in the Parliament of Tuvalu from 2011 to 2015. Before her election as an MP she worked for the Tuvalu Cooperative Society, as its branch manager in Nui.
Otinielu Tauteleimalae Tausi is a politician from Tuvalu for the constituency of Nanumanga. He served as the speaker of the Parliament of Tuvalu from 2003 until 2006, then again from March 2014 onward, and has also been the deputy prime minister of Tuvalu.
Women in Tuvalu continue to maintain a traditional Polynesian culture within a predominantly Christian society. Tuvaluan cultural identity is sustained through an individual's connection to their home island. In the traditional community system in Tuvalu, each family has its own task, or salanga, to perform for the community. The skills of a family are passed on from parents to children. The women of Tuvalu participate in the traditional music of Tuvalu and in the creation of the art of Tuvalu including using cowrie and other shells in traditional handicrafts. There are opportunities of further education and paid employment with non-government organisations (NGOs) and government enterprises, education and health agencies being the primary opportunities for Tuvaluan women.
Puakena Boreham is a medical practitioner (anaesthetist) who became a Tuvaluan politician, when she was elected to represent Nui in the 2015 Tuvaluan general election. She was appointed as the Minister of Works and Natural Resources in August 2016; and served as the minister during the Sopoaga Ministry. She was re-elected in the 2019 general election.
Simon Kofe is a Tuvaluan politician. He was appointed as the Minister for Justice, Communication & Foreign Affairs, in the cabinet of Kausea Natano following the 2019 Tuvaluan general election.