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Le Mamea Ropati

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Le Mamea Ropati
Member of the Council of Deputies
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 February 2016
Prime MinisterTuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi
Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa
O le Ao o le MaloTupua Tamasese Efi
Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi II
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
In office
21 March 2011 – 6 February 2016
Prime MinisterTuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi
Preceded byTaua Kitiona Seuala
Succeeded byLa'auli Leuatea Polataivao[a]
Minister of Education
In office
1982–1985
Prime MinisterTofilau Eti Alesana
Minister of Lands Survey, Post Office and Broadcasting
In office
1982–1982
Prime MinisterVaʻai Kolone
Member of the Samoan Parliament
for Lefaga & Falese'ela
In office
5 April 1991 – 6 February 2016
Preceded byTuaopepe Fili
Succeeded byToleafoa Ken Vaafusuaga Poutoa
In office
24 February 1979 – 1988
Preceded byVaafusuaga Poutoa
Succeeded byTuaopepe Fili
Personal details
Political partyHuman Rights Protection Party
Samoan National Development Party
Samoa Democratic United Party

Tuiletufuga Le Mamea Ropati Mualia is a Samoan politician, and member of the Council of Deputies. He has served as a Cabinet Minister, Leader of the Opposition and represented the constituency for Lefaga & Falese'ela for over thirty years. He was a founding member of the Human Rights Protection Party.

Le Mamea was educated at Samoa College[1] and later studied pharmacy at the University of Otago, graduating in 1970 to become Samoa's first pharmacy graduate.[2] He worked as chief pharmacist at Cherry Farm Psychiatric Hospital in Hawksbury, New Zealand.[3] He returned to Samoa in 1971 and became chief pharmacist at Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital in Apia.[3]

Political career

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He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Samoa in the 1979 election.[4] He was one of the founding members of the Human Rights Protection Party, and following the 1982 election was appointed to cabinet in the first HRPP government as Minister of Lands Survey, Post Office and Broadcasting.[5] He subsequently served as Minister of Education, Youth, Sports & Cultural Affairs and Labour in the government of Tofilau Eti Alesana.[5][6] As Minister of Education he established the National University of Samoa with an initial budget of $5.[1] After the 1985 election he was not reappointed to Cabinet, and in December 1985 he joined ten other HRPP members in crossing the floor to support Vaʻai Kolone as Prime Minister.[6] He was re-elected in the 1988 election, but subsequently convicted of nine counts of personation and lost his seat.[7]

He was re-elected in the 1991 election, and following the 2001 election became leader of the Samoan National Development Party and Leader of the Opposition.[8] He subsequently became leader of the Samoan Democratic United Party following its formation in 2003.[9] He was reappointed as leader following the 2006 election,[10] but in August 2006 was replaced by Asiata Sale'imoa Va'ai.[11] In September 2006 he left the party to become an independent, resulting in the party no longer being recognised in parliament.[12][13] He subsequently declined to join the Tautua Samoa Party.[14]

Following a request from his village,[15] he contested the 2011 election as a candidate for the Human Rights Protection Party.[16] Following his re-election, he was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries.[17]

In June 2015, Le Mamea announced that he would retire at the end of the parliamentary term.[6][18] In February 2016 he was elected to the Council of Deputies alongside Tuiloma Pule Lameko as Deputy Head of State.[19] Following Lameko's death in 2018 he was left as the only member of the council.[20]

2021 constitutional crisis

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During the 2021 Samoan constitutional crisis, Le Mamea was approached by the winning FAST Party to swear-in Members of Parliament following the Head of State's decision to boycott the planned sitting of Parliament on 24 May 2021. A Supreme Court ruling upheld the Head of State's earlier proclamation convening Parliament however, the Head of State and former Prime Minister refused to uphold the court's decision. Le Mamea declined FAST Party's request and refused to swear-in the elected MPs.[21] He has subsequently played no further part during the events that followed.

He has remained the sole member of the Council of Deputies since 2018.

Notes

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  1. ^ As Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Scientific Research

References

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  1. ^ a b Eric Clem Groves (2019). The Five Tala University: Higher Education in Developing Countries: A Case Study of the National University of Samoa (PDF) (MDS). National University of Samoa. p. 25-27.
  2. ^ Pai Mulitalo Ale (2 October 2016). "New start for Otago University in Samoa". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Distinguished Pacific alumnus returns for 150th anniversary weekend". University of Otago. 28 March 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  4. ^ Lanuola Tusani Tupufia (4 February 2016). "Trip down memory lane". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Le Mamea Ropati". Legislative Assembly of Samoa. Archived from the original on 1 October 2006. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  6. ^ a b c "Long Serving Samoa MP, Minister Of Agriculture, Resigns". Pacific Islands Report. 30 June 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  7. ^ "Majority for Rights party". Canberra Times. 29 April 1988. p. 4 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "NOW ANOTHER OPPOSITION LEADER IN SAMOA". Pacific Islands Report. 21 March 2001. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  9. ^ "Opposition parties merge in Samoa to fight next general elections". RNZ. 30 December 2003. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  10. ^ "Samoan opposition reappoint leadership". RNZ. 20 April 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  11. ^ "Samoa opposition leader Ropati dumped". RNZ. 31 August 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  12. ^ "Samoa Democratic United party no longer has numbers to be main opposition party". RNZ. 30 September 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  13. ^ "Samoa Democratic United Party MPs become Independent MPs". RNZ. 15 November 2006. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  14. ^ "Independent MPs in Samoa to form a new political party". RNZ. 28 April 2008. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  15. ^ "Veteran Opposition MP in Samoa being asked to run for ruling HRPP party". RNZ. 22 February 2010. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  16. ^ "Samoa's Le Mamea Ropati runs under HRPP banner". RNZ. 23 February 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  17. ^ "Former opposition leader in Samoa joins new ruling party cabinet". RNZ. 21 March 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  18. ^ "Long serving Samoa MP announces retirement". RNZ. 30 June 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  19. ^ "Samoa has two new members of the council of deputies". RNZ. 28 January 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  20. ^ Lanuola Tusani Tupufia - Ah Tong (20 May 2020). "Cabinet Secretary defers on Council of Deputies rumours". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  21. ^ Field, Michael (24 May 2021). "NZ's Ardern appeals to Samoans to uphold democracy as crisis deepens". APR.
Legislative Assembly of Samoa
Preceded by
Vaafusuaga Poutoa
 Member of Parliament for Lefaga & Falese'ela
1979–1988 		Succeeded by
Tuaopepe Fili
Preceded by
Tuaopepe Fili
 Member of Parliament for Lefaga & Falese'ela
1991–2016 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Opposition
2001–2006 		Succeeded by
Asiata Sale'imoa Va'ai
Preceded by Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
2011–2016 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Samoan National Development Party
2001–2003 		Party Dissolved
New political party Leader of the Samoan Democratic United Party
2003–2006 		Succeeded by
Asiata Sale'imoa Va'ai
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