Samisoni Tikoinasau | |
---|---|
Minister of State for Public Utilities and Reforms | |
In office 23 May 2006 – 5 December 2006 | |
Prime Minister | Laisenia Qarase |
Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources | |
In office 8 April 2005 – 23 May 2006 | |
Preceded by | Naiqama Lalabalavu |
Member of the Fijian Parliament for Tailevu North Fijian | |
In office 23 March 2002 – 5 December 2006 | |
Preceded by | George Speight |
Succeeded by | None (Parliament disestablished) |
Personal details | |
Political party | Conservative Alliance Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua |
Samisoni Tikoinasau Speight, also known as Sam Speight Jr[1] is a Fijian politician, who held Cabinet office as Minister of State for Public Utilities and Reforms, to which he was appointed after the 2006 election. Previously, he was Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources from 2005 to 2006.[2] Like many ethnic Fijians, he rarely uses his surname.
Tikoinasau is the son of former Cabinet Minister Sam Speight and the older brother of George Speight, who led a rebellion which toppled the Indo-Fijian-led Chaudhry government in May 2000. He was elected to the House of Representatives as a candidate of the nationalistic Conservative Alliance (CAMV) in a byelection on 21–23 March 2002, to represent the Tailevu North Fijian Communal constituency in the place of his brother, who had been expelled from Parliament the previous December for nonattendance owing to his imprisonment on treason charges.
Tikoinasau was appointed to the Cabinet on 8 April 2005, to replace Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, who resigned following his conviction and imprisonment for his role in the 2000 coup.[3] He also took over Lalabalavu's role as CAMV leader in an interim capacity, pending Lalabalavu's release. In the leadup to the 2006 election the CAMV merged with Qarase's party, the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua.[4] He was re-elected in the 2006 election as an SDL candidate.[5]
He was married to Adi Litia Levulevu (d. 1996), the daughter of former Fiji president Josefa Iloilo.[6][7] His son Henry Speight is a winger with the Brumbies in Australia.[8]
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