Tofilau Eti Alesana

Tofilau Eti Aualamalefalelima Alesana (born June 4, 1924 in Vaitogi Tutuila American Samoa , † March 19, 1999 in Apia , Samoa ) was a politician and two-time Prime Minister of Samoa.

Political career and party founder

Alesana was awarded the title of chief (Va'aelua) in 1947 because of his exemplary management of a copra farm . Ten years later he became a member of the Legislative Council and in 1958 Minister of Health. Between 1958 and 1960 he was a member of the Constitutional Committee and later a co-signatory of the Convention from which the independent state of Western Samoa emerged on January 1, 1962 .

In 1979 Alesana co-founded the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) together with Va'ai Kolone, the first political party in Samoa. The purpose of the establishment was the overthrow of the Prime Minister Tupuola Taisi Tufuga Efi . Initially, this only succeeded shortly after the 1982 election. Although Kolone became prime minister on April 13, 1982, he had to resign on September 18, 1982 after trials for bribery and corruption and Efi was again prime minister.

Prime Minister 1982 to 1985 and 1988 to 1998

Term of office 1982 to 1985

After the HRPP had rejected the budget and Efi was unable to act, Alesana was elected Prime Minister on December 31, 1982 as successor to Efi. Since 1984 he was also foreign minister. On December 30, 1985, however, he was voted out by a vote of no confidence requested by his own party and replaced by Kolone as prime minister. The reason for the deselection was the failure to consider some HRPP members in the cabinet.

Term of office from 1988 to 1998 and resignation

On April 8, 1988, he regained a majority in parliament (Fono) with the HRPP and succeeded Kolone again as prime minister. At the same time he was foreign minister again.

The HRPP led by Alesana then lost none of the parliamentary elections and finally he expanded the majority of the HRPP in the Fono to a two-thirds majority. Alesana was able to introduce universal suffrage through an absolute majority in parliament, thereby replacing the traditional exclusive right to vote for chiefs (Matai). In order to consolidate his own power, the previous term of office was extended from three to five years in 1991. In May 1991 he appointed Fiame Naomi, the first female minister in Samoa. During his tenure, he gained a reputation as a mediator between the small states of Oceania and Australia and New Zealand . In April 1996 he was re-elected as Prime Minister.

In later years the government was accused of corruption in awarding government contracts to ministers of the HRPP and supporters of the HRPP. Alesana, however, stuck to his power and only handed over the office of Prime Minister to Deputy Prime Minister Sailele Tuila'epa Malielegaoi on November 23, 1998 after a long illness . Alesana was a minister without a portfolio in his cabinet until his death .

Web links

• Biography in rulers.org
• Election results 1991, 1996 and 2001 (election report p. 47, 50) ( Memento of October 2, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 297 kB)