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Kamisese Mara

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Also known as Ratu Sir Kamisese Kapaiwai Tuimacilai Mara, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara

President of Fiji (1920-2004)

Person · Open Library

Works
1

Top works

  • Pacific Way

via Open Library + Wikidata

Quotes

  • "Above all there is our fixed joint determination to build a strong and united Fiji, rich in diversity and pampered with tolerance, goodwill and understanding." (Attributed to Mara by his successor as President, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, 10 October 2005).
  • How could I stand by and watch my house on fire? (This quote, and the one following, were part of his defence for joining Sitiveni Rabuka's military government in 1987).
  • At that stage my heart ruled my head".
  • It is with obedience to your call that I take up the burden of government leadership for the final time.
  • Here was an action that touched on raw and sensitive nerves in a community that had already undergone the trauma of two military takeovers. There was an undoubted threat to public order, welfare and freedom. I suspect the psychological pressure associated with that crisis caused the first mental blackout I had ever suffered. It contributed to a deterioration in my health that later required the insertion of a heart pacemaker.
  • (On his Catholic faith): "Certainly it has been the rock on which I have always been able to rely in good times and in bad, and it is the lodestone of my life."

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Prime minister
Sitiveni Rabuka , Mahendra Chaudhry , Ratu Tevita Momoedonu
Preceded by
Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau
Succeeded by
Frank Bainimarama , Head of the Interim Military Government
President
Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau
Governor general
Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau
Monarch
Elizabeth II
Governors general
Sir Robert Sidney Foster , Ratu Sir George Cakobau , Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau
Deputy
Edward Cakobau , Penaia Ganilau , David Toganivalu, Mosese Qionibaravi
Governor
Sir Derek Jakeway , Sir Robert Sidney Foster
Born
6 May 1920, Lomaloma , Vanua Balavu , Colony of Fiji , British Empire
Died
18 April 2004 (2004-04-18) (aged 83), Suva , Fiji
Resting place
Tubou , Lakeba , Fiji
Party
Alliance Party
Spouse s
Ro Lady Lala Mara (née Tuisawau), 11 September 1949 – 18 April 2004 (his death)
Children
Ateca Ganilau Koila Nailatikau Asenaca Kakua Finau Mara Joji Tuisawau Litia Cakobau Elenoa Tuilau Tevita Mara
Parents
Tevita Uluilakeba III (father) Lusiana Qolikoro (mother)
Alma mater
University of Otago , London School of Economics , Wadham College, Oxford
Profession
Economist

via Wikipedia infobox

~27 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, CF, GCMG, KBE (6 May 1920 – 18 April 2004) was a Fijian politician who served as Chief Minister from 1967 to 1970, when Fiji gained its independence from the United Kingdom, and, apart from one brief interruption in 1987, as the first Prime Minister from 1970 to 1992. He subsequently served as president from 1993 to 2000.

Early life and education: 1920 to 1950

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Kamisese Mara” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.