Vaʻai Papu Vailupe

Vaʻai Papu Vailupe (25 March 1944 – 17 January 2022),[1] also known as Mafasolia Papu Vailupe,[2] was a Samoan politician and accountant who served as a Cabinet Minister. He was the leader of the Tautua Samoa Party from 2010 to 2011.[3] His father is former Prime Minister Vaʻai Kolone, who co-founded the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP).[4] His younger brother Asiata Sale'imoa Va'ai was leader of the Samoan Democratic United Party.[5]

Vaʻai Papu Vailupe
Leader of the Tautua Samoa Party
In office
22 December 2010 – 19 May 2011
DeputyPalusalue Faʻapo II
Preceded byLealailepule Rimoni Aiafi[lower-alpha 1]
Succeeded byPalusalue Faʻapo II
Minister of Agriculture
In office
1998 – 20 March 2001
Prime MinisterTuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi
Succeeded byTuisugaletaua Sofara Aveau
Minister of Justice
In office
18 May 1996 – 3 June 1998
Prime MinisterTofilau Eti Alesana
Preceded byFuimaono Lotomau
Succeeded byMolioo Teofilo Vaeluaga
Member of the Samoan Parliament
for Vaisigano No.1
In office
31 March 2006 – 2 May 2011
Preceded byMasoe Filisi
Succeeded byTufuga Gafoleata Faitua
Member of the Samoan Parliament
for Falealupo
In office
5 April 1991 – 2 March 2001
Preceded byA'eau Peniamina
Succeeded byA'eau Peniamina
Personal details
Born25 March 1944
Western Samoa Trust Territory
Died17 January 2022(2022-01-17) (aged 77)
New Zealand
Political partyTautua Samoa Party (2008–2022)
Other political
affiliations		Human Rights Protection Party (until 2006)

Political career

Vaʻai was first elected to the Samoan Legislative Assembly at the 1991 election.[2] In 1996 he served as Parliamentary Undersecretary for Works, EPC, and the Water Authority.[2] After being re-elected in 1996, he was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Justice.[6] Between 1998 and 2001, he served as Minister of Agriculture.[2] He lost his seat in the 2001 election.[7]

He ran as an independent in his father's old seat of Vaisigano No. 1 in the 2006 election. Shortly before the election he was shot in the neck in a politically-motivated shooting.[8] His political rival A'eau Peniamina later denied responsibility for the shooting.[9] Following the election he asked to join the Human Rights Protection Party,[10] but was unsuccessful. In April 2008 he agreed with other independent MPs to form a new political party.[11]

In December 2008 he became a founding member of the Tautua Samoa Party.[12] As a result, in May 2009 he was one of nine Tautua MPs declared to have resigned their seats under an anti-party hopping law.[13] He was subsequently reinstated after the Supreme Court of Samoa overturned the law and declared the formation of new parties legal.[14]

In January 2010 new anti-party-hopping laws came into force, barring MPs from declaring their support for political parties or organizations with political aims other than the party they were elected for.[15] In March 2010, he joined Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi and Palusalue Fa’apo II in formally declaring his membership of the party and so was deemed to have resigned his seat.[16] However, the ruling Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) was unable to find a candidate for the resulting by-election, and on 2 May 2010 he was declared elected unopposed,[17] becoming the first non-HRPP MP to win a by-election.[18] In December 2010 he was appointed leader of the Tautua party.[3]

Vailupe was re-elected in the 2011 election, but the result was overturned by an electoral petition, which disqualified him for bribery and treating.[19] He was subsequently charged with thirteen counts of bribery.[20] In May 2012 he was convicted on two counts of bribery and one of treating,[21] and fined US$2500.[22]

Later life and death

In the wake of the 2021 Samoan constitutional crisis Vaʻai denounced the HRPP and its campaign against Samoa's judiciary.[23]

Vaʻai died in New Zealand on 17 January 2022.[24][25] He was buried in Vaisala, Savaiʻi.[1]

Notes
  1. As interim chair

References
  1. "Former Cabinet Minister Vaai Mafasolia Papu Vaai laid to rest". Talamua Online. 10 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  2. "Va'ai Papu Vailupe". Legislative Assembly of Samoa. Archived from the original on 1 October 2006. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  3. "Va'ai Papu chosen as Tautua Samoa leader". RNZ. 22 December 2010. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  4. Sialai Sarafina Sanerivi (13 June 2021). "H.R.P.P. reputation ruined: former Minister". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  5. "'I've lost a friend'". Samoa Observer. 3 September 2010. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2010.
  6. "Samoa Justice Department Combined Annual Report 1984 -1999" (PDF). Samoa Justice Department. p. 5. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  7. "SAMOA FACING INSTABILITY AS ELECTION PRODUCES INCONCLUSIVE RESULT". Pacific Islands Report. 4 March 2001. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  8. "Samoan man in custody after shooting of former cabinet minister". RNZ. 7 March 2006. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  9. "Samoan MP denies involvement in shooting of another politician". RNZ. 5 December 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  10. "Samoa government decides today whether to accept membership applications from two independents". RNZ. 19 April 2006. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  11. "Independent MPs in Samoa to form a new political party". RNZ. 28 April 2008. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  12. Alan Ah Mu (17 December 2008). "Tautua Samoa officially launched". Samoa Observer. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  13. "SAMOA MPS DISQUALIFIED, MUST FACE BY-ELECTION". Pacific Islands Report. 2 June 2009. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  14. "Samoa court reinstates nine MPs, cancels by-elections". RNZ. 2 July 2009. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  15. "Samoa passes bill following last year's Tautua Samoa episode". RNZ. 22 January 2010. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  16. Alan Ah Mu (18 March 2010). "Va'ai springs election shock". Samoa Observer. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
  17. "Samoa by-elections reduced to two contests". RNZ. 3 May 2010. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  18. Alan Ah Mu (2 May 2010). "Fear tactic failed: Va'ai". Samoa Observer. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  19. "Tautua Samoa party leader found guilty of bribery and treating". RNZ. 2 May 2011. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  20. "Tautua Samoa former leader faces bribery charges in criminal court". RNZ. 22 August 2011. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  21. "Former Samoa opposition leader found guilty of bribery". RNZ. 21 May 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  22. "Former opposition leader in Samoa escapes jail pay fine for bribery and treating charges". RNZ. 25 June 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  23. Sialai Sarafina Sanerivi (7 August 2021). "Vaʻai Kolone's son rails modern H.R.P.P." Samoa Observer. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  24. Marc Membrere (17 January 2022). "Former M.P. Vaai Papu Vaai passes on". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  25. Sialai Sarafina Sanerivi (18 January 2022). "Parliament pays tribute to M.P.s who passed on". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
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