Teimumu Kepa

Ro Teimumu Vuikaba Kepa (born 1945) is a Fijian chief and politician. A former students' coordinator at the University of the South Pacific and principal of Corpus Christi College, she succeeded her late sister, former First Lady Ro Lady Lala Mara, as "Roko Tui Dreketi," or Paramount Chief of Dreketi, in 2004. This is considered to be the highest title in the Burebasaga Confederacy, one of three "confederacies", or tribal networks, of Fijian chiefs. In addition, she has served in the Fijian Cabinet since 2000, when she joined the interim government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase as Minister for Women, Culture, and Social Welfare; following the victory of Qarase's United Fiji Party in the parliamentary election held to restore democracy in 2001, she was appointed Minister for Education, a position she still holds as of June 2005. A third position that she held until recently was that of Chairperson of the Rewa Provincial Council, to which she was elected on 5 May 2005. This position, too, was held by Ro Lady Lala Mara and had been vacant since her death on 20 July 2004. Kepa resigned from this position in August 2005, however.

On 14 October 2005, Kepa was elected to the executive board of UNESCO, to which the Fijian government had nominated her in late September. The governments of most Pacific Island countries declared their support her candidacy. The vote is due on 15 October. The board, elected by the General Conference, consists of 58 member states, who hold office for a four-year term.

Controversial provincial appointment

On 5 May 2005, the same day to which she was elected to chair the Rewa Provincial Council, Kepa announced that she would run for another term in the parliamentary election expected in 2006. Another term in the House of Representatives as a member of the United Fiji Party caucus would, she considered, enable her to serve her people better. "Definitely, I will stand in the next election because it will provide a way for me to liaise with my colleagues on the help that is needed," she said. She lamented the lack of resources in Rewa, and pledged to use her influence in the government to obtain better roads, bridges, and water supplies.

Kepa's appointment as Chairperson of the Rewa Provincial Council was strongly criticized by the opposition Fiji Labour Party, which claimed a conflict of interest between that position and her other role as a parliamentarian and Cabinet Minister. On 11 May 2005, Senator Anand Singh, a former Attorney General, also claimed that it is unconstitutional for members of Parliament to hold other public offices, and pointed out that former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka had to resign from Parliament in 1999 when he was elected Chairman of the Great Council of Chiefs, Senator Ratu Inoke Takiveikata was not permitted to become Chairman of the Naitasiri Provincial Council in 2001, and Ratu Sakiusa Makutu had to resign from the Senate to become Chairman of the Nadroga-Navosa Provincial Council. Opposition Leader Mahendra Chaudhry said that his party had lodged an official complaint about the appointment with the Parliamentary Speaker, Ratu Epeli Nailatikau (who is married to Kepa's niece, Senator Adi Koila Nailatikau).

The Fiji Times revealed on 11 May that Kepa was not the only Cabinet Minister holding another public office. Commerce Minister Tomasi Vuetilovoni was revealed to be Chairman of the Ra Provincial Council. The Opposition said they had known nothing of that, and accused the government of having kept the matter quiet.

Speaking in Parliament on 31 May, Chaudhry reiterated his demand for Kepa's resignation, as well as Vuetilovoni's.

On 21 June, Fijian Affairs Board Chairperson Adi Litia Qionibaravi said that Ministers were exempt from the law disqualifying provincial council members from holding public office. Section 71(6) of the Constitution, she said, stated that the offices held by Ministers, the Leader of the Opposition, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the President and Vice-President of the Senate, were not public offices.

At a press conference on 24 August, Speaker Nailatikau said that he had obtained legal advice. Kepa had resigned from the Rewa Provincial Council the previous week, he said, and Vuetilovoni had not been reelected to the chairmanship of the Ra Provincial Council in June. This rendered the controversy a non-issue, he considered. The "Roko Tui Rewa" thought differently. Savenaca Kamikamica said on 17 November that the position would be left vacant until the constitution was amended to allow their Paramount Chief to fill it. "Chiefs are born into their position of leadership and do not have a choice on this issue," he said.

In a statement on 20 November, National Alliance Party president Ratu Epeli Ganilau said he found the decision "strange". In this day and age, he said, chiefs should be willing to delegate traditional responsibilities to others who have had the necessary education and experience. "To share responsibility with the people of the province should be, in my view, the proudest bequest of a chief to his people," said Ganilau, whose late father, Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau was one of Fiji's three highest-ranked chiefs.

As of November 2005, the issue may not be over for Kepa, or for Vuetilovoni. Opposition Leader Mahendra Chaudhry filed court papers in mid-November, seeking to have the two Ministers removed from Parliament for having breached the law, notwithstanding that they have since vacated their Provincial roles. On 13 December 2005, Chaudhry announced that he was definitely going ahead with legal action against them, and also against Speaker Nailatikau, for failing to expel them.

Meanwhile, it was announced on 25 November that a constitutional change, allowing a member of Parliament to hold public office, was in the pipeline.

Policies and opinions

On 16 May 2005, Kepa announced as Education Minister that the government intended to introduce compulsory teaching of the Fijian language and culture at all levels of primary and secondary education. "It is a way for Fijians to know themselves because many Fijians do not know their language and their identity and it is really sad," Kepa said. The government would also look at introducing other languages such as Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, and Rotuman into the education system, she said. Opposition Leader Mahendra Chaudhry welcomed the announcement, saying that Hindi should be made compulsory also, in order to foster tolerance and mutual understanding between indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians, the country's two main ethnic groups.

Kepa has challenged Fijians to be progressive in their thinking. On 30 May 2005, Ratu Sukuna Day - a festival in honour of Fiji's first modern statesman, Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna - Kepa called on Fijians to follow Sukuna's example by preparing for the challenges of the modern world. Kepa called for Fijians to identify aspects of their culture that hold them back and move forward, saying that it made no sense to ask young people to neglect their studies, fail educationally or vocationally, and then blame other, more successful, ethnic groups. "We must examine the traditional demands of our race and social structure in light of the resources we have at hand and strike a workable balance," she said. She commented further on this issue on 14 September 2005, saying that parents should take greater responsibility to educate their children, rather than trying to get more handouts from the government.

On 1 September 2005, Kepa reacted strongly to allegations from Fiji Labour Party Senator Ponipate Lesavua that the people of Rewa Province did not have proper housing and were living in lean-tos, and that "those responsible" had done little to develop the province. She said that Lesavua's attack was uncalled for, and that while Rewa lacked natural resources, human resources would compensate. Education was the key, she maintained.

2006 election

In the parliamentary election held on 6-13 May 2006, Kepa faced a strong challenge for the Rewa Fijian Communal Constituency from her nephew, Ro Filipe Tuisawawu. Tuisawawu stood as an independent candidate, after failing to wrest the SDL nomination from his aunt. The chiefs and people of Rewa were divided; Kepa triumphed in the end, beating Tuisawawu by 56.4 percent to 39.3 percent.

Tuisawawu had criticized his aunt for allegedly politicizing her chiefly position, which should be above politics, he said. "Politics is something different and this is based on individual choice whereas the chiefly system require the support of the whole vanua and it should not be used for politics," Fiji Live quoted him as saying (3 April 2006).

Personal life

Ro Teimumu Kepa is the widow of Sailosi Kepa, a former High Commissioner to London, Minister of Justice and Attorney General (1988 - 1992) who went on to become a High Court judge, Ombudsman, and first Chairman of Fiji's Human Rights Commission. They had two sons, Filipe and Sailosi, Jr., , and two daughters, Asenaca and Tupoutu'a.