Sunia Fili

Sunia Manu Fili (born December 1, 1965[1]) is a Tongan politician and former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga. He is a former member of the Human Rights and Democracy Movement.

Biography

Fili graduated with a BA from the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. He worked as a lawyer and high school teacher before entering politics. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly as People's Representative for ʻEua at the 1999 election.[2]

In September 2009 Fili was the only member of the Tongan Parliament to support the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.[3]

Fili was re-elected MP for the constituency of ʻEua in the 2010 election. He was appointed Minister of Finance in Lord Tuʻivakano's Cabinet, to which was added the portfolio of Inland Revenue on September 1, 2011.[4] In a Cabinet reshuffle on 1 May 2012, Fili became Minister for Police, Prisons and Fire Services; Lisiate ‘Akolo was made Minister of Finance, and Sosefo Vakata was given the Revenue portfolio.[5][6] In late June 2012, Fili -along with two other ministers- resigned from the Cabinet, so as to support a motion of no confidence tabled by the Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands against the government.[7]

In July 2014 Fili was dumped as a Democratic Party candidate.[8] He ran as an independent in the 2014 Tongan general election, but was not re-elected.

References
  1. Official biography on the parliamentary website
  2. Official biography on the parliamentary website
  3. Pesi Fonua (2009-10-20). "House unites in comfort zone of set culture and tradition". Matangi Tonga. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
  4. "Cabinet quietly reshuffles portfolios", Matangi Tonga, September 7, 2011
  5. "Four Cabinet Ministers to be reshuffled on May 1", Matangi Tonga, 20 April 2012
  6. "Tonga government names ministers", Radio New Zealand International, 15 April 2012
  7. "Three Cabinet Ministers in Tonga resign ahead of confidence motion", Radio New Zealand International, 25 June 2012
  8. "Tonga Democratic Party dumps four MPs". Radio New Zealand International. 2014-07-18. Retrieved 2014-07-16.


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