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)

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]

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. 1 2 "Former Cabinet Minister Vaai Mafasolia Papu Vaai laid to rest". Talamua Online. 10 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Va'ai Papu Vailupe". Legislative Assembly of Samoa. Archived from the original on 1 October 2006. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  3. 1 2 "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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