Jim Marurai was a Cook Islands politician who served as Prime Minister of the Cook Islands from 2004 to 2010.
18 Facts About Jim Marurai
1.
2.
Jim Marurai attended Ivirua and Oneroa Primary school and then Tereora College on Rarotonga and Napier Boys' High School in New Zealand.
3.
Jim Marurai later studied to be a teacher at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.
4.
Jim Marurai was buried on her home island of Mangaia.
5.
In March 2020 Jim Marurai went missing from his home but was found after two days.
6.
Jim Marurai died in the first week of November 2020 in his home in Ivirua.
7.
Jim Marurai was first elected to Parliament in a by-election in 1994.
8.
Jim Marurai served as an opposition backbencher for his first term, and joined Norman George in splitting from the Democrats to form the New Alliance Party.
9.
Jim Marurai retained the portfolio under both succeeding Prime Ministers, Terepai Maoate and Robert Woonton.
10.
When Prime Minister Robert Woonton was expelled from the Democratic party for forming a coalition with the Cook Islands Party, Jim Marurai joined him in the newly formed Demo Party Tumu.
11.
In October 2005 Jim Marurai suspended Police Minister Peri Vaevae Pare from Cabinet over an allegation of wrongful use of public funds; Pare was asked to resign after he was convicted in January 2006.
12.
In May 2007 Jim Marurai attended the 8th Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders in Washington, DC, and expressed disappointment with the lack of commitments by the United States.
13.
Jim Marurai's coalition came under strain in early 2008, with an outbreak of bickering and calls for Ministers to be sacked.
14.
In January 2010, with both the Democrats and the Cook Islands Party opposed to his premiership, Jim Marurai announced that he would not be "calling parliament for at least several months" as no sitting was required until it was necessary to pass a budget.
15.
Jim Marurai was readmitted to the Democratic party at a party conference in June 2010.
16.
Jim Marurai subsequently announced that he would not continue as Prime Minister if the Democratic Party won the 2010 election.
17.
Jim Marurai was re-elected to his Ivirua seat in the 2010 elections, but his party was ousted.
18.
Jim Marurai resigned as Prime Minister on 29 November 2010, but continued to serve as a backbench MP.