1. Marcus Ajemada Stephen was born on 1 October 1969 and is a Nauruan politician and former sportsperson who previously was a member of the Cabinet of Nauru, and who served as President of Nauru from December 2007 to November 2011.
34 Facts About Marcus Stephen
1. 2.
The son of Nauruan parliamentarian Lawrence Stephen, Stephen was educated at St Bedes College and RMIT University in Victoria, Australia.
3.
Marcus Stephen resigned from the presidency in November 2011 after further allegations of corruption were raised by opposition factions, and was succeeded by Freddie Pitcher, but was re-appointed to the Cabinet in June 2012 by Pitcher's successor as president, Sprent Dabwido.
4.
On 27 August 2019, Marcus Stephen was elected as the new Speaker of Parliament during its inaugural session.
5.
Marcus Stephen is related to the prominent Keke family of Nauru.
6.
Marcus Stephen received his high School education in Australia, attending St Bede's College, Melbourne.
7.
Marcus Stephen has a Diploma in Business Accounting from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
8.
Marcus Stephen initially played Australian rules football for the local team the Aces, but opted to pursue the sport of weightlifting.
9.
In 1993 the committee was founded and Marcus Stephen was able to represent Nauru in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
10.
In March 2008, it was reported that Marcus Stephen had been appointed to the presidency of the Oceania Weightlifting Federation, the Pacific region's official continental weightlifting body.
11.
On 3 May 2003 Marcus Stephen was elected to the Nauru parliament with a score of just over 215 points, achieving first place in the Ewa and Anetan Constituency.
12.
Marcus Stephen represented Nauru at the IWC-Congress in June 2005 in the South Korean city of Ulsan.
13.
Marcus Stephen was re-elected to parliament in the August 2007 parliamentary election.
14.
However, following a successful vote of no confidence in Parliament against President Scotty on 19 December 2007, Marcus Stephen was sworn in as President of Nauru.
15.
Marcus Stephen appointed Frederick Pitcher as Finance Minister, and his Administration inherited the austerity measures associated with the outgoing Scotty Administration.
16.
Since Marcus Stephen came to office in circumstances involving the overturning of the previous government's Parliamentary majority in just such a manner, it remained to be seen what the Stephen Administration's formal position and practice on this issue would be.
17.
In March 2008 moves in the Parliament of Nauru to unseat the Administration of Marcus Stephen by means of a vote of no confidence were thwarted by the resignation of the Speaker, Riddell Akua.
18.
President Marcus Stephen accused Adeang and the Opposition of passing the ruling "after dark on Easter Saturday", "under candelight".
19.
On 18 April 2008, Marcus Stephen declared a state of emergency and called a snap election to end months of political deadlock.
20.
At the election held on 26 April 2008, Marcus Stephen's supporters gave his administration a majority in the Parliament of Nauru.
21.
The Marcus Stephen Administration announced in November 2008 moves to expand private banking facilities in Nauru.
22.
The year 2009 opened with the Marcus Stephen Administration enjoying a more consolidated position than it had experienced in its first few months of existence.
23.
In late 2009 or early 2010, the Marcus Stephen Cabinet rejected a proposed loan from Australian company Getax, which buys Nauruan phosphate.
24.
Nauru's Director of Public Prosecutions stated there had been "attempts to bring about a change of government by bribery of members of parliament", and Marcus Stephen released documents "showing opposition members on salaries of less than $150 a week spending significant sums of cash on boats, cars, voters and trips".
25.
The allegations were that Gatex had bribed opposition members, both through personal donations and by financing their election campaigns, in the hopes that the opposition would win power and sign the deal enabling the loan which the Marcus Stephen administration had rejected.
26.
Marcus Stephen was duly re-elected President, with a workable parliamentary majority, defeating Milton Dube by eleven votes to six.
27.
Marcus Stephen explained that his decision was due to the allegations over Opposition members receiving financial support from Getax.
28.
On 10 November 2011, President Marcus Stephen resigned from the presidency amid corruption allegations levelled by the Nauruan opposition.
29.
Opposition MPs accused Marcus Stephen of seeking to illegally profit from a phosphate deal.
30.
Marcus Stephen was succeeded by one of his allies, Freddie Pitcher, who was removed five days later, and replaced by Sprent Dabwido.
31.
Marcus Stephen contested his Anetan Constituency during the 2016 Nauruan parliamentary election but lost his seat in Parliament.
32.
Marcus Stephen ran successfully in the 2019 Nauruan parliamentary election and re-entered Parliament as one of two Members representing the Anetan Constituency.
33.
On 27 August 2019, Marcus Stephen was elected as the new Parliament Speaker defeating rival Shadlog Bernicke by 12 votes to 7.
34.
Marcus Stephen was returned as Speaker unopposed after the 2022 Nauruan parliamentary election.