1. Ro Teimumu Vuikaba Kepa was born on 18 December 1945 and is a Fijian chief, former Member of the Parliament of Fiji, and former leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party.
20 Facts About Teimumu Kepa
1. 2.
Teimumu Kepa was the first Fijian woman to serve as Leader of the Opposition.
3.
Teimumu Kepa previously held the position of Deputy Prime Minister in the Qarase-led Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua government from 2001 to 2006.
4.
Teimumu Kepa graduated from the University of the South Pacific with a Bachelor of Arts, and served as Principal of Corpus Christi College and then as a students' coordinator at the University of the South Pacific.
5.
Teimumu Kepa succeeded her late sister, former Ro Lady Lala Mara, as Roko Tui Dreketi, or Paramount Chief of Burebasaga, in 2004.
6.
Ro Teimumu Kepa is the widow of Sailosi Kepa, a former High Commissioner to London, Minister of Justice and Attorney General, who went on to become a High Court Judge, Ombudsman, and first chairman of Fiji's Human Rights Commission.
7.
Teimumu Kepa contested the 2001 election as a candidate for the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua in the Rewa communal constituency, winning it with 2,636 votes.
8.
In October 2005, Kepa was elected to the executive board of UNESCO, to which the Fijian government had nominated her in late September.
9.
Teimumu Kepa stood again for Rewa in the 2006 election, defeating her nephew, Ro Filipe Tuisawau.
10.
Teimumu Kepa was reappointed Minister for Education, Youth and Sports in the multi-party cabinet.
11.
Teimumu Kepa used her position in the Great Council of Chiefs to oppose the coup, and was instrumental in the Council's 2007 rejection of Epeli Nailatikau nomination as Vice-President.
12.
In May 2007, Teimumu Kepa was threatened by the military over her opposition to the coup.
13.
In March 2014 Teimumu Kepa was elected leader of the newly formed Social Democratic Liberal Party.
14.
The party won 15 of the 50 parliamentary seats; Teimumu Kepa, who won 49,485 votes in her own name, was the second-highest ranked candidate behind Bainimarama.
15.
On 6 October 2014 Teimumu Kepa was appointed Leader of the Opposition.
16.
In June 2016, Teimumu Kepa announced that she was standing down as leader of SODELPA.
17.
Teimumu Kepa was replaced by former Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.
18.
Teimumu Kepa was re-elected in the 2018 elections, winning 6,036 votes, the second-highest of any female candidate.
19.
On 22 October 2021, Teimumu Kepa was nominated as the opposition SODELPA party's candidate for the position of president of Fiji.
20.
Teimumu Kepa was able to gain the support of 23 MPs, but was defeated by the government's candidate, Wiliame Katonivere, in the first round of voting.