David Ariu Christopher, also known as Kariamakin Airu Christopher (died 26 February 2022) was a politician of Banaban descent, who has held office in two countries —

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

and Kiribati. Christopher was educated at Niusawa Primary School, Queen Victoria School, Lelean Memorial School and then the University of the South Pacific. He worked for the

Fiji Sugar Corporation Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) is the government-owned sugar milling company in Fiji having monopoly on production of raw sugar in Fiji. It is also the largest public enterprise in the country employing nearly 3,000 people, while another 200,000 o ...

, and then for Rabi Holdings, the investment company of the

Rabi Council of Leaders The Rabi Council of Leaders and Elders is the municipal body administering Rabi Island in Fiji. The 8-member Council has two representatives from each of Rabi's four villages. The Council chooses a Chairman, and also selects one of its own member ...

. He was appointed to the Kiribati House of Assembly in 1994, serving a term of four years as representative of the

Banaban people The Micronesians or Micronesian peoples are various closely related ethnic groups native to Micronesia, a region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They are a part of the Austronesian ethnolinguistic group, which has an Urheimat in Taiwan. Ethno ...

living on

Rabi Island Rabi (pronounced ) is a volcano, volcanic island in northern Fiji. It is an outlier to Taveuni (5 kilometers west), in the Vanua Levu Group. It covers an area of 66.3 square kilometers, reaching a maximum altitude of 463 meters and has a shoreli ...

in Fiji. At the

2001 Fijian general election General elections were held in Fiji in August and September 2001. The Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua party won 18 of the 23 seats reserved for ethnic Fijians and one of three " general electorates" set aside for Fiji's European, Chinese, and ot ...

, he won the North Eastern General electorate for the

Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua The United Fiji Party ( fj, Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua, SDL) was a political party in Fiji. It was founded in 2001 by Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase as a power base; it absorbed most of the Christian Democratic Alliance and other conser ...

(SDL) of

Laisenia Qarase Laisenia Qarase (pronounced ; 4 February 1941 – 21 April 2020) was a Fijian politician. He served as the sixth Prime Minister of Fiji from 2000 to 2006. After the military quashed the coup that led to the removal of Mahendra Chaudhry, Qarase ...

, becoming the first Banaban elected to the

House of Representatives of Fiji The House of Representatives was the lower chamber of Fiji's Parliament from 1970 to 2006. It was the more powerful of the two chambers; it alone had the power to initiate legislation (the Senate, by contrast, could amend or veto most legislati ...

. He lost his seat to Robin Irwin at the 2006 election. Christopher's former constituency was one of three reserved for " General Electors" - Fijian citizens who are not of ethnic Fijian, Indian, or Rotuman descent. Following the

2006 Fijian coup d'état The Fijian coup d'état of December 2006 was a coup d'état carried out by Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, against the government of President Josefa Iloilo. Iloilo was removed as president, but ...

and the dissolution of the SDL he returned to work for the Rabi Council as executive director. In 2016 Christopher was again appointed to fill the nominated seat for Rabi Island in the Kiribati House of Assembly. He was renominated at the

2020 Kiribati parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Kiribati in 2020 to elect members of the House of Assembly. The elections were originally planned on 7 April 2020, with a second round of voting to be held on 15 April 2020. However, in late March the Elector ...

References

Year of birth missing 1940s births 2022 deaths Members of the House of Assembly (Kiribati) Members of the House of Representatives (Fiji) Fijian people of i-Kiribati descent Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua politicians Ethnic minority members of the House of Representatives (Fiji) Politicians from Rabi Island University of the South Pacific alumni Banaba {{Kiribati-politician-stub