Malakai Fakatoufifita, styled Lord Tuʻilakepa, is a

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

n noble, politician, and Member of the

Legislative Assembly of Tonga The Legislative Assembly of Tonga ( to, Fale Alea ʻo Tonga) is the unicameral legislature of Tonga. The assembly has 26 members in which 17 members elected by majority of the people for a 5-year term in multi-seat constituencies via the singl ...

. Fakatoufifita was educated at

Liahona High School Liahona High School is a high school in Tonga owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The school is named after the Liahona, a religious artifact described in the Book of Mormon, which gave a family dire ...

in Tonga and in the USA.

Political career

He was appointed the 15th holder of the Tu'ilakepa title in 1977, with the estates of Talasiu in

Tongatapu Tongatapu is the main island of Tonga and the site of its capital, Nukualofa. It is located in Tonga's southern island group, to which it gives its name, and is the country's most populous island, with 74,611 residents (2016), 70.5% of the nation ...

and Ofu, Okoa and Vasivasi in

Vavaʻu Vavau is an island group, consisting of one large island ( ʻUtu Vavaʻu) and 40 smaller ones, in Tonga. It is part of Vavaʻu District, which includes several other individual islands. According to tradition, the Maui god created both Tongata ...

. Fakatoufifita worked as a civil servant for the Ministry of Lands, Survey and Natural Resources before entering politics. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly as a noble representative for Vavaʻu in the 1993 election, serving for one term. He was re-elected in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, and subsequently in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. In April 2008, he was appointed

Speaker of the Tongan Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Tonga ( to, Fale Alea ʻo Tonga) is the unicameral legislature of Tonga. The assembly has 26 members in which 17 members elected by majority of the people for a 5-year term in multi-seat constituencies via the single ...

by King

George Tupou V George Tupou V ( Tongan: Siaosi Tupou, full name: Siaosi Tāufaʻāhau Manumataongo Tukuʻaho Tupou; 4 May 194818 March 2012) was the King of Tonga from the death of his father Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV in 2006 until his own death six years later. ...

. His term ended when he was charged on 3 December 2010 on firearms charges. In September 2019, after the death of the incumbent PM, he was appointed Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries.

Arrest

On 3 December 2010 he was arrested on firearms charges following a series of drug raids across the country. On 9 December 2010 he was charged with two counts of possession of an illegal firearm, two counts of possession of illegal ammunition, and one count of possession of an illegal drug, and released on bail. If convicted, he would lose his seat in Parliament. Before his trial, however, Parliament adopted an amendment to the ''Arms and Ammunition Act'', lessening the potential sentence that he faced (and which Lord Tuʻihaʻateiho was facing on a similar charge), so that if convicted he would nonetheless retain his seat in Parliament. The

Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands The Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands ( to, Paati Temokalati ʻa e ʻOtu Motu ʻAngaʻofa) is a political party in Tonga. The party's leader at its foundation was 'Akilisi Pohiva. The party was launched in September 2010, and included s ...

, which had opposed the amendment, asked the King to veto it. In January 2012, the King vetoed the amendment bill. In December 2011, it was reported that in 2010 he had allegedly been bribed by a

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

n drug syndicate to facilitate the trafficking of cocaine into Australia via Tonga. It was revealed that in a tapped phone conversation members of the syndicate had asked Tuʻilakepa to help one of them, a convicted drug trafficker, obtain a visa to enter Tonga. Tuʻilakepa wrote to the Tongan Immigration Department to sponsor the man's visa application, saying that he would "take full responsibility for him during the duration of his stay", and vouching that the Colombian was "an honest, trustworthy and law-abiding person". In January 2012, he appeared in court, on six firearms and illicit drugs charges; the case was adjourned. In February 2013, the Crown prosecution service withdrew the drugs charges, as evidence had reportedly been obtained via illicit means (phone-tapping). Four firearms charges remained. In February 2015, he was convicted on the firearms charges, and fined 12,000 pa'anga."Tonga noble fined over gun charges"
Radio New Zealand International, 5 February 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fakatoufifita, Malakai Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga Tongan nobles People from Tongatapu Tongan politicians convicted of crimes