Vaine Makiroa Mokoroa (born 28 December 1966) is a

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

politician and

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

. He is a member of the

Cook Islands Party The Cook Islands Party is a nationalist political party in the Cook Islands. It was the first political party founded in the Cook Islands, and one of the two major parties of the islands' politics since 1965. From 1999 until 2005 it sometimes ...

Career

Mokoroa was born in 1966 in

Atiu Atiu, also known as Enuamanu (meaning ''land of the birds''), is an island of the Cook Islands archipelago, lying in the central-southern Pacific Ocean. Part of the Nga-pu-Toru, it is northeast of Rarotonga. The island's population has dropped b ...

. He has previously worked as a police officer, chief of staff in the office of the Prime Minister, and as acting secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Planning. He entered parliament in the 2018 elections, winning the seat of Nikao–Panama from

Ngamau Munokoa Ngamau Mere Munokoa (born 13 August 1944), also known as "Aunty Mau", is a Cook Islands politician and former Cabinet Minister. She was the third woman ever elected to the Cook Islands Parliament, the second appointed to Cabinet, and the first ...

. In September 2018 he was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Police and Internal Affairs, following the sacking of

Albert Nicholas Albert Nicholas (May 27, 1900 – September 3, 1973) was an American jazz clarinet player. Career Nicholas's primary instrument was the clarinet, which he studied with Lorenzo Tio in his hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Late ...

. In June 2020 he surrendered his police portfolio and was appointed Education Minister in a Cabinet reshuffle. In the Cabinet reshuffle following the appointment of Mark Brown as Prime Minister his position as Education Minister was confirmed, and he retained all his other Cabinet portfolios. A further reshuffle in June 2021 saw him swap his Internal Affairs portfolio for Justice. He was re-elected at the 2022 Cook Islands general election.

References

1966 births Living people People from Atiu University of the South Pacific alumni Members of the Parliament of the Cook Islands Cook Islands Party politicians Government ministers of the Cook Islands {{CookIslands-politician-stub