William Samb (died 3 March 2022) was a Papua New Guinean politician.

Biography

Samb was a part of the Goilalan people of southeastern Papua New Guinea and was among the first of his people to obtain higher education, attending the Papua New Guinea University of Technology in

Lae Lae () is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River and at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is the main land transport corridor between the Highl ...

. He earned a master's degree in project management from the

Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...

in Australia in 2012. He then began working as a public employee in public works, serving as a road project implementation manager prior to entering politics. In August 2015, Samb was elected to the

National Parliament of Papua New Guinea The National Parliament of Papua New Guinea is the unicameral national legislature in Papua New Guinea. It was created in 1964 as the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea but gained its current name after the nation was granted independence ...

in a by-election due to the death of MP Daniel Mona. A member of the

Pangu Party The Pangu Pati, also known as the Pangu Party or Papua and Niugini Union Pati, is a political party in Papua New Guinea. As of September 2019, the party had 23 of 111 seats in the National Parliament. History The party was founded in June 1967 ...

, he was re-elected in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

and became Minister Assistant to

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Peter O'Neill. He resigned from this position in April 2019 and joined the opposition. This allowed James Marape to become Prime Minister, who appointed Samb as Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. In January 2022, Samb was appointed Minister for Commerce and Industry in the midst of a ministerial reshuffle. While participating in a trade exhibition in Dubai, he was hospitalized with high blood pressure and died on 3 March 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samb, William 20th-century births 2022 deaths Pangu Party politicians Government ministers of Papua New Guinea Members of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea University of Technology alumni Queensland University of Technology alumni 21st-century Papua New Guinean politicians