Tui Ātua Tupua Tamasese Tupuola Tufuga Efi (born Olaf "Efi" Tamasese; 1 March 1938) is a Samoan paramount chief and politician. He heads one of Samoa's two royal families, the ''Sā Tupua'' (descendants of Queen Salamasina), through the family's maximal lineage title,

Tupua Tamasese Tupua Tamasese, formally known as Tupua, is a State (polity), state dynasty and one of the four paramount Fa'amatai, chiefly titles of Samoa, known as the ''Tamaʻāiga, tama a ʻāiga''. It is the titular head of one of Samoa's two ...

. He also holds the ancient ''pāpā'' title of Tui Ātua (sovereign of Atua). Tui Ātua served as the third prime minister of Samoa from 1976 to 1982 and again later in 1982. He also served as O le Ao o le Malo (head of state of Samoa) from 2007 to 2017. As of late 2024, he was reappointed to serve on the Council of Deputies.

Early life and education

Tupua was born on 1 March 1938 at Motoʻotua in Samoa. He is the son of Samoa's first co-head of state ( O le Ao o le Malo), Tupua Tamasese Meaʻole (1905–1963), and Irene Gustava Noue Nelson, of Samoan, Swedish and British descent. He is also the nephew of Samoa's celebrated independence movement leader,

Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III Tupua Tamasese Lealofi-o-ā'ana III (4 May 1901 – 29 December 1929) was a Fa'amatai, paramount chief of Samoa, holder of the Tupua Tamasese dynastic title and became the leader of the country's pro-independence Mau movement from early 1928 unt ...

and the cousin of the nation's second prime minister, Tupua Tamasese Lealofi IV. Tupua attended primary school at the Marist Brothers School at Mulivai in the Samoan capital of

Apia Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō'') of Tuamasaga. The Apia Urban A ...

. He continued his education at St. Patrick's College in Silverstream,

Wellington, New Zealand Wellington is Capital of New Zealand, the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the List of cities in New Zealand, third-largest city ...

. He was also educated at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

, in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

's capital city.

Prime Minister of Samoa

Tupua began his political career in May 1965, when he was elected to the Legislative Assembly from the Vaisigano No. 1 constituency. He served as Samoa's Minister of Works from 1970 until 1972. Tupua served as prime minister for two consecutive terms from 1976 to 1982. He also served as

deputy prime minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

from 1985 to 1988. It was during his second term as prime minister that the Public Service Association went on a

general strike A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...

in 1981, paralysing the country for several months and paving the way for the opposition Human Rights Protection Party's entry to government in 1982. The party would go on to hold power until

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. Tupua became

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

following his Christian Democratic Party's election defeat in 1982. He also headed the Samoan National Development Party. He continued to serve Anoamaʻa East as MP until 2004 when he was appointed to Samoa's Council of Deputies alongside Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi II.

Tupua Tamasese title

Upon Tupua Tamasese Lealofi IV's death in 1983, the question as to a successor was raised with Tupuola Efi staking his claim. However, this would require ''ʻĀiga Sā Fenunuivao'' agreeing to his appointment. Salani agreed, however Falefa and Lufilufi opposed it. Tupuola Efi proceeded without the unanimous support of ''ʻĀiga Sā Fenunuivao.'' On the morning of his installation ceremony, the nation's public broadcaster, Radio 2AP, read an announcement from the family's ''matua,'' Moeono Alaiʻasā Kolio, notifying the country that both Falefa and Lufilufi had not sanctioned Tufuga Efi's ascension to the title, nullifying the candidate's grasp for the title once again. In 1986, Tupuola Efi again sought out ''ʻĀiga Sā Fenunuivao'''s blessing. Falefa and Lufilufi eventually agreed to Tupuola Tufuga Efi's ascension to the titles after the ailing Moeono granted his approval. In November 1986, ''ʻĀiga Sā Fenunuivao,'' ''ʻĀiga o Mavaega'' and ''ʻĀiga Sā Tuala'' jointly conferred the title on Tupuola Efi in an installation ceremony at Vaimoso jointly registering the title under their family names. This uneasy agreement to joint conferral would later be challenged in Samoa's Land and Titles Court. The following year, the court ruled that the right of conferral of the Tupua Tamasese title belonged exclusively to ''ʻĀiga Sā Fenunuivao'' of Falefa and Salani.

O le Ao o le Malo

On 11 May 2007, following the death of Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoa's head of state since independence in 1962, Tupua assumed the functions of acting head of state with Tuimalealiʻifano, as members of the Council of Deputies. Tupua was elected head of state on 16 June 2007. His was the only nomination put forth in Samoa's Fono (parliament) and thus the decision was unanimous. His election was welcomed by many Samoans both in Samoa and abroad. He was sworn into office on 20 June 2007. He was re-elected in July 2012 by a majority vote of the Legislative Assembly. However, he was not re-appointed as of 20 July 2017 after a controversial move by the Prime Minister which saw a legislative assembly vote of 23 to 15. This was after an initial vote that was taken, which saw the tamaʻāiga gain the majority of support from the ruling HRPP caucus. This was seen as but a mere formality and that Tui Ātua would again be elected to office to serve as Head of State. However, owing to decades of tension with the then-Prime Minister Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi, Tui Ātua was instead replaced in a backroom vote by another tamaʻāiga'','' Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi II. In December 2024 he was reappointed to the Council of Deputies. He was sworn in in January 2025.

Academia

Tupua held a number of academic positions during and after his political career as an MP and prime minister. Tupua served as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

for Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi in New Zealand. He later became an Associate Member of the Matahauariki Institute at

Waikato University The University of Waikato (), established in 1964, is a public research university located in Hamilton, New Zealand. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university performs research in numerous disciplines such as education, socia ...

. He was a PhD examiner at

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

for Pacific and Samoan history. Tupua was a resident scholar of the Pacific Studies Centre of the Australian National University and the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies at University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Tupua helped to begin excavations at Samoa's important Pulemelei Mound archaeological site. Samoans, under Tupua Tamasese, carried out a ceremony to honour Thor Heyerdahl for his contributions to

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

and the Pulemelei Mound excavations in 2003. In late 2007 Tupua established an overseas boarding school scholarship to St. Patrick's College, Silverstream, which allows one student per year to live and be schooled in

for all their college years, beginning in 2008. Tupua was awarded an honorary doctorate by St Andrew's University in 2019.

Publications

Tupua wrote three books, and articles in scholarly journals and publications.

Honours

In July 2008 while attending the coronation of George Tupou V of

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

he was made a Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Crown of Tonga. He was awarded the Order of Merit of Samoa in the 2023 Samoa Honours and Awards.

Personal life

Tupua is married to Masiofo Filifilia Imo, who is also known as Masiofo Filifilia Tamasese.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Efi, Tufuga 1938 births Children of heads of state Christian Democratic Party (Samoa) politicians Living people Members of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa O le Ao o le Malo of Samoa People educated at St Patrick's College, Silverstream Prime ministers of Samoa Deputy prime ministers of Samoa Ministers of foreign affairs of Samoa Members of the Council of Deputies Samoan chiefs Samoan National Development Party politicians Samoan people of English descent Samoan people of Irish descent Samoan people of Swedish descent Samoan Roman Catholics Victoria University of Wellington alumni Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Tonga 20th-century Samoan politicians 21st-century Samoan politicians Samoan writers Samoan male writers 20th-century male writers Members of the Order of Merit of Samoa