Koila Nailatikau - Family Background

Family Background

Vasemaca Koila Josephine Mara was born in 1953. Her father, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara (1920-2004), was Tui Nayau (Paramount Chief of the Lau Islands) and served as Fiji's first Prime Minister (1967-1992, apart from a very brief interruption in 1987) and later as President (1993-2000), and is regarded as modern Fiji's founding father. Her mother, Ro Lady Lala Mara (1931-2004), held the title of Roko Tui Dreketi, or Paramount Chief of the Burebasaga Confederacy.

In 1981, Adi Koila married Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. The scion of another chiefly family, Ratu Nailatikau (born 1941) has had a distinguished career of his own, serving variously as Commander of the Royal Fiji Military Forces in the 1980s, High Commissioner (equivalent to an ambassador in Commonwealth countries) to the United Kingdom in the 1990s, and as Deputy Prime Minister in 2000 and 2001. He currently (2005) serves as Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Fijian Parliament is thus one of the few legislative bodies in the world in which a husband and wife have had simultaneous parliamentary careers. They have two children: a son, Kamisese (named after Adi Koila's father), and a daughter, Litia.