Teimumu Kepa

Teimumu Kepa

Teimumu Vuikaba Kepa (born 1945) is a Fijian chief and politician. A former students' coordinator at the University of the South Pacific when Kepa chose to enter the University to embark on her Bachelor of Arts Degree and was a principal of Corpus Christi Collegebefore that, until she succeeded her late sister, former First Lady Ro Lady Lala Mara, as Roko Tui Dreketi, or Paramount Chief of Dreketi, in 2004. This is considered to be the highest title in the Burebasaga Confederacy, one of three "confederacies", or tribal networks, of Fijian chiefs. In addition, she has served in the Fijian Cabinet since 2000, when she joined the interim government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase as Minister for Women, Culture, and Social Welfare; following the victory of Qarase's United Fiji Party in the parliamentary election held to restore democracy in 2001, she was appointed Minister for Education, a position she still holds as of June 2005. A third position that she held until recently was that of Chairperson of the Rewa Provincial Council, to which she was elected on 5 May 2005. This position, too, was held by Ro Lady Lala Mara and had been vacant since her death on 20 July 2004. Kepa resigned from this position in August 2005, however.

On 14 October 2005, Kepa was elected to the executive board of UNESCO, to which the Fijian government had nominated her in late September. The governments of most Pacific Island countries declared their support of her candidacy. The vote is due on 15 October. The board, elected by the General Conference, consists of 58 member states, who hold office for a four-year term. Fiji is no longer on the list as a country in this organisation qualifying under Group IV.