George Angene

George Maggie Angene is a Cook Islands politician and Cabinet Minister. He is a former member of the Cook Islands Party, and is now a member of the One Cook Islands Movement.

George Angene
George Angene in 2019
Minister of Cultural Development and House of Ariki
Assumed office
10 July 2018
Prime MinisterHenry Puna
Mark Brown
Preceded byTeariki Heather
Member of the Cook Islands Parliament
for Tupapa–Maraerenga
Assumed office
17 November 2010
Preceded byJohn Tangi
Personal details
Political partyOne Cook Islands Movement

Angene was born in Tupapa Rarotonga and attended a local primary school, but received no secondary education.[1] He is a former criminal who has served time in prison and describes himself as "one of the biggest criminals on Rarotonga".[2] He became infamous in Rarotonga when he in 1992 set fire to the building block encompassing Ministry of Justice, Cook Islands Post Office and Telecom which were all badly damaged. Angene was sentenced to 13 years' jail for arson but was paroled and released in 1999. He learned new skills in prison and converted to Christianity.[1]

He was selected as Cook Islands Party candidate for Tupapa–Maraerenga in a public runoff,[2] and subsequently won the seat in the 2010 election.

In May 2014 Angene was expelled from the CIP after publicly refusing to back the party's position on superannuation.[3] He stood instead for the One Cook Islands Movement and was re-elected in the 2014 election. He was re-elected again at the 2018 election.[4] Following the election he was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Corrective Services, Culture, Business Trade and Investment Board and the House of Ariki.[5] In the reshuffle following the appointment of Mark Brown as Prime Minister he surrendered the Business Trade and Investment Board portfolio to Patrick Arioka, and became Minister of the Punanga Nui Market instead. He retained his other portfolios.[6]

References
  1. "Election candidates explain their aims". Cook Islands News. 22 May 2018. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  2. "Bad boy bolts in". Cook Islands News. 9 April 2010. Archived from the original on 20 April 2010. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
  3. "Cook Islands MP sacked for not supporting taxing pensioners". RNZ. 5 May 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  4. "Preliminary Results from Votes Counted 14-06-2018". Cook Islands Ministry of Justice. 14 June 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  5. "Brown DPM in new cabinet". Cook Islands News. 10 July 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  6. Emmanuel Samoglou and Rashneel Kumar (8 October 2020). "PM takes on 17 portfolios". Cook Islands News. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
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