Le Tagaloa Pita

Le Tagaloa Pita is a high chief matai and a former Member of Parliament of Samoa.[1] He is a matai from the village of Sili[2] on the island of Savai'i and has an honorary doctorate from Drew University in the United States.[1] During his political career, he was a member of the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) and a cabinet minister with the portfolios of economic affairs and post office.[3]

Prior to entering politics, Pita was acting principal of Alafua Agricultural Campus in Samoa, part of the University of the South Pacific. He was elected for a second term in parliament at the 1973 general election.[3] and retained his seat in the same electorate until the year 2000.

Family

Le Tagaloa Pita's wife Aiono Fanaafi Le Tagaloa is a distinguished professor, educator and author[4] in Samoa and who is also a former Member of Parliament in the country. Their children are high academic achievers. Their eldest son Mr. Semisi Aiono is a general surgeon who graduated from the University of Otago Medical School in New Zealand. Their daughter Leinani Aiono-Le Tagaloa is an assistant clinical professor in anesthesiology at the University of California, Davis, in the United States and another daughter Donna Aiono-Le Tagaloa-Ioane is a school principal in Samoa. In 2009, a third daughter Fanaafi Aiono-Le Tagaloa, also a published author, became the first Samoan-born person to gain a PhD in law from Otago university.[1]

References
  1. "PhD a 'fantastic' achievement". Otago Daily Times (NZ). 16 December 2009. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
  2. "Samoan village chief and former MP says hydro plant jeopardizes organic farms". Radio New Zealand International. 17 April 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
  3. So'o, Asofou (2008). Democracy and custom in Sāmoa: an uneasy alliance. University of the South Pacific. p. 107. ISBN 978-982-02-0390-7. Retrieved 10 January 2009.
  4. Lawson, Stephanie (1996). Tradition versus democracy in the South Pacific: Fiji, Tonga, and Western Samoa. Cambridge University Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-521-49638-4. ISBN 0-521-49638-1.

Further reading

Pita Le Tagaloa. Ofa Se Faalepo po o se Faalani. Pacific Printers Co Ltd, Apia, 1991.


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