Sailosi Kepa Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Honourable
Sailosi Wai Kepa
Order:28th
Office:Attorney General of Fiji
President:Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau
Primeminister:Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara
Term Start:1988
Term End:1992
Predecessor:Alipate Qetaki
Successor:Apaitia Seru
Office1:Judge of the High Court of Fiji
President1:Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara
Primeminister1:Sitiveni Rabuka
1Blankname1:Chief Justice
1Namedata1:Sir Timoci Tuivaga
Term Start1:1992
Term End1:1998
Order2:1st
Office2:Chairman, Fiji Human Rights Commission
President2:Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara
Ratu Josefa Iloilo
Primeminister2:Sitiveni Rabuka
Mahendra Chaudhry
Ratu Tevita Momoedonu
Laisenia Qarase
Term Start2:1998
Term End2:2001
Office3:Ombudsman of Fiji
President3:Ratu Josefa Iloilo
Primeminister3:Laisenia Qarase
Term Start3:2001
Term End3:August 2003
Birth Date:4 November 1938
Death Date:1 March 2004
Spouse:Ro Teimumu Vuikaba Tuisawau-Kepa
Children:1 son, 2 daughters
Alma Mater:Lelean Memorial School
Nasinu Teachers College
University of Sydney
Middle Temple
Profession:Teacher, Lawyer, Judge, Diplomat

Sailosi Wai Kepa (4 November 1938 – 1 March 2004)[1] was a Fijian statesman, judge, and diplomat.

Hailing from the village of Nukuni on the island of Ono-i-Lau, Kepa was one of many distinguished public figures to hail from the Lau archipelago. He was educated at Draiba Fijian School and Lelean Memorial School,[2] before enrolling in Nasinu Teachers College in 1959. He went on to receive a Diploma in Teaching of English from the University of Sydney in 1966.[3] In 1972, he received a Law degree from the renowned Middle Temple in London, England.

Kepa's legal career was a distinguished one, which took him into politics, diplomacy, and the judiciary. After joining the Department of Justice as a magistrate in 1969 (serving Suva, Sigatoka, Nadi, and the Northern Division), he became Chief Magistrate in 1980. He also became Director of Public Prosecutions in November that year.[4] He went on to become Fiji's High Commissioner to London in 1985, and Minister for Justice and Attorney General in 1988. He served in this role until 1992, when he became a High Court judge. In 1998 he was appointed the first Chairman of Fiji's Human Rights Commission. His last official post was as Fiji's Ombudsman, a post he held from 2001 till his retirement in August 2003.

In his younger years, Kepa made a name for himself as a rugby player. He was later rewarded by being made Chairman of the Fiji Rugby Union from 1983 to 1986. He was granted life membership in 1994.[5]

Kepa was married for many years to Ro Teimumu Kepa, an Adi (Fijian chief) and politician in her own right, who is the Roko Tui Dreketi (Paramount Chief) of the Burebasaga Confederacy and served as Minister for Education from 2001 to 2006 in the government of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase. Since 2014, she has been Leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party, and since the general elections in September that year, Leader of the Opposition. They had three children: Sailosi Jr., Asenaca, and Tupoutu’a.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: ROKO TUI DREKETI (Title). WORLD OF ROYALTY. 7 October 2015.
  2. Web site: ROKO TUI DREKETI (Title). WORLD OF ROYALTY. 7 October 2015.
  3. Web site: Lal. Renee. The Diversified or Strict Role of an Ombudsman: A Comparison in the Roles of the Ombudsman in Vanuatu and Fiji. University of the South Pacific. 7 October 2015.
  4. Web site: Lal. Renee. The Diversified or Strict Role of an Ombudsman: A Comparison in the Roles of the Ombudsman in Vanuatu and Fiji. University of the South Pacific. 7 October 2015.
  5. Web site: Fiji rugby mourns Kepa's death. Teivovo.com. 7 October 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092212/http://ducke.free.fr/finalesrugby/documents/horsLigne/Fidji/sailosi_kepa.html . 4 March 2016.