Kaotitaake Kokoria
Kaotitaake Kokoria | |
|---|---|
| Member of the House of Assembly | |
| Assumed office August 2024 Serving with Matanga Aran | |
| Preceded by | Tekiau Aretateta Tewaaki Kobae |
| Constituency | Tabuaeran |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 October 1979 Paelau, Tabuaeran, Kiribati |
| Political party | Tobwaan Kiribati Party |
Kaotitaake Kokoria (born 28 October 1979) is an I-Kiribati politician. He is a member of the House of Assembly serving since August 2024. He was a candidate for the 2024 Kiribati presidential election, and finished second place with 42% of the vote.
Biography
[edit]Kaotitaake was born on 28 October 1979 in the village of Paelau, on the island of Tabuaeran in Kiribati. He began his education at Edmund Primary School and later attended Meleang Tabai Secondary School, both on Tabuaeran. He attended high school in South Tarawa at William Goward Memorial School, then received a degree in 2006 from the University of the South Pacific (USP) Kiribati campus. He earned a graduate certificate in public administration in 2016, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from USP Kiribati in 2019.[1]
After briefly working as a teacher, Kaotitaake joined the Kiribati Ministry of Internal and Social Affairs (MISA), later named the Ministry of Culture and Internal Affairs (MCIA). He was a member of several divisions, including the rural planning division, where he rose from Assistant Rural Development Officer in 2008 to Senior Rural Development Officer by 2015, and then became the Deputy Director overseeing the division from 2015 to 2017.[1][2][3] He also oversaw the Culture and Museum Division and worked for a time as the Third Secretary for the Administration Division.[1] By 2022, he was the Senior Assistant Secretary in the MCIA.[4]
In 2024, Kaotitaake ran for election to the House of Assembly to represent Tabuaeran, and won one of two seats (along with Matanga Aran), receiving 665 votes.[5][6] He ran as a member of the Tobwaan Kiribati Party (TKP) which won a supermajority in the legislature.[7] In September 2024, Kaotitaake was announced as one of four nominees for president in the October presidential election, along with three other members of the TKP (later two after Riteta Iorome withdrew) including incumbent Taneti Maamau, and Bautaake Beia.[7] Kaotitaake and Bautaake were both described as "dummy candidates," as the TKP blocked out opposition candidates from the election in a move decried by the opposition as making "Kiribati now a one-party state."[8][9] Taneti won the election.[9][10]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Antai Ngai (Profile)" (PDF). president.gov.ki (in Gilbertese). President of Kiribati. 30 September 2024.
- ^ "5. Kiribati LFA workshop report" (PDF). PacificClimateChange.net. June 2015. p. 6.
- ^ "Outcomes of the trial of the consolidated reporting template for Pacific Island countries to the biodiversity-related multilateral environmental agreements" (PDF). sprep.org. Government of Australia. August 2008. p. 49.
- ^ "Raising awareness on risk-informed development through "maroro/talanoa" in Kiribati". United Nations Development Programme. 7 December 2022.
- ^ "General Election Results". internalaffairs.gov.ki. 2024.
- ^ Kaata, Renaua (13 September 2024). "Willie Tokataake - Tibiika ae е boou n ana Mwaneaba ni Maungatabu Kiribati; Tebenako Araia Taan Kauaaba n te Beretitenti" [Willie Tokataake - new Speaker for Kiribati Parliament; Candidates for presidential election selected]. Te Uekera (in Gilbertese). Kiribati – via Archive.org.
- ^ a b Wiseman, Don (29 September 2024). "Kiribati to vote for president on 25 October". Radio New Zealand.
- ^ Wiseman, Don (24 September 2024). "Tessie Lambourne claims Kiribati 'now a one-party state', takes aim at Taneti Maamau's leadership". Radio New Zealand.
- ^ a b Wiseman, Don (14 September 2024). "Taneti Maamau in pole position to be president again as Kiribati's lawmakers choose speaker". Radio New Zealand.
- ^ Wiseman, Don (2 October 2024). "Kiribati boycott planned after presidential vote becomes a one horse race". Radio New Zealand.