Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, (6 May 1920 – 18 April 2004) was a Fijian politician who served as Chief Minister from 1967 to 1970, when Fiji gained its independence from the United Kingdom, and, apart from one brief interruption in 1987, as the first Prime Minister from 1970 to 1992. He subsequently served as president from 1993 to 2000.
Early life and education: 1920 to 1950
Kamisese Kapaiwai Tuimacilai Uluilakeba Mara was born on 6 May 1920, in Sawana, Lomaloma, Vanuabalavu in the archipelago of Lau, the son of Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba III, Tui Nayau and head of the chiefly Vuanirewa clan of Tubou, Lakeba and Lusiana Qolikoro from the Fonolahi Family of the Yavusa Tonga clan in Sawana. Fonolahi has lineage to the Tongan royalty and was also descended from an English missionary.
Mara's title, Ratu, which means "Chief," was hereditary; as the hereditary Paramount Chief of the Lau Islands, he held the titles of Tui Lau in 1963, and Tui Nayau kei Sau ni Vanua ko Lau in 1969. He succeeded to the Tui Nayau title in 1969, following the death of his father in 1966. He was earlier installed as Tui Lau in 1963 following the traditional consultation process between the Yavusa Tonga in Sawana, Lomaloma and the Tui Nayau his father. Though the title Tui Lau is not hereditary it has been left vacant by his cousin¹ Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, who had died in 1958.
Ratu Mara was first educated at Primary in Levuka (Sacred Heart Convent) than to Lau Provincial school before he left for his secondary education in an all boys boarding school in North of Tailevu (Queen Victoria School), he later moved to Marist Brothers High School Suva and Sacred Heart College, Auckland. He then attended the University of Otago in New Zealand, where he studied medicine (1942 to 1945). He never finished his medical studies, because his great-uncle and mentor, Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna (who was then regarded as Fiji's paramount chief), seeking to groom him for future leadership of the nation, arranged for him to study history at Wadham College, Oxford in the United Kingdom. Mara was distressed to abandon his medical studies, but, dependent on Ratu Sukuna for financial support, followed his orders without question, and graduated with an MA in 1949. In 1961, he returned to the United Kingdom to pursue postgraduate study at the London School of Economics for a Diploma in Economics and Social Administration, which he was awarded in 1962. In 1973, his old alma mater, Otago University, awarded him an honorary doctorate of laws (LL.D).
Following his graduation from Oxford University, Mara returned to Fiji and had married Ro Litia Cakobau Lalabalavu Katoafutoga Tuisawau, better known as Ro Lady Lala Mara, on 11 September 1949. Her title, Ro, is also hereditary and is held by Rewan chiefs; like her husband, Ro Lala was a chief in her own right, as the Roko Tui Dreketi (Paramount Chief) of Burebasaga and Rewa. The marriage was initially opposed by some members of Mara's family, as Ro Lala was from a rival dynasty with which the Mara clan had a history of strained relations. The marriage proved to be a happy one, however, and in stark contrast to the prevalence of divorce among many of Mara's relatives, it lasted for more than 53 years. They had three sons and five daughters.Koila Nailatikau was married to Epeli Nailatikau who would later become the 4th President of Fiji. Ateca Ganilau was married to Ratu Epeli Ganilau and supported many of his political views. Asenaca Kakua, Unlike her siblings she didn't have a career in government or diplomacy, She instead attends ceremonial and traditional events. Finau Mara who was the main heir to his late father's chiefly titles till his death during the Covid-19 Pandemic, Finau Served as a member of the House of Representatives and as the Minister for Fijian Affairs from 1997 to 1999. Ratu Joji Tuisawau who is named after his grandfather George Tuisawau lived a very private life. Adi Litia Mara Dugdale she is a prominent figure in the Pacific fashion scene, She married Henry Stratford Dugdale, an Englishman from Shropshire, in 1991 and had 2 kids with him. Adi Elenoa Tuilau Mara Taito is the twin sister of Ratu Finau Mara and is a high ranking member of the Vuanirewa clan, She also She serves as a co-patron of the Lau Education Charitable Trust (LECT). Tevita Mara, Was made Tui Lau and Tui Nayau in 2025, Later that year he was elected Deputy Chair of the restored Great Council of Chiefs
Prime Minister of Fiji: 1970 to 1992
With independence, the office of Chief Minister was renamed Prime Minister, but its functions were substantially unchanged. Mara retained power in the first post-independence election of 1972. Internal divisions within the ethnic Fijian electorate led to the narrow defeat of his Alliance Party by the Indo-Fijian dominated National Federation Party (NFP) in the election of March 1977. He tendered his resignation as Prime Minister, but the NFP splintered three days later in a leadership dispute, and a constitutional crisis developed. The official representative of Queen Elizabeth, Governor-General Ratu Sir George Cakobau, ended up calling on Mara to form a new government. Although unquestionably constitutional, the Governor-General's actions were controversial. Many Indo-Fijians were outraged at what they saw as a deliberate cynical move on his part to keep the government of Ratu Mara, his fellow-chief (and distant cousin) in power at all costs. A subsequent election to resolve the impasse in September that year, however, appeared to vindicate Cakobau, when the Alliance Party won a record 36 seats out of 52.
The Alliance Party's majority was reduced in the 1982 election, but with 28 of the 52 seats, Mara retained power. Despite the loss of eight seats, the popular vote for the Alliance Party rose to 51.8% – an all-time record. Part of the reason for this paradox lay in the distribution of the vote: the gains in the popular vote occurred mostly because of a swing of almost 10% in the 11 "communal" seats reserved for, and elected exclusively by, Indo-Fijians, but 24% of the Indo-Fijian vote was insufficient to translate into parliamentary seats, and therefore did not effectively offset small but very significant losses in ethnic Fijian "communal" seats. It was therefore a bittersweet election for Mara.
Convinced of the need to include Indo-Fijians in the government, he proposed a "government of national unity" – a grand coalition with the National Federation Party. The NFP, however, rejected the offer and remained in opposition. In the election of 1987, Mara was finally defeated by a multiracial coalition led by Dr Timoci Bavadra. His retirement was to be short-lived, however. Two military coups led by Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka seriously undermined the social and economic stability, and the international prestige, of Fiji. Mara was recalled to head an interim administration, with a view to restoring Fiji's international reputation and rebuilding the country's shattered economy. In 1992, he handed over power to an elected government.
President of the Republic: 1993 to 2000
After the military coups of 1987, Fiji had severed its links with the Monarchy and become a republic, with a president and two Vice-Presidents chosen by the Great Council of Chiefs. Following his retirement as Prime Minister, Mara was elected to the Vice-Presidency in June 1992, and became Acting president soon after, when the ailing president Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau was incapacitated. He assumed the office of President officially when Ganilau died on 16 December of the following year. Modelled on the Monarchy, the presidency filled a largely honorary role, but was nevertheless vested with important reserve powers, to be used only in the event of a national crisis.
That crisis came on 19 May 2000, with the Fiji coup of 2000. Gunmen led by George Speight forced their way into Parliament and kidnapped the Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, several Cabinet ministers, and a number of parliamentarians. Speight declared himself Prime Minister, and ordered Mara to step aside as president. Mara refused to negotiate with the plotters, and decided instead to dismiss the kidnapped government and assume emergency powers himself. His move backfired, however. In what politicians called "a coup within a coup," Ratu Mara was whisked away on the naval ship Kiro on 28 May, where he was allegedly approached by a group of present and former military and police officers and ordered to suspend the Constitution. When he refused, ("If the Constitution goes, I go," he defiantly declared) the group, including the army commander, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, former Prime Minister and 1987 Coup Leader Sitiveni Rabuka, former military commander Ratu Epeli Ganilau (a son-in-law of Mara's), and a former Police Commissioner Isikia Savua, are alleged to have asked for, and possibly forced, Mara's resignation. He was subsequently taken to his home island of Lakeba in the Lau Islands. For the 80-year-old president, who was seen as the father of the country and had led it, in one capacity or another, for more than 40 years, it was an anticlimactic end.