Frederick "Fred" Karlomuana Timakata (1936 – 21 March 1995[1]) was a Ni-Vanuatu politician who served as the president of Vanuatu from 1989 to 1994.

Fred Timakata
2nd President of Vanuatu
In office
30 January 1989 – 30 January 1994
Prime MinisterDonald Kalpokas
Maxime Carlot Korman
Preceded byOnneyn Tahi (acting)
Succeeded byAlfred Maseng (acting)
In office
17 February 1984 – 8 March 1984
(acting)
Prime MinisterMaxime Carlot Korman
Preceded byAti George Sokomanu
Succeeded byAti George Sokomanu
Personal details
Born
Frederick Karlomuana Timakata

1936 (1936)
Emae, New Hebrides
Died21 March 1995(1995-03-21) (aged 58–59)
Political partyVanua'aku Pati

Timakata was born at Makatea Village on the island of Emae, in the Shepherd Group. He attended school on Emae and later at the district school on Epi Island. He undertook teacher training at the Teachers' Training Institute on Santo, and taught there for a number of years. Later, he did pastoral training at the Methodist Theological College and the Pacific Theological College in Fiji. After serving as a parish pastor for several years, he became Assistant Assembly Clerk and later Assembly Clerk for the Presbyterian Church of New Hebrides.[2]

Timakata assisted in the founding of the New Hebrides National Party, and in 1973 became its Vice President. He was elected as a member of the pre-independence Representative Assembly in 1979, and became its chair. He resigned that position before independence and was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs upon independence in 1980.[3]

Timakata was Speaker of the Parliament from November 1983 to November 1987, and served as acting President of Vanuatu briefly in 1984. He was subsequently elected as President for a five-year term from 30 January 1989 to 30 January 1994.[4][5][6]

References edit

  1. ^ "Index Ta-Ti".
  2. ^ Macdonald-Milne, B and Thomas, P. (eds)(1981) Yumi Stanap: Some People of Vanuatu. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies
  3. ^ Macdonald-Milne, B and Thomas, P. (eds)(1981) ibid
  4. ^ "57. Vanuatu (1980-present)". uca.edu. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  5. ^ Trease, Howard Van (29 August 1995). Melanesian Politics: Stael Blong Vanuatu. editorips@usp.ac.fj. ISBN 9780958330046. Retrieved 29 August 2019 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ "Vanuatu: Heads of State: 1980-2019 - Archontology.org". www.archontology.org. Retrieved 29 August 2019.