Sunia Manu Fili (born 1 December 1965) is a

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

n politician and former

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

. He is a former member of the

Human Rights and Democracy Movement The Human Rights and Democracy Movement (HRDM) is a political party in Tonga. Its leader is Uliti Uata. It states its ideology to be democracy, social justice, Anti-corruption, opposition to corruption, and women's rights. The HRDM was founded i ...

and the

Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands The Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands () is a political party in Tonga. The party's leader at its foundation was 'Akilisi Pohiva. The party was launched in September 2010, and included several sitting People's Representatives who were p ...

Biography

Fili graduated with a BA from the

University of the South Pacific The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a public research university with locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. Established in 1968, the university is organised as an intergovernmental organisation and is owned by the gov ...

in Fiji. He worked as a lawyer and high school teacher before entering politics. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly as People's Representative for

ʻEua ʻEua is an island in the kingdom of Tonga. It is close to Tongatapu, but forms a separate administrative division. It has an area of , and a population in 2021 of 4,903 people. The island leads in agriculture, tourism, and some of the forest ...

at the 1999 election. In September 2009 Fili was the only member of the Tongan Parliament to support the ratification of the

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is an international treaty adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly. Described as an international bill of rights for women, it was instituted ...

. Fili was re-elected MP for the constituency of ʻEua in the 2010 election. He was appointed

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

in Lord Tuʻivakano's

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

, to which was added the portfolio of Inland Revenue on September 1, 2011. In a Cabinet reshuffle on 1 May 2012, Fili became Minister for Police, Prisons and Fire Services; Lisiate ‘Akolo was made

, and Sosefo Vakata was given the Revenue portfolio. Following the reshuffle Fili allegedly passed a letter from his predecessor,

Lisiate ʻAkolo Lisiate Aloveita Akolo is a Tongan politician, Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga and former Minister of Finance in the Tongan Cabinet. Lisiate is a graduate of Victoria University of Wellington and American University. He worked for t ...

, which criticised other ministers and suggested creating Associate Minister posts to weaken the opposition, to Deputy Prime Minister

Samiu Vaipulu Samiu Kuita Vaipulu (born 24 December 1952) is a Tongan politician and Cabinet of Tonga, Cabinet Minister. He was the Deputy Prime Minister of Tonga, Deputy Prime Minister from 2010 to 2014 and is currently Minister for Trade and Economic Develop ...

, who leaked it to the media. In late June 2012, Fili - along with two other ministers - resigned from the Cabinet, so as to support a

motion of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...

tabled by the

against the government. In July 2014 Fili was dumped as a Democratic Party candidate. He ran as an independent in the

2014 Tongan general election General elections were held in Tonga on 27 November 2014. All twenty-six elected seats in the single-chamber Legislative Assembly were up for election, although the monarch, acting on the advice of his Prime Minister, retains the possibility t ...

, but was not re-elected. He contested the 2017 election as a candidate for the ''Langafonua 'a e Masiva'', but was also unsuccessful. In October 2022 he graduated with a law degree from the University of the South Pacific.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fili, Sunia 1965 births Ministers of finance of Tonga University of the South Pacific alumni Members of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga Living people Tongan lawyers 21st-century Tongan people Human Rights and Democracy Movement politicians People from ʻEua Government ministers of Tonga