The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) is still mulling over who will be appointed as its new Secretary General as incumbent Dame Meg Taylor nears the end of her term of office on 15 January 2021.

The Forum’s public affairs office told Matangi Tonga on 27 October that the new Secretary General will be appointed this year “but not this month or next”.

Forum leadership

Selectors also have to contend with Micronesia's insistence that its time their candidate, Gerald Zackios, is selected for the top job this time.

According to a recent report in The Diplomat [2], appointing a candidate to the PIF Secretary General role in the past was done in accordance to an unwritten rule, where the Forum leadership rotates among the three Pacific sub-regions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

The last two Secretary Generals came from Melanesia (PNG’s Dame Meg Taylor) and Polynesia (Samoa’s Tuiloma Neroni Slade).

Leaders from Micronesia stressed in a letter nominating Gerald Zackios, “We emphasize our regional understanding that it is the Micronesia sub-region’s turn in rotation to submit a candidate to be the next Secretary General”.

A Micronesian has only held the Forum leadership role once out of six terms.

Five candidates have been nominated for the role including Tonga’s nominee, Amelia Kinahoi Siamomua, Dr Jimmie Rodgers from the Solomon Islands, Henry Puna from the Cook Islands, and Ratu Inoke Kubuabola from Fiji.

Warning

Earlier this month, Micronesia issued a warning should their candidate not get the Forum leadership role. 

According to the East West Centre [3], President of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), David Panuelo has warned that Micronesian countries (FSM, Kiribati, Nauru, Marshall Islands, and Palau) may leave the Pacific Islands Forum if passed over again for the Secretary-General appointment.

President Panuelo said the PIF needs to show confidence in the North Pacific and give the Micronesian sub-region its turn to lead.

The Pacific Islands Forum [4] includes 14 independent island nations, Australia, New Zealand and two non-self-governing territories administered by France (New Caledonia and French Polynesia). Presidents and prime ministers from the Forum member countries meet annually to discuss political, security, and development challenges, and advance a regional “Blue Pacific [5]” agenda on oceans, fisheries, and climate action.

Candidates

Tonga’s Amelia Kinahoi Siamomua is a development economist, and currently head of the gender section at the Commonwealth secretariat. She has previously worked with the SPC, Asian Development Bank, UNDP, and UNIFEM in the Pacific. She was the Development Cooperation Adviser of PIFS (Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat) in 1996-1999, and served in Tonga with the Tonga Development Bank (TDB) .

Micronesia’s Gerald Zackios is RMI permanent representative to the United Nations. He has previously held a number of ministerial positions, including RMI minister of foreign affairs, attorney general, and chief negotiator for the RMI’s Compact of Free Association with the United States.

Solomon Island’s Dr Jimmie Rodgers is a key adviser to the Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister. A medical doctor and former Secretary of Health in the Solomon Islands, Rodgers later served as Director General of the Pacific Community (SPC) [6]. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Forum’s top job in 2014.

Cook Islands’ Henry Puna announced his resignation in June as Prime Minister after nearly a decade at the helm.

Fiji’s Ratu Inoke Kubuabola has been a controversial figure in Fijian politics since the 1987 coups. Over 30 years, he has been a minister in several elected and unelected governments and served as Fiji’s high commissioner to Papua New Guinea from 2002 to 2005 and ambassador to Japan and Korea in 2006.