'Akuila Pohiva: a detailed and moving obituary by Lopeti Senituli

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Here is the Obituary I penned for my fallen Leader, Hon Prime Minister, Samuela ‘Akilisi Pohiva:

Hon Samuela ‘Akilisi Pohiva died at the Auckland City Hospital, New Zealand, on 12 September 2019 after he had been medevaced from Tonga the day before. He was the 16th Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tonga and the first commoner to be elected to the position by the nation’s Legislative Assembly subsequent to being elected by the people in a general election. He was in the second year of his second four-year term as Prime Minister. His first term, which started in January 2015, was prematurely terminated after 3 years when His Majesty King Tupou VI dissolved the Legislative Assembly in August 2017. He had also been the longest serving People’s Representative to the Legislative Assembly having been first elected in 1987 and then repeatedly re-elected in 10 consecutive general elections over 32 years, the most recent being in November 2017.

Before the medical doctors and nurses at the Vaiola Hospital prepared him for medical evacuation he dictated the following final farewell message to the people of Tonga.