Prime Minister Lord Tuʻivakano Prime Minister Lord Tuʻivakano Succeeded by Sifa Tuʻutafaiva Name Sosefo Vakata | Preceded by Clive Edwards Preceded by Sunia Fili Prime Minister Lord Tuʻivakano Role Politician | |
Party Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands | ||
Sosefo Fe‘aomoeata Vakata (born 13 February 1969) is a Tongan politician and member of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga. He is a former member of the Democratic Party of the Friendly Islands.
He holds a Master of Science degree in Physics from the University of Queensland, and also has an IRB Level 2 Rugby Coaching Certificate; he lists coaching rugby as one of his hobbies. He "taught at Tonga High School for many years", then worked as a civil servant, holding the positions of radio licensing officer and outer islands project manager, then communications engineer, at the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Vakata was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the first time when he won the seat of Ongo Niua 17 in the November 2010 general election as a candidate for the Democratic Party, defeating incumbent independent MP Sione ‘Iloa. On 8 December 2010 it was reported that he had withdrawn his support from the Democratic party and become an independent, and would support a noble candidate as Prime Minister.
At the start of January 2011, when newly elected Prime Minister Lord Tuʻivakano formed his Cabinet, Vakata was appointed Minister for Training, Employment, Youth and Sports. On 1 May 2012, he reshuffled to the position of Minister for Revenue.
In July 2012, Vakata was accused of mis-using government funds allocated to him for expenses during a trip to Australia which was later cancelled. He denied the allegations, but repaid the money.
In February 2013, he was reshuffled to the position of Minister of Public Enterprises.