Bartholomew Ulufa'alu
| Bartholomew (Bart) Ulufa'alu | |
|---|---|
| 5th Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands | |
|
In office 27 August 1997 – 30 June 2000 |
|
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | Solomon Mamaloni |
| Succeeded by | Manasseh Sogavare |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 25 December 1950 Solomon Islands |
| Died | 25 May 2007 (aged 56) Honiara, Solomon Islands |
| Political party | Solomon Islands Liberal Party |
Bartholomew (Bart) Ulufa'alu (25 December 1950 – 25 May 2007) was the fifth Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands from 27 August 1997 to 30 June 2000.
He completed his schooling at Aruligo Secondary School and received a Bachelor of Economics from The University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG), during which time he was also President of the UPNG Students' Union.
He founded the Solomon Islands General Workers' Union and also founded and led the union-affiliated National Democratic Party (NADEPA) in 1975. NADEPA was successful in the 1976 national elections, gaining 8 seats (including Ulufa'alu in the seat of East Honiara) in the 38 member Legislative Assembly. Ulufa'alu was appointed as the first ever Leader of the Official Opposition.
NADEPA fared poorly after the 1980 elections, winning only two seats and they subsequently joined the opposition. However, after the 'Independent Group' led by Francis Billy Hilly withdrew their support for the Kenilorea government in 1981, Solomon Mamaloni became Prime Minister and Ulufa'alu became Minister for Finance.
Ulufa'alu is generally regarded as having performed well as Finance Minister and perhaps because this distracted him from attending to his constituency, he was defeated in 1984. Out of office, he went into business and headed up both the Solomon Islands Chamber of Commerce and the Farmers' Association. In 1988, he split with fellow unionist Joses Tuhanuku and formed the Solomon Islands Liberal Party (in the meantime, Tuhanuku and the Solomon Islands Trade Union Congress established the Solomon Islands Labour Party). He was re-elected in 1989 and joined the opposition group but in 1990 he resigned from parliament after accepting an offer from Prime Minister Mamaloni of a well-paid two-year consultancy with the Prime Minister's Office.
Ulufa'alu won office for a third time when he was elected as the member for Aoke/Langalanga constituency in 1997 (a seat he held through two further elections in 2001 and 2006 until he died). He was able to muster a slender majority to defeat veteran politician Solomon Mamaloni for the position of Prime Minister in 1997. However, Ulufa'alu was faced with difficult economic problems: debts were high, government spending was out of control and logging was occurring at an unsustainable rate. He set about implementing much needed reforms to improve government financial management and cut down on corruption; however, he was constantly harassed by motions of no confidence (in November 1997, April 1998 and September 1998), the last of which he only won in a tied vote.
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