Senior Member of Parliament Tapunuu Niko Lee Hang has passed away.
He was 68. The former Cabinet Minister was a member of the Human Rights Protection Party. Tapunuu an accountant by profession and a former Public Trustee is also a businessman.
He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in a by-election in December 2001 and has been in office since then. In January 2002 he was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary to the Minister of Justice.
In 2004 he was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary to the Minister of Revenue.
He was re-elected in 2006 and was Minister of Finance and was re-elected again in the 2011 general election. After serving a term as a backbencher, he was re-appointed to Cabinet in 2016 as Minister of Works Transport and Infrastructure.
Following the abolition of his urban voter’s seat, he contested the new seat of Vaimauga No. 3 Tapunuu ran for office and was re-elected.
