He is known as the ‘Father of the Nation’ The Rt. Hon. Sir Peter Kenilorea 67, son of the Solomon Islands and one of the most senior statesmen of the South Pacific.
“Today (Wednesday) I finally retire fully from my official capacity in parliament since myself and the former pioneer colleagues form the first governing council in 1974,” Sir Peter echoed in his last speech in the Parliament on Wednesday before his successor Allan Kemakeza and the 9th Parliament Members.
Sir Peter was born in 1943, according to his own people in East Are’ Are in Malaita he was called an araha a name given to a secular leader. Although the name applied to traditional leader, it summarizes what Sir Peter means to the nation of Solomon Islands.
A simple village boy chosen for modern education, he was an early student attending the elite King George VI School at that time in Malaita Province, and then trained in New Zealand as a school teacher. In 1971 he transferred from teaching to the public service, at the request of the British government of his islands, which wanted to accelerate training for the leaders who would take the then Protectorate through to independence. He rose through a variety of jobs from Assistance Secretary of Finance to become a District Commissioner.
In 1976 Sir Peter was elected to the Legislative Assembly, which he became Chief Minister and the first Prime Minister at Independence Solomon Islands in 1978-1984, a position he held three times. He also served as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. In 2000 he returned to the Parliament as a Speaker which he declared his retirement on Wednesday after serving his two terms.
In 1991, he resigned from Parliament, and 2000, he spent three years as Director of the South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency, a regional diplomatic post based in Honiara. In 1996 Sir Peter become the nation’s Ombudsman for five years, in 200 he played a vital role in negotiating the peace process during the political crisis years, 1998-2003.
Sir Peter a leader with integrity has traveled the world, having visited seventy nations during his career.
He is also a very religious leader and family man of eight children with one wife Lady Margaret Kenilorea, his family is at the core of his life and has never lost sight of his origin. The son of a South Seas Evangelical Church pastor, Sir Peter is intensely a Christian and is an important lay preacher in his church SSEC Honiara Central Church.
Sir Peter hopes to return to his home in East Are’ Are after retirement to help his chiefs record their history of his people and their genealogies.
Sir Peter Kenilorea is a grand survivor of Solomon Islands politics and the nation’s elder statesman, an old-school Pacific leader who survived and brought up a large family only on his salary, with never a taint of corruption.
Sir Peter Kenilorea retire officially from Politics (Pic Supplied)
Sir Peter has been constant in holding this nation to the letter of the National Constitution, mounting many important private court cases against the Government when it has abused its authority under the Constitution that he helped design and was instrumental in introducing.
In 2008 he published his autobiography, ‘Tell It As It Is’, which was launched at the celebration to mark the 30th independence anniversary. His book is one the very few autobiographies of Pacific islanders leaders and one of only two or three of prominent Solomon Islanders.
When Sir Peter echoed his final words in the Parliament on Wednesday he said, “I like to think that I at least gave my very best attempt doing that, if I failed in that regard in the past I ask your forgiveness for I am only but a human who is just as prone to frailties that mankind share in respective of what society one belongs to.”
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