Onneyn Tahi
{{short description|Vanuatuan politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Onneyn Tahi
|office = Acting President of Vanuatu
|primeminister = Walter Lini
|term_start = 12 January 1989
|term_end = 30 January 1989
|predecessor = Ati George Sokomanu
|successor = Frederick Karlomuana Timakata
|office2 = Speaker of the Parliament
|term_start2 = December 1987
|term_end2 = June 1991
|predecessor2 = Frederick Karlomuana Timakata
|successor2 = Tele Taun
|office3 =
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|term_start3 =
|term_end3 =
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|birth_date = {{birth date|1944|7|24}}
|birth_place =Aoba Island
|death_date =1998
|death_place =Aoba Island
|party = Vanua'aku Pati
|otherparty = People's Democratic Party
}}
Onneyn Morris Tahi (24 July 1944 – 1998) was a Vanuatuan politician.
Biography
Tahi was born on 24 July 1944 in the small town of Losingoiburie on Aoba Island. Shortly thereafter, he moved to his father's village Lovuietu, where his father owned a shop, bakery, and copra processing shed. He attended the Tavolala Village School, the Holy Trinity School, and the Aobabalu School.{{cite book|last1=Adomea|first1=Miriam|title=Black Stone: Onneyn Morris Tahi; an Autobiography|date=2016|publisher=Xlibris Corporation|isbn=149909874X}}{{Self-published inline|certain=yes|date=January 2018}}
After some years in civil service, Tahi entered politics in 1979 when he ran for and won a seat on the Aoba Islands Subcommittee. He represented Ambae constituency in Parliament from 1980 to 1995. In 1993, he was given the ministerial portfolio of education and sports. Tahi was the speaker of the Parliament from 1987 to 1991. He briefly served as acting president of Vanuatu in January 1991 after Ati George Sokomanu was removed from Office by the Electoral College due to gross misconduct.{{cite book|last1=Van Trease|first1=Howard|title=Melanesian Politics: Stael Blong Vanuatu|date=1995|publisher=editorips@usp.ac.fj|isbn=0958330042|page=91}} Tahi was named Minister of Agriculture in 1991.Van Trease 1995, p. 157 He began to see some opposition due to a perceived failure to initiate projects in his constituency.Van Trease 1995, p. 263 He was Minister of Finance in 1992.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}
In 1994, he was one of the founding members of the People's Democratic Party. He returned to the Vanua'aku Pati in 1997. In the lead up to the 1998 parliamentary elections, Tahi was killed in a car crash.{{cite book|last1=Morgan|first1=Michael|editor1-last=Rich|editor1-first=Roland|editor2-last=Hambly|editor2-first=Luke|title=Political Parties in the Pacific Islands|date=2008|publisher=The Australian National University Press|location=Sydney|isbn=978-1-9213-1376-9|page=123|chapter=The Origins and Effects of Party Fragmentation in Vanuatu}}
References
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Category:Presidents of Vanuatu
Category:Speakers of the Parliament of Vanuatu
Category:Members of the Parliament of Vanuatu
Category:Ministers of finance of Vanuatu