Wilisoni Malani

Who was Wilisoni Malani?

Ratu Wilisoni Tuiketei Malani OBE OSTJ JP was a Fijian chief, physician, and politician. He held the chiefly title of Turaga na Gonesau, or Paramount Chief of the Nakorotubu district in Ra Province in the western part of Viti Levu. "Turaga na Gonesau" means the "blessed child" as Ratu Malani's grandancestor was one of Fiji's high chiefs, Rokomautu from Verata, who gave his blessing "sau".

The surname "Malani" was given to Ratu Malani's father by Lau chief "Roko Malani" as a token of appreciation and in remembrance for the Nakorotubu warriors in sailing to Lau and subduing an uprising in Kedekede, Lakeba, Lau in the 18th century in what is commonly known as the Vuakaloa Campaign or Blackboar Campaign.

Ratu Malani was a cousin of the late Prime Minister and President, Kamisese Mara. After the death of his father, he was raised in Tubou, Lau by his uncle, Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba, Ratu Mara's father. Tevita paid for his education at Fiji's premier boarding school, Queen Victoria School, where he was the head boy in 1940, and the Central Medical School, which is now the Fiji School of Medicine. It was assumed that Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba's decision to adhere to Ratu Sukuna's request for Ratu Mara to abandon his sixth year medicine study at the University of Otago in New Zealand and to study leadership and politics at the Oxford University was because he had a replacement for a medical doctor in Ratu Malani. He practiced medicine for many years, mainly in rural centres, and was a pioneer in the fight to eradicate malaria and filiriasis in Fiji and the Solomon Islands. He retired in 1994 to take up a new career in politics.