Kiribati appoints first female Attorney-General

Tarawa: The Kiribati government has swornin its new Minister of Justice and AttorneyGeneral at the State ‘Maneaba’ in Bairiki.

In the presence of the Kiribati Chief Justice Sir John Muria, former Attorney-General and MP for Abemama Natan Teewe was sworn-in as the new Minister of Justice and Birimwaka Tekanene as the new Secretary of Justice.

The ceremony also witnessed the appointment of the first female Attorney-General, Tetiro Semilota by President Taneti Maamau.

President Maamau says the establishment of the Justice Ministry, initiated way back in 2006, “has made a great landmark in the political history and development of Kiribati especially in promoting and elevating the concept of justice, human rights and all the governance principles which are ideal in the governing of the people and also in delivering of the service to the people and to God.”

In his remarks, Justice Minister Natan Teewe figuratively compared his new Ministry to that of “Te Waa” or a canoe. “We have been assigned, myself and the new Secretary and the new Attorney-General to man this canoe. We will sail this canoe in an ocean we know nothing about. We cannot control the direction and force of the wind. We cannot control the flow of the current,” Mr Teewe said.

The Kiribati government now has 13 ministries and 13 Cabinet Ministers. BBC