Manoa Kamikamica
Deputy Prime Minister. Chartered accountant. Founding People's Alliance figure. Nine months on the backbench, and now back at Cabinet with Public Enterprises added to his brief.
People's Alliance · Parliament of Fiji
Manoa Seru Nakausabaria Kamikamica is a Fijian politician, chartered accountant, and Deputy Prime Minister of Fiji. He is a founding figure and Deputy Party Leader of the People's Alliance, and one of two current Deputy Prime Ministers alongside Viliame Gavoka. He was Fiji's Minister for Trade, Cooperatives, SMEs and Communications from December 2022 until October 2025, when he resigned from Cabinet following a FICAC charge. He was acquitted by the Suva Magistrates Court on 3 August 2026 and reinstated as Deputy Prime Minister the following day.
He is the son of the late Josefata Nakausabaria Kamikamica (1934–1998), who served as Fiji's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance from 1987 to 1992 under Prime Minister Kamisese Mara, and Esiteri Vakalala-Kamikamica (d. March 2024), the first woman president of the Fiji Teachers Union. His mother was from Navunievu village, Bua Province. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and Information Systems from the University of New South Wales (1989). He is married to Anne Steele, and they have one daughter.
Before politics, Kamikamica built a 33-year career across Fiji's finance, aviation, banking and manufacturing sectors. He spent more than 13 years at Fiji Airways as General Manager Finance and General Manager Strategic Planning, playing a lead role in the acquisition of Sunair to establish the domestic subsidiary Pacific Sun (now Fiji Link) and negotiating the airline's purchase of five B787-900 aircraft from Boeing, the largest single corporate investment in Fiji at that time. He subsequently served with ANZ as Country Head Tonga, CFO in Fiji, and Associate Director International Banking in Papua New Guinea, with acting Country Head roles in the Solomon Islands and Cook Islands. Immediately before entering politics, he was CFO and General Manager of the Lyndhurst Group of Companies for three years.
He is the first indigenous Fijian to become a member of the Australian Institute of Chartered Accountants, and holds current membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
Kamikamica was announced as a founding member of the People's Alliance in February 2022 and appointed the party's first Deputy Party Leader in April 2022. He was elected to Parliament on 14 December 2022, polling 3,874 votes (FEO Official Results). On 24 December 2022 he was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for External Trade, Cooperatives and SMEs, and subsequently added the Communications portfolio.
On 21 October 2025 he resigned from all ministerial positions after being charged by FICAC with perjury and providing false information to a public servant, arising from evidence he gave to the 2024 Commission of Inquiry into the appointment of former FICAC Commissioner Barbara Malimali. His resignation came one week before Biman Prasad's resignation on similar (though separate) grounds.
FICAC charged Kamikamica on 20 October 2025 with one count of perjury under section 176(1) of the Crimes Act 2009, and an alternative charge of providing false information to a public servant under section 201(a) of the same Act. The charge alleged that between 1 December 2024 and 31 March 2025, while under oath during the Commission of Inquiry into Barbara Malimali's appointment as FICAC Commissioner, Kamikamica falsely stated that he had nothing to do with her appointment, when the prosecution alleged he did.
Kamikamica resigned from Cabinet on 21 October 2025, was released on bail with a FJ$10,000 bond, and pleaded not guilty. The trial proceeded before Resident Magistrate Charles Ratakele. FICAC called two witnesses: Janet Mason, the counsel who assisted the Commission of Inquiry, and Government MP Kalaveti Ravu.
Ravu declined to disclose who had spoken to him about the case, saying only that they were his colleagues in the current government. He told the court that Kamikamica had informed him that Barbara Malimali would be appointed as FICAC Commissioner. Defence counsel Wylie Clarke did not cross-examine Ravu, and filed a no case to answer application at the close of the prosecution's case.
On 3 August 2026, Magistrate Ratakele upheld the application and acquitted Kamikamica. In his ruling, the Magistrate found that the prosecution had failed to adduce sufficient evidence to establish the elements of the offence. Considering the evidence of Mason, the limited evidence of Ravu, and the agreed facts and documents, the court found there was no evidence that Kamikamica had made a material statement in relation to the Commission's proceedings. The Magistrate noted that if the statement had been material, the Commission would have inquired further, which it did not, because, as Mason stated, it was not within the scope of the Commission's proceedings.
Prime Minister Rabuka confirmed to Fijivillage News on the same day that Kamikamica's positions would be fully restored. He was sworn in the following day, 4 August 2026, as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Industries, Commerce, Business Development and Public Enterprises, before President Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu at State House.
| Party | People's Alliance (Deputy Party Leader since April 2022, founding member) |
| Electoral basis | PA list MP. 3,874 personal votes in 2022. |
| In Parliament since | 14 December 2022 |
| Current role | Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Industries, Commerce, Business Development and Public Enterprises (4 August 2026 to present) |
| Previous role | Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, Cooperatives, SMEs and Communications (24 December 2022 to 21 October 2025) |
| Career background | Chartered Accountant; Fiji Airways (13 years, General Manager Finance and Strategic Planning); ANZ (Country Head Tonga, CFO Fiji, PNG); Lyndhurst Group of Companies (CFO and General Manager); board positions include Lako Yani Management Limited |
| Education | Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting and Information Systems), University of New South Wales, 1989 |
| Family | Son of Josefata Kamikamica (former DPM and Finance Minister, 1987–1992) and Esiteri Vakalala-Kamikamica (first woman president of Fiji Teachers Union, d. 2024) |
Kamikamica's expanded portfolio at reinstatement covers Industries, Commerce, Business Development, and Public Enterprises. The Communications portfolio he previously held was reassigned to Ioane Naivalurua's Policing ministry in November 2025, during his absence from Cabinet. His current brief consolidates trade and industry policy under a single senior portfolio, with responsibility for state-owned enterprises added.
Public Enterprises is a significant addition, giving Kamikamica oversight of government commercial holdings, including Fiji Airways (his former employer), Post Fiji, Airports Fiji Limited, Fiji Ports Corporation, Energy Fiji Limited, and other state entities.
In an interview with Fijivillage News after his acquittal, Kamikamica said he was consulting his lawyers over "possible legal options" arising from the FICAC case. Asked whether he had received any communication from FICAC about a possible appeal, he said he had not.
Asked whether he would consider filing a civil case against former Commission of Inquiry Chair Justice David Ashton-Lewis over public remarks such as "crocodile in the pond," which he said had caused reputational damage and led to the loss of his Cabinet position, Kamikamica said the matter was being discussed with his lawyers but that his immediate priority was to settle back into government work.
He has publicly confirmed his intention to contest the 2026 general election under the People's Alliance banner.
Kamikamica has been formally acquitted. He is entitled to the presumption of innocence, which the court's ruling now affirms. FPR notes that FICAC has not indicated an intention to appeal.
Kamikamica returns to Cabinet nine months after leaving it, into a portfolio arguably more consequential than the one he left. Public Enterprises alone gives him board-level influence over some of Fiji's largest state commercial entities. His decades in the private sector at senior executive level are, in principle, well matched to that brief.
The Ashton-Lewis remarks and any civil action he pursues will be closely watched. So too will FICAC's decision on whether to appeal the acquittal within the statutory window. Either could reopen the political costs of the case even now that the criminal proceeding has ended.
The 2026 election will be the test of whether the case has left any lasting mark. Reinstated by Rabuka within 24 hours, publicly cleared by the court, and campaigning as PA Deputy Party Leader in the party's core seats, Kamikamica enters the campaign period with the strongest available political rehabilitation. Whether that carries at the ballot box is the open question.
⚠ FPR welcomes corrections: editor@fijipoliticalreview.com
