Sakiasi Ditoka
Sakiasi Ditoka took Fiji’s Foreign Affairs portfolio from PM Rabuka on 19 January 2026. He is also General Secretary of the governing People’s Alliance.
People's Alliance · Parliament of Fiji
Sakiasi Raisevu Ditoka is a Fijian politician, former military officer, and senior civil servant currently serving as Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade in the Rabuka Government. He is a founding member and General Secretary of The People's Alliance and has been a Member of Parliament since 14 December 2022.
Ditoka joined the Republic of Fiji Military Forces and rose to the rank of Major. He left the military in 2002 and joined the Public Service Commission, where he became Private Secretary to Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase. He held that role until he was removed following the 2006 military coup.
He was a founding member of The People's Alliance, which was registered and launched in 2021 by former Prime Minister and current Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. He was appointed the party's inaugural General Secretary, a position he still holds.
At the 2022 general election, Ditoka was elected to Parliament on 1,833 votes (FEO Official Results, ballot 219). On 24 December 2022 he was sworn in as Minister for Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management, succeeding Inia Seruiratu, who had held the equivalent portfolios under the previous government. He held that portfolio for just over three years.
On 16 December 2025, Prime Minister Rabuka announced a Cabinet reshuffle ahead of the fourth year of the government's term. Ditoka was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade, taking over the portfolio from the Prime Minister himself, who had held it concurrently with the PMship. The appointment took effect on 19 January 2026, when he was formally welcomed to the ministry by Permanent Secretary Dr Raijeli Taga at the Suva office, with Fiji's diplomatic missions joining by Zoom. Mosese Bulitavu replaced him in Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management.
On 17 December 2022, three days before taking office in his first ministerial role, Ditoka and Prime Minister-designate Sitiveni Rabuka were interviewed by police following public comments calling for military intervention to protect the electoral process during the post-election negotiation period.
| Party | The People's Alliance (founding member and General Secretary since 2021) |
| Electoral basis | PA list MP. 1,833 personal votes in 2022. |
| In Parliament since | 14 December 2022 |
| Current role | Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade (19 January 2026 to present) |
| Previous role | Minister for Rural and Maritime Development and Disaster Management (24 December 2022 to 19 January 2026) |
| Career background | Republic of Fiji Military Forces (retired at the rank of Major, left military service in 2002); Public Service Commission; Private Secretary to Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase (to 2006) |
| Portfolio focus | Bilateral diplomacy, Pacific regionalism, trade cooperation, Fiji's overseas missions, Vuvale Union implementation |
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade coordinates Fiji's bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, overseas missions, trade agreements, and regional cooperation. The portfolio sits at the centre of Fiji's Vuvale Union security partnership with Australia, its engagement with the Pacific Islands Forum, and its relationships with China, the United States, India, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Since taking office, Ditoka has conducted a round of bilateral engagements with resident high commissioners and ambassadors in Suva, including with British High Commissioner on the UK-Fiji relationship. Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade Lenora Qereqeretabua, the first woman ever to hold that role, continues in post under his ministership.
On taking up the portfolio he committed to working with diplomats, development partners and stakeholders on trade cooperation and diplomatic ties, and stressed "mutual dialogue, respect, understanding" in those relationships.
Ditoka's public profile has been built on portfolio delivery rather than political drama. Through the current term he has not been the subject of any FICAC investigation, no-confidence process, or resignation controversy, in a Cabinet in which two Deputy Prime Ministers have been charged and one has been dismissed from Cabinet entirely.
His elevation to Foreign Affairs in January 2026 was the most senior single promotion of the Rabuka reshuffle, lifting him from a regional-service portfolio to one of the most visible roles in Cabinet. As General Secretary of The People's Alliance he also sits at the institutional centre of the governing party's operations, responsible for party administration, membership, and candidate processes. That dual role, Cabinet senior portfolio plus party machinery, makes him one of the quieter but structurally significant figures inside PA alongside Deputy Party Leader Manoa Kamikamica.
Ditoka enters the 2026 election cycle as Foreign Minister in his first year in the role, inheriting the most consequential set of bilateral files in the region: the Vuvale Union implementation with Australia, Fiji's positioning in the US-China Pacific contest, and ongoing engagement with the Pacific Islands Forum. His handling of these before the writ is issued will be among the most watched parts of the Rabuka Government's final weeks.
As General Secretary of The People's Alliance he also plays a central role in PA's candidate nomination and campaign operations. The question for 2026 is whether a party whose last five years have been defined by two DPM FICAC proceedings, the Tabuya dismissal, and the Naivalurua defection can present a disciplined electoral machine. Ditoka's role in that is largely internal and unglamorous, but it is where the party's organisational discipline will show.
⚠ FPR welcomes corrections: editor@fijipoliticalreview.com
