Education and Career
Mara graduated from New Zealand's University of Otago with an LLB (Law) degree in 1983. This was followed by an LLM (Masters degree in Law) from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom in 1986. Meanwhile, he had served as a Legal Officer in the Attorney General's Chamber from 1984, rising to Principal Legal Officer in 1986. In 1987, he was appointed Fiji's Chief Administrative Officer for Foreign Affairs, and in 1991 he became Chargé d'affaires at the Fijian Embassy in Washington, D.C..
Upon returning to Fiji, Mara was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994 and served for a single term. During this time, he held Cabinet office as Minister for Fijian Affairs from 1997 to 1999, during which time he also served as Chairman of the Native Land Trust Board. He also led the Fijian Association Party from 1996 to 1998. In 1999 he was appointed to a diplomatic post, but returned to Fiji in the wake of the coup d'état that deposed his father from the Presidency in 2000. The following year, however, he took up his present post as Roving Ambassador and High Commissioner.
On 13 August 2005, Foreign Minister Kaliopate Tavola said that Mara was being considered as a possible successor to Ratu Tevita Momoedonu as Ambassador to Japan. Momoedonu's term was due to expire in September, and he had indicated that he wished to return to Fiji. In the end, Mara was not appointed, however.
In 2006 Mara was appointed ambassador to the United States but did not take up the position. He was again appointed to the position in 2008. His departure from Fiji to take up the post was reportedly delayed by "internal processes" in the Ministry of foreign Affairs. The offer was eventually withdrawn with the government citing Mara's inability to meet a deadline due to protracted personal affairs. The Fijian ambassador to the United States as of December 2010 was Winston Thompson.
Read more about this topic: Finau Mara
Famous quotes containing the words education and/or career:
“What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
““Never hug and kiss your children! Mother love may make your children’s infancy unhappy and prevent them from pursuing a career or getting married!” That’s total hogwash, of course. But it shows on extreme example of what state-of-the-art “scientific” parenting was supposed to be in early twentieth-century America. After all, that was the heyday of efficiency experts, time-and-motion studies, and the like.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)