George Speight

George Speight

George Speight (born 1957) was a rebel leader in Fiji who kidnapped 36 government people and stayed in de facto power from May 19, 2000 to July 13, 2000. He is currently serving a term of life imprisonment for his role in the overthrow of the constitutional government in the Fiji coup of 2000.

Born Ilikini Naitini, George Speight's father Sam Speight was an opposition member of parliament. In an earlier coup in 1987, the elder Speight had worked with Sitiveni Rabuka, who seized power ostensibly to protect native Fijians against the Indo-Fijian minority, who had won significant political power for the first time in a recent general election. There had been a long history of rivalry and strained relations between the two communities.

In the 1990s, George Speight built up a successful marketing business, but many contracts were lost after Mahendra Chaudhry, an Indo-Fijian, came to power in the parliamentary election of 1999. Chaudhry revoked the contracts of two marketing firms, both chaired by Speight, that were involved in the country's lucrative timber trade.

Speight began plotting his revenge. He gathered around him a disparate band of loyalists who stormed Parliament and kidnapped Chaudhry and 35 other government officials on May 19, 2000. Announcing that he had deposed both the government and the President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, Speight became Prime Minister and effective dictator of Fiji. Mara tried to resist Speight's takeover, but was forced to yield under pressure from Major-General Frank Bainimarama, the Commander of the Army.

Fifteen soldiers and two of their Officers defected to the rebels and George Speight built up a strong private army. On June 9, Speight abolished Fiji's multi-racial Constitution. Three days later, Speight's car was sprayed with gunfire, but the army denied that soldiers were involved in an operation to kill him. On June 25, four female hostages were released. On July 13, Chaudhry returned home.

The next day, Speight was arrested with 369 of his followers and charged with treason. In August 2001, democracy was restored and in the subsequent election, Speight was elected to the House of Representatives. He was unable to take up his seat in Parliament, however, as he remained in jail, and in December, he was expelled from parliament for nonattendance. In February 2002, Speight was sentenced to death, but President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, who had replaced Mara following the coup, commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.