James Marape

James Marape (born 24 April 1971) is a Papua New Guinean politician who has served as the prime minister of Papua New Guinea since May 2019.

Marape was born in 1971 in Tari, Hela Province (then in Southern Highlands Province).

He attended Minj Primary School and Kabiufa Adventist Secondary School in the PNG highlands.

Marape graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Papua New Guinea in 1993, and a postgraduate Honours Degree in Environmental Science in 2000.

He has a background in managerial functions.

From 1994 to 1995, he was Officer in charge at the PNG Institute of Medical Research, Tari Branch.

From 1996 to 1998, he was Operations Manager of GDC at the Hides Gas project.

After obtaining his honours degree, he became Acting Assistant Secretary of Policy with the Department of Personnel Management from 2001 to 2006.

His entry into politics was tumultuous.

Marape first contested the Tari-Pori seat at the 2002 election for the People's Progress Party, when voting in the Southern Highlands Province was cancelled due to widespread violence.

He contested the supplementary election in 2003 but lost to incumbent MP Tom Tomiape in a contest marred by the bashing of a polling official by his supporters.

He challenged the result in the Court of Disputed Returns, but both his initial petition and a subsequent appeal were rejected.

He has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since July 2007, representing the electorate of Tari-Pori Open in Hela Province in the New Guinea Highlands.

He contested the seat for a second time at the 2007 election and defeated Tomiape.

Prime Minister Michael Somare gave him major parliamentary responsibilities after his win in 2007: Parliamentary Secretary for Works, Transport and Civil Aviation, Deputy Chair of the Privileges Committee and member of the Parliamentary Referral Committee on Inter-Government Relations.

He has held Cabinet Posts as Minister of Education (2008–2011), Minister of Finance (2012–2019), and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2023–present).

Marape entered the 2022 elections under the banner of the Pangu Party and won more seats than any other party.

He was therefore entitled to form the government.

His new government was elected unopposed by the new parliament.

He was Minister for Education from 16 December 2008 to 2 August 2011.

He was then a member of Somare's National Alliance Party.

He won the subsequent parliamentary elections in Tari-Pori (2012 and 2017).

In February 2012, he left the National Alliance Party and joined the party of Prime Minister O'Neill, the People's National Congress (PNC).

O'Neill appointed him as Minister of Finance in 2012.

He obtained in 2017 50%+1 of the vote (30,192 votes) and this is unusual in PNG's Limited PV system.

A challenge by the second runner up Justin Haiara was dismissed by the National Court.

On 11 April 2019, he resigned as Minister of Finance but remained a member of People's National Congress and the Government.

He resigned from the party on 29 April 2019.

Sam Basil was appointed as Minister for Finance on 18 April 2019.

On 17 May 2019, the Ombudsman Commission recommended a leadership tribunal to judge O'Neill and Marape on the UBS loan to acquire shares in Oil Search Limited.

That was mentioned as the reason for Marape's replacement as alternate MP by Patrick Pruaitch on 28 May 2019.

Marape introduced Patrick Pruaitch as alternate MP and declared that the vote for Pruaitch was by consensus.

Peter O’Neill had then resigned as Prime Minister on 26 May.

Marape emerged from the succession struggle with 26 MPs who returned to the PNC from opposing parties.

As a result, the opposition did not have the numbers anymore for a vote of no confidence.

The resignation of O'Neill necessitated the election of a new Prime Minister.

Marape obtained in the subsequent election 101 votes as compared to 8 for Mekere Morauta.

O'Neill expected that his Cabinet would continue unchanged.

However, during a reshuffle on 8 November Marape replaced most of the Cabinet Ministers.

O'Neill continues to be critical.