Marcus Stephen facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Marcus Stephen
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Stephen in 2009
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| President of Nauru | |
| In office 19 December 2007 – 10 November 2011 |
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| Deputy | Kieren Keke |
| Preceded by | Ludwig Scotty |
| Succeeded by | Freddie Pitcher |
| Speaker of Parliament | |
| Assumed office 27 August 2019 |
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| Preceded by | Cyril Buraman |
| Member of the Nauruan Parliament for Anetan |
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| Assumed office 27 August 2019 |
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| Preceded by | Cyril Buraman |
| In office 3 May 2003 – 13 July 2016 |
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| Preceded by | Vassal Gadoengin |
| Succeeded by | Sean Oppenheimer |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 October 1969 Nauru |
| Political party | Independent |
Marcus Ajemada Stephen (born 1 October 1969) is a politician from Nauru. He is also a former athlete. He served as the President of Nauru from December 2007 to November 2011. Before becoming president, he was a member of Nauru's government.
Marcus Stephen went to school in Australia at St Bedes College and RMIT University. He first played Australian rules football. Later, he chose to focus on weightlifting. He represented Nauru in this sport at the Summer Olympics and Commonwealth Games between 1990 and 2002. He won seven gold medals at the Commonwealth Games.
After his sports career, Stephen worked at the Bank of Nauru. He was elected to parliament in 2003. He held different jobs in the Nauruan government. He became president after a vote of no confidence against the previous president, Ludwig Scotty. During his time as president, there were political challenges and two elections in 2010. He resigned in November 2011. Later, in June 2012, he was appointed to the government again. On August 27, 2019, Marcus Stephen was elected as the new Speaker of Parliament.
Contents
Family and Early Life
Marcus Stephen's father, Lawrence Stephen, was also a Member of the Parliament of Nauru. He served from 1971 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1986. Marcus Stephen is also related to the well-known Keke family in Nauru.
Education and Work Experience
Stephen went to high school in Australia at St Bede's College in Melbourne. He has a special qualification in Business Accounting from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. From 2001 to 2003, he worked in management at The Bank of Nauru.
Sporting Career
| Medal record | ||
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| Weightlifting | ||
Representing  Nauru |
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| Commonwealth Games | ||
| Gold | 1990 Auckland | 60 kg snatch |
| Gold | 1994 Victoria | 59 kg snatch |
| Gold | 1994 Victoria | 59 kg clean & jerk |
| Gold | 1994 Victoria | 59 kg combined |
| Gold | 1998 Kuala Lumpur | 62 kg snatch |
| Gold | 1998 Kuala Lumpur | 62 kg clean & jerk |
| Gold | 1998 Kuala Lumpur | 62 kg combined |
| Silver | 1990 Auckland | 60 kg clean & jerk |
| Silver | 1990 Auckland | 60 kg combined |
| Silver | 2002 Manchester | 62 kg snatch |
| Silver | 2002 Manchester | 62 kg clean & jerk |
| Silver | 2002 Manchester | 62 kg combined |
| World Championship | ||
| Silver | 1999 Athens | 62 kg clean & jerk |
Marcus Stephen first played Australian rules football for a local team called the Aces. But he decided to focus on weightlifting instead. In 1989, the Nauru Weightlifting Federation (NWF) was created. This was mainly so Stephen, who was the best weightlifter in Nauru at the time, could compete internationally.
In 1992, he took part in his first Olympic Games in Barcelona. Nauru did not have an Olympic Committee yet. So, he became a citizen of Samoa to compete for them. In 1993, Nauru's Olympic Committee was formed. Stephen then represented Nauru at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
When the Olympic torch was carried to Sydney in 2000, Stephen had the honor of carrying it. This happened during its stop in Nauru.
Most of his big wins came at the Commonwealth Games. In the 1990 Commonwealth Games, he won a gold medal in the Snatch in the 60 kg class. At the 1994 Commonwealth Games, he won three gold medals in the 59 kg class. In the 1998 Commonwealth Games, he won three more golds in the 62 kg class. In his last Games, the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, he won three silver medals in the 62 kg class.
At the 1999 World Championship in Athens, he came in second place. This was for the clean and jerk in the 62 kg class.
In 2005, he was chosen to be a member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.
In March 2008, Stephen was named president of the Oceania Weightlifting Federation. This is the official weightlifting group for the Pacific region.
In January 2009, he was elected president of the Nauru National Olympic Committee. He won against Vinson Detenamo, who had been president since 1994.
Political Career
Since 1997, Marcus Stephen has been the Treasurer of the Nauruan Olympic Committee. On May 3, 2003, Stephen was elected to the Nauru parliament. He got the most votes in the Ewa and Anetan Constituency.
When René Harris was president, Stephen was the Minister of Finance and Education. This was from August 2003 to July 2004. He left this job when Ludwig Scotty became the new president. In October 2004, he was re-elected to parliament.
After being re-elected in October 2004, Stephen was given more important roles. He became the Minister for Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust. Because Nauru is a Small Island Developing State (SIDS), its political system uses independent politicians. Stephen held several ministry jobs at once. These included Minister for Economic Development & Industry, Minister for Good Governance, Minister for Justice, Police & Prisons, and Internal Affairs. From November 2004 to May 2006, Stephen was the Chairman of the Nauru Fisheries & Marine Resources Authority. He later became the Minister for Nauru Fisheries & Marine Resources on November 13, 2007.
Nauru joined the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on June 15, 2005. Stephen was chosen as a delegate for Nauru. He represented Nauru at the IWC-Congress in June 2005 in Ulsan, South Korea.
Stephen was re-elected to parliament in August 2007. He tried to become president in the 2007 Nauruan presidential election on August 28. However, Scotty was re-elected.
But on December 19, 2007, there was a successful vote of no confidence against President Scotty. Marcus Stephen was then sworn in as President of Nauru.
President of Nauru
Starting His Term
When Stephen first became president, he continued a practice started by former President Ludwig Scotty. He appointed a separate Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Kieren Keke, in December 2007. Before this, each president usually handled foreign affairs themselves. Stephen also made Frederick Pitcher the Finance Minister. His government took over the money-saving plans from the previous government.
A big issue for Stephen's new government was changing the constitution. This process was started by former President Ludwig Scotty. The main idea was to have the President of Nauru elected directly by the people. Currently, the president is chosen by the Parliament of Nauru. This change would make it harder for the government to be removed by a vote of no confidence. Marcus Stephen became president after such a vote. So, people waited to see his government's view on this change.
Marcus Stephen became President of Nauru at 38 years old. His team of ministers was also young. This marked a shift from older politicians who had been in power for many years. For example, he was almost 40 years younger than Derog Gioura, who was president in 2003. However, Nauru has had young leaders before. Bernard Dowiyogo became president at just 30 years old in 1976. Stephen's presidency lasted several years, giving him more experience than some past presidents.
Political Challenges
In March 2008, there were attempts in the Parliament of Nauru to remove Marcus Stephen's government. These attempts were stopped when the Speaker, Riddell Akua, resigned. There was also unrest in the country around this time.
After Stephen's first three months as president, there was widespread unrest in Nauru.
Disputes with the Speaker
On March 22, the Speaker of the Parliament, David Adeang, called a meeting. Government ministers said they were not told about it and did not attend. Opposition members, including Adeang, were the majority present. They passed a rule against Members of Parliament having dual citizenship. If this rule was used, it would affect important ministers like Dr. Kieren Keke and Frederick Pitcher. If they had to leave parliament, the Opposition would have more seats. The government said the rule was not valid because not enough members were present for a proper meeting. President Marcus Stephen said Adeang and the Opposition passed the rule "after dark on Easter Saturday," "under candlelight." On March 31, Adeang claimed Stephen's government had taken over illegally. He said this because the police would not remove Keke and Pitcher from parliament.
Court Ruling and Parliament Suspension
Stephen's government denied taking over illegally. They said they were waiting for a decision from the Supreme Court. The crisis continued into early April 2008. Adeang said he would see the Supreme Court's decision as "just an opinion." Keke replied that only the Supreme Court, not the Speaker, could decide if a member of Parliament was eligible.
In April 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that the Speaker was wrong. He had tried to remove two key ministers from Parliament. This ruling helped show that Stephen's government was set up correctly.
However, relations between Stephen's government and Adeang remained difficult. Stephen's ministers continued to govern without a clear majority in parliament.
By April 10, President Stephen and eight other members who supported him were suspended from Parliament. This happened during a noisy session led by Speaker David Adeang.
State of Emergency and New Election
On April 18, 2008, Stephen declared a state of emergency. He called a snap election to end the political problems. In the 2008 Nauruan parliamentary election on April 26, Marcus Stephen's supporters won a majority in the Parliament of Nauru.
Before the April 24, 2008 general election, the 18 members of Parliament were split evenly, 9 for Stephen and 9 for the opposition led by David Adeang. In the new election, the 9 members who supported Stephen kept their seats. The anti-Stephen members were reduced to 6. Three new MPs were elected who sided with President Stephen. As a result, Stephen was re-elected as President of Nauru. He kept his seat in the Anetan Constituency.
In November 2008, Stephen's government announced plans to expand private banking in Nauru. This was meant to help the economy grow.
2009 and 2010 Political Issues
The year 2009 began with Stephen's government in a stronger position.
In late 2009 or early 2010, Stephen's government turned down a loan from an Australian company called Getax. Getax buys Nauruan phosphate. Getax offered Nauru a loan of A$25 million with a high interest rate. Stephen later explained that accepting the loan would have been "disastrous for Nauru." He said if they missed one payment, Nauru would lose its phosphate industry. The government decided together to reject it.
Soon after, Getax paid for a trip to Singapore for all six opposition MPs and three government MPs who were not ministers. After this trip, the three government MPs joined the opposition. This made Stephen's government lose its majority in parliament. The parliament was then stuck with an equal number of votes on both sides. After many tries by the opposition to remove the government, early elections were held in April 2010. All sitting MPs were re-elected, which meant the parliament was still stuck. This led to another election in June.
After the opposition tried to stop a presidential election, Stephen declared a state of emergency. The government said it was still working as usual, following the Constitution, until a new president could be elected. The opposition challenged the state of emergency, but the Supreme Court said in October that the President has the right to declare one.
A few days later, Stephen's government asked Australia to investigate Getax's activities. They wanted to know if Getax had financial ties with Nauruan politicians, especially those in the opposition. Stephen and Justice Minister Mathew Batsiua asked for an investigation into money that Getax might have paid to opposition members, suggesting it could be bribes. Nauru's Director of Public Prosecutions said there were "attempts to change the government by bribing members of parliament." Stephen showed documents that seemed to show opposition members, who earned low salaries, spending large amounts of cash on boats, cars, and trips. The claims were that Getax had bribed opposition members to win power and sign the loan deal that Stephen's government had rejected. The claims also said Getax had bribed government MPs to weaken Stephen's majority and bring down his government. These actions were said to have caused the political crisis and elections in 2010. Nauru's police could not investigate this alone. So, Nauru asked Australia for help. The Australian Federal Police began an investigation into the claims.
A few days after that, Ludwig Scotty became the Speaker in Parliament. This allowed a presidential election to happen. Marcus Stephen was re-elected President with a working majority. He defeated Milton Dube by eleven votes to six. The state of emergency was then lifted. Scotty explained that he was still part of the Opposition. But he became Speaker so Parliament could work and a budget could be passed. He also said his decision was because of the claims about opposition members getting money from Getax.
After His Presidency
On November 10, 2011, President Marcus Stephen resigned. This happened because of claims from the Nauruan opposition about a phosphate deal. Stephen said the claims were "unwarranted and mischievous." He left the presidency but stayed in parliament. One of his allies, Freddie Pitcher, became president. However, Pitcher was removed five days later and replaced by Sprent Dabwido. Stephen remained in the opposition. In June 2012, he was given new roles in Dabwido's government. These included Commerce, Industry & Environment, Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust, and Fisheries.
Stephen ran for his Anetan Constituency seat in the 2016 Nauruan parliamentary election. But he lost his seat in Parliament.
He ran again in the 2019 Nauruan parliamentary election and won. He returned to Parliament as one of two members for the Anetan Constituency. On August 27, 2019, Stephen was elected as the new Parliament Speaker. He defeated Shadlog Bernicke by 12 votes to 7.
Stephen was re-elected as Speaker without opposition after the 2022 Nauruan parliamentary election.
See also
- Politics of Nauru
