Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa

Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa
Mataʻafa in 2024
7th Prime Minister of Samoa
Assumed office
24 May 2021
O le Ao o le MaloTuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi II
DeputyTuala Iosefo Ponifasio
Preceded byTuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi
Deputy Prime Minister of Samoa
In office
19 March 2016  11 September 2020
Prime MinisterTuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi
Preceded byFonotoe Pierre Lauofo
Succeeded byTuala Iosefo Ponifasio
Other cabinet posts
Minister of Natural Resources and Environment
In office
3 June 2021  20 October 2021
Preceded byToeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster
Succeeded byToeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster
In office
19 March 2016  11 September 2020
Prime MinisterTuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi
Preceded byFaamoetauloa Ulaitino Faale Tumaalii
Succeeded byTuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi
Minister of Justice
In office
21 March 2011  18 March 2016
Prime MinisterTuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi
Preceded byUnasa Mesi Galo
Succeeded byFaaolesa Katopau Ainuu
Minister of Women, Community and Social Development
In office
24 April 2006  21 March 2011
Prime MinisterTuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi
Preceded byTuala Ainiu Iusitino
Succeeded byTolofuaivalelei Falemoe Leiʻataua
Minister of Education
In office
15 May 1991  24 April 2006
Prime Minister
Succeeded byToomata Alapati Poese
Party posts
Leader of the Samoa Uniting Party
Assumed office
30 May 2025
Preceded byParty established
Leader of Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi
In office
9 March 2021  15 January 2025
DeputyLaʻauli Leuatea Polataivao
Preceded byLaʻauli Leuatea Polataivao
Succeeded byLaʻauli Leuatea Polataivao
Deputy Leader of the Human Rights Protection Party
In office
6 March 2016  11 September 2020
LeaderTuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi
Preceded byFonotoe Pierre Lauofo
Succeeded byFonotoe Pierre Lauofo
17th Commonwealth Chair-in-Office
Assumed office
25 October 2024
Preceded byPaul Kagame
Member of the Samoan Parliament
for Lotofaga
Assumed office
22 February 1985
Preceded byAsiasiau Sausoo
Personal details
Born
Naomi Mataʻafa

(1957-04-29) 29 April 1957
Apia, Western Samoa Trust Territory (now Samoa)
Political partySamoa Uniting Party (since 2025)
Other political
affiliations
Parent(s)Fiamē Mataʻafa Faumuina Mulinuʻu II (father)
Laulu Fetauimalemau Mataʻafa (mother)
EducationVictoria University of Wellington

Afioga Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa (pronounced [afɪoŋa fɪameː naomɪ mataʔafa]; born 29 April 1957) is a Samoan politician and High Chief (matai) who has served as the seventh Prime Minister of Samoa since 2021.

The daughter of Samoa's first Prime Minister Fiamē Mataʻafa Faumuina Mulinuʻu II, Mataʻafa is the first woman to serve as Samoa's head of government. A member of the HRPP until 2020, she was the first woman appointed to Cabinet in Samoa's history. Mataʻafa was the Minister of Education from 1991 to 2006 in the governments of Prime Ministers Tofilau Eti Alesana and Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi. In addition, she was the Minister of Women from 2006 to 2011 and Minister of Justice from 2011 to 2016. Mataʻafa served as Samoa's first female deputy prime minister and deputy leader of the HRPP from 2016 to 2020, resigning in opposition to the controversial Land and Titles Bill. The following year she joined the newly founded Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party and was unanimously elected its leader in March 2021.

FAST secured a majority after the 2021 election, but defeated Prime Minister Malielegaoi refused to leave office, leading to the 2021 Samoan constitutional crisis. The crisis was resolved by Samoa's Court of Appeal on 23 July 2021, which ruled that Mataʻafa had been Prime Minister since 24 May.

Mata‘afa led FAST party from 2021 until her removal in January 2025, after dismissing the party chairman and deputy leader Laʻauli Leuatea Polataivao from cabinet. She and four other cabinet ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Tuala Iosefo Ponifasio, were expelled from the party. Mata‘afa and the ousted ministers rejected the expulsion as unlawful and initially claimed they were still FAST members. After parliament rejected the government's budget on 27 May, Mataʻafa advised the O le Ao o le Malo to dissolve parliament and call a snap election. Shortly after, Mata‘afa and her cabinet announced they had left FAST, and established the Samoa Uniting Party.