President of Nauru

Sprent Dabwido, President of Nauru (since Nov 10, 2011)

Sprent Jared Dabwido was born on September 16, 1972. Dabwido is a close relative of former parliamentarian Audi Dabwido, who served in the first parliament of Nauru in 1968. Dabwido was elected to parliament in the 2004 general elections, defeating Nimrod Botelanga to win the seat of Meneng. He has been subsequently re-elected in 2007 and 2008. He was a member of Marcus Stephen’s parliamentary faction and became the Minister for Telecommunications in Stephen’s government. He announced the introduction of mobile phones to Nauru in 2009. Stephen resigned on 10 November 2011 and was replaced by another member of his faction, Freddie Pitcher. At the next meeting of parliament on 15 November Dabwido announced that he had joined the opposition and then successfully moved a motion of no confidence against Pitcher. He was subsequently elected as president by a margin of 9 – 8.

Marcus Ajamada Stephen, Former President of Nauru (resigned on Nov 10, 2011)

Marcus Ajamada Stephen (born October 1, 1969) is the current President of the Republic of Nauru, having taken office in December 2007. He is also a former top-class weightlifter, winner of seven gold medals and five silver at the Commonwealth Games, and the current president of the Oceania Weightlifting Federation.

Marcus Stephen’s father, Lawrence Stephen, served as a Member of the Parliament of Nauru from 1971-1977 and 1980-1986. He is related to the prominent Keke family of Nauru.

Sporting career

Medal record
Weightlifting
Commonwealth Games
Gold 1990 Auckland 60 kg sntach
Silver 1990 Auckland 60 kg clean & jerk
Silver 1990 Auckland 60 kg combined
Gold 1994 Victoria 59 kg sntach
Gold 1994 Victoria 59 kg clean & jerk
Gold 1994 Victoria 59 kg combined
Gold 1998 Kuala Lumpur 62 kg sntach
Gold 1998 Kuala Lumpur 62 kg clean & jerk
Gold 1998 Kuala Lumpur 62 kg combined
Silver 2002 Manchester 62 kg sntach
Silver 2002 Manchester 62 kg clean & jerk
Silver 2002 Manchester 62 kg combined
World Championship
Silver 1999 Athens 62 kg clean & jerk

He initially played Australian rules football for the local team the Aces, but opted to pursue the sport of weightlifting. In 1989 the Nauru Weightlifting Federation (NWF) was founded, primarily to give Stephen, the sole top-class weightlifter in Nauru at the time, the opportunity to compete internationally.

In 1992 he took part in his first Olympic Games in Barcelona. Since Nauru had no Olympic Committee at the time, he successfully applied for Samoan citizenship and was allowed to compete for Samoa. In 1993 the committee was founded and Stephen was able to represent Nauru in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

When the Olympic torch was carried to Sydney, Stephen had the honour of being a torch bearer during its stopover in Nauru.

It was at the Commonwealth Games where most of his successes came: In the 1990 Commonwealth Games he surprisingly won a gold medal in the Snatch in the 60 kg class. In the 1994 Commonwealth Games he won three gold medals in the 59 kg class and in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in the 62 kg class he collected three more golds. In his last Games, the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester he won three silvers in the 62 kg class.

His greatest triumph came at the 1999 World Championship in Athens, where he was runner up in the clean and jerk in the 62 kg class.
In 2005 he was elected member of the International Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.

In March 2008, it was reported that Stephen had been appointed to the presidency of the Oceania Weightlifting Federation, the Pacific region’s official continental weightlifting body.

Since 1997 he has been the Treasurer of the Nauru Olympic Committee. On 3 May 2003 Stephen was elected to the Nauru parliament with a score of just over 215 points, achieving first place in the Ewa and Anetan constituency.

During the presidency of René Harris Stephen was Education and Finance Minister of Nauru from 8 August 2003 until 22 June 2004, a post he had to relinquish when Ludwig Scotty became the new president. In October 2004 he was re-elected to parliament.

After Nauru joined the International Whaling Commission (IWC) on 15 June 2005, Stephen was nominated as a delegate for Nauru. He represented Nauru at the IWC-Congress in June 2005 in the South Korean city of Ulsan.

Stephen was re-elected to parliament in the August 2007 parliamentary election. He unsuccessfully stood as a presidential candidate in the vote held in parliament on August 28, in which Scotty was re-elected.

However, following a successful vote of no confidence in Parliament against President Scotty on 19 December 2007, Marcus Stephen was sworn in as President of Nauru.

Ludwig Derangadage Scotty, Former President of Nauru

Ludwig Derangadage Scotty (b. June 20, 1948, in Anabar) was President of the Republic of Nauru from May 29, 2003 to August 8, 2003, and was restored to the presidency on June 22, 2004.

Hailing from Anabar district, Ludwig served as Speaker of Parliament from the late 1990s until 2000. During the caretaker administration of Derog Gioura, Ludwig was elected President of Nauru by a parliamentary vote of 10-7, defeating Centre Party leader and former President Kinza Clodumar. With the blessings of the outgoing Gioura administration, President Ludwig committed to paying the country’s civil servants after suffering near-bankruptcy, strengthening relations with the United States and discovering ways to develop a sustainable economy.

President Ludwig’s cabinet included himself as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baron D. Waqa of Boe district as Minister of Education, David Adeang of Ubenide as Minister of Finance, Dr. Kieren Keke of Yaren as Minister of Health, Russel E. Kun of Ubenide as Minister of Justice and Dogabe A. Jeremiah of Meneng as Minister of Public Works.

Ludwig was ousted in a vote of no confidence in August 2003 and was replaced by René Harris. He returned as President on June 22, 2004 after a member of the Parliament of Nauru defected. Ludwig was re-elected to Parliament in elections in October 2004, and most of his allies also did well.