Akilisi Pohiva was the first commoner elected to the position of Tongan Prime Minister. Fittingly, his political career was characterised by clashes with Tongan monarchy: he was arrested for sedition in 2002 for claiming the king had a hidden fortune, and again in 2007 for his alleged involvement in the pro-democracy Nuku’alofa riots. He was still the sitting PM of the island nation at the time of his death as the result of a bout of pneumonia.
Akilisi Pohiva
7 April 1941 – 12 September 2019
Died aged 78 (unique hit)