Charles Dausabea

Charles Dausabea was a controversial politician and businessman who was once described as “the most dangerous man in the Solomons”. After first serving in a police academy in Taiwan, Dausabea then changed career, entering politics in the local town council of Honiara in the Solomon Islands in 1990, before being elected to the national parliament later that same year. By the end of the 1990s Dausabea was a key figure in the Malaita Eagle Force militant organisation during a civil war in the country, including the 2000 coup d’état.

In 2006 Dausabea was appointed as the Minister for Police and National Security but was arrested shortly afterwards by an Australian-led police force for his role in the violence the country had suffered from 1999 to 2003. He was jailed but the charges were eventually dropped, with Dausabea then serving in the short-lived role of Minister for Public Service. In 2018 he was jailed again, this time for 18 months in relation to fraud charges.

During his career Dausabea also served as the chief executive of the Indigenous Chamber of Commerce Trade and Industry for Solomon Islands, as well as the President of the National Olympic Committee of the Solomon Islands.