Martin Sopage

Martin Sopage, whose name is also commonly spelt Martin Sopaghe, (born May 1966 in Komuvaolu Village, Guadalcanal Province^[1]) is a Solomon Islands politician.

After a primary school education, he went into private business. His career in national politics began when he was elected to the National Parliament as MP for the North Guadalcanal constituency in the general election on April 5, 2006. He was elected as an Independent. In November 2007, several ministers defected from Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare's government in an attempt to bring down the government, and Sogavare appointed Sopage as Minister for Infrastructure and Development on November 12. Nevertheless, Sogavare was ousted in a motion of no confidence on December 20, ending Sopage's brief participation in Cabinet. Sopage retained his seat in the general election on August 4, 2010, having stood again as an Independent, unaffiliated to any political party. He was appointed Minister for Lands, Housing and Survey in Prime Minister Danny Philip's coalition Cabinet.^[2][3][4][5]

On January 20, 2011, he and three other ministers left the government and joined Steve Abana's official Opposition, citing dissatisfaction with the Cabinet being "manipulated by one or two people".^[6][7] On January 31, he returned to the government and resumed his Cabinet post.^[8] On February 8, he defected anew to the Opposition,^[9] then re-defected to the government with several other defectors on February 17, and resumed his post as Minister for Lands, Housing and Survey.^[10]

On April 18, Philip removed him from Cabinet in a reshuffle to make way for five Opposition members who had just joined the government ranks. Sopage was succeeded by Joseph Onika.^[11]

In early November, Sopage, along with several other former ministers who had lost their positions in that reshuffle, switched over to the Opposition again, and this time succeeded in bringing down the Philip government.^[12][13]