Toomata Alapati Poese

Toomata Alapati Poese was a Samoan politician and Cabinet Minister. He was a member of the Human Rights Protection Party.
Toomata was educated at the University of Hawaiʻi and worked as a lecturer at the School of Agriculture at the University of [the South Pacific]. He was first elected to the legislative [Assembly of Samoa] in a by-election in 1999. He was re-elected in the 2001 election and in 2005 was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries.
He was re-elected at the 2006 election and appointed Minister of Education. In November 2009 he broke a leg in a car accident. He subsequently pleaded guilty to two charges of careless driving, and was fined US$150.
He lost his seat in the 2011 election.