Geoffrey Henry

Geoffrey Arama Henry KBE ( born November 16, 1940 in Aitutaki, Cook Islands; † 9 May 2012) was a politician of the Cook Islands.

Biography

Henry was a cousin of Albert R. Henry, the first Premier of the Cook Islands after the granting of self-government in 1965, and a member of the Cook Islands Party.

On April 13, 1983, he was the successor of Tom Davis for the first time even Premier, however, this office had passed to Tom Davis already on November 16, 1983 again. During his tenure, he was also Minister of Finance.

After the electoral victory of the Cook Islands Party, he was again on 1 February 1989 Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and had held these offices until his replacement by his party colleague Joe Williams on 29 July 1999. He was named for his merits by Queen Elizabeth II as Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1992. In 1996, he carried out extensive financial reforms, which provided for the reduction of government employees by 60 percent and cut the workforce by 3500 to 1440 government employees at about 18,600 inhabitants led. This also resulted in a halving of the state budget.

While the office of the Prime Minister Robert Woonton and Jim Marurai he was both 2002-2003 and 2004-2005 Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.