Education
Kepa graduated from the University of the South Pacific with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Member of the Parliament of Fiji
Kepa graduated from the University of the South Pacific with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
She is currently leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party and was elected Leader of the Opposition on October 6, 2014. She is the first Fijian woman to hold this position. She previously held the position of deputy Prime Minister in the Qarase-led Soqosoqo Duavata Lewenivanua (SDL) government from 2001 to 2006.
As the paramount chief of the Burebasaga Confederacy, she holds the title Na Gone Marama Bale Na Roko Tui Dreketi.
She is originally from Lomanikoro, Rewa, and has maternal links to Nadroga. In 1999 Kepa was appointed to the Senate.
Following the 2000 Fijian coup d"état she was appointed as Minister for Women, Culture, and Social Welfare in the interim government of Laisenia Qarase. She contested the 2001 election as a candidate for the Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua in the Rewa communal constituency, winning it with 2,636 votes.
Following the election she was appointed as Minister for Education.
This led to claims that she had forfeitted her seat in Parliament, resulting in her resigning from the council in August 2005. In October 2005, Kepa was elected to the executive board of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, to which the Fijian government had nominated her in late September. When the Qarase government was deposed by the 2006 Fijian coup d"état, Kepa joined a court case challenging the legality of the coup.
She also used her position in the Great Council of Chiefs to oppose the coup, and was instrumental in the Council"s 2007 rejection of Epeli Nailatikau nomination as Vice-President.
As a result, the Council was suspended. In May 2007, Kepa was threatened by the military over her opposition to the coup.
However she continued to speak out against the regime and its People"s Charter for Change, Peace and Progress. The charges were later dropped.
In 2011 the military regime suspended the Rewa Provincial Council in another effort to silence her.
In March 2014 Kepa was elected leader of the newly formed Social Democratic Liberal Party. She led the party into the 2014 election. On 6 October 2014 Kepa was appointed Leader of the Opposition.
She was reappointed as Minister for Education, Youth and Sports in the multi-party cabinet.