predecessor successor birth_place constituency_mp party office primeminister birth_date term_start article_title term_end name
himself vacancy stanley sofu edmond rukale , prior to vacancy himself , prior to joseph vacancy stanley sofu onika himself , after vacancy himself , after komuvaolu village , guadalcanal province north guadalcanal independent minister lands , housing and survey minister for lands , housing for and survey minister for infrastructure and development lands , housing and survey minister for danny philip danny philip danny philip manasseh sogavare may 1966 17 12 november 2007 5 april 2006 february 2011 31 january 2011 27 august 2010 martin sopage
 18 20 december 2007 april 2011 8 february 2011 20 january 2011 martin sopage
martin sopage

martin sopage , whose name is also commonly spelt martin sopaghe , -lrb- born may 1966 in komuvaolu village , guadalcanal province -rrb- 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 .
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 '' .
on january 31 , he returned to the government and resumed his cabinet post .
on february 8 , he defected anew to the opposition , then re-defected to the government with several other defectors on february 17 , and resumed his post as minister for lands , housing and survey .
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 .
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 .
