He was elected to Parliament as MP for Nui in the September 2010 general election, at which time his elder brother, Sir Iakoba Italeli Taeia, was serving as Governor-General.
[4] He joined the Opposition to Prime Minister Maatia Toafa's government in December 2010, along with a backbencher and Home Affairs Minister Willy Telavi, enabling the latter to oust Toafa in a motion of no confidence, and replace him.
[5][6] He was found dead in his room at the Hotel Elisa in the Samoan capital, Apia, on 20 July 2011.
[7] He was in Samoa to attend a Forum Fisheries Agency Ministers' Meeting.
[7] His widow, Pelenike Isaia, succeeded him to Parliament in the resulting by-election the following month, stating she would continue his work, and thus becoming only the second woman ever to sit in the Tuvaluan Parliament.