CFSM Kosrae

The Honorable Paliknoa K. Welly, is the two-year representative of the State of Kosrae to the Twenty-Second Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia. He is the Chairman of the Standing Committee on External Affairs and a member on the committees on Education; Judiciary and Governmental Operations and as a chairman is a mandatory member of the Committee on Ways and Means.  

Welly held the role of Vice Speakership for 18^th Congress from May 2013 until the reorganization of the Body in May 11, 2015.

Senator Welly entered the political arena 2007 when he was elected as the representative of Congressional Election District One of Kosrae State to the Fifteenth FSM Congress. Prior to his political life, Welly has an eclectic background of experience from military field artillery to convenient store management to chief prosecutor.

Born December 24, 1951, the Kosrae native was class valedictorian for both elementary (1967) and high school (1971) graduation.  Right after high school, Welly left for the USA in pursuit of higher education at the United States International University (USIU) in San Diego, California. In June 1974, Senator Welly enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton in Field Artillery, as Fire Direction Control Man until he was honorably discharged in August of 1978.

Two years after his discharge from the Marines, Welly worked in management for the Circle-K Corporation in San Diego where he spent the next 10 years. In 1991, while working in retail management Welly enrolled at the California State University – Turtlock and graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement.

In 1995, Senator Welly returned to his home state of Kosrae and worked for the State Government for the next three years as the Administrative Office for the Department of Education. Welly meanwhile was unrelenting in his pursuit of higher education and enrolled in an extension program through the University of Hawaii-Manoa for a Masters degree in Education Administration.

Upon his educational achievement, Senator Welly in July of 1999 accepted the role of Community Development Officer for the College of Micronesia Land Grant Kosrae Office and held the post for the next three years.  In December of 2001, Welly became a member of the Kosrae State Bar and four years later became a member of the FSM Bar in 2005.  After passing the Kosrae Bar, he immediately accepted the position of Chief Prosecutor for the Kosrae Attorney General Office. For the next 5 years, Senator Welly maintained his role as the Chief Prosecutor for the State of Kosrae until 2006 when he accepted a position at the state run Kosrae Island Resource Management Authority (KIRMA) as the Environmental Lawyer.    

In 2007, Welly ran for and was elected as Kosrae States’ representative to the Fifteenth FSM Congress and was selected to Chair the Congressional Standing Committee on External Affairs and has maintained the chairmanship from the 15^th Congress until the current body.

On May 11, 2013, during the 18^th Welly was selected to Vice Speakership and during the reorganization of the 19^th body resumed chairmanship of the Standing Committee on External Affairs with membership on the committees of: Education, Judiciary and Governmental Operation and finally the Ways and Means. His chairmanship continued in the 20^th Congress.

Senator Welly is married to former Shrue Nithan and they have four children: Kilafwakun, Arthy, Itchiro and Wilmina.