At the eve of the General Elections to be held 4th March 2011,this letter to the editor is published in the Samoa Observer online Sunday 20 February 2011. It is full of compassionate for the people of Samoa. Thank you Iteli M. Tiatia.
We need window people, not mirror fools PDF Print E-mail
Sunday, 20 February 2011 13:00
They wake up in the morning; they have more than enough on their dining tables.
It is my opinion as long as the government people have about everything at their disposal everyday there is no need to make anyone of them to worry.
They have enough money in their pockets out of the high salaries and various allowances as ministers and associate ministers…
Dear Editor,
The Sale of SamoaTel tells a lot about how this country is run. All the talks in the past have eventually come out to the fore.
At this time of campaigning, I fully agree with Mata’afa Keni Lesa’s Editorial about our PM (Observer, Friday, Feb. 4th, 2011.), however may I add, to the list of do’s and don’ts “whatever I do, I’m the boss, people can say whatever, at the end of the day, I’m the man,” the PM.
So what can anybody do, he has everything.
He has in his easy reach of everything this country has, money, high ranking people and aigas placed in government posts, the Law, the Public Service, the majority in Parliament, the village mayors males and females as committees in government, Sports and even the Fa’afafine organisation as he is the patron, so the man has a mandate in almost anything in the country.
He has board members in government organisations whom I think they are there just to make up the quorums when the boards meet however neither they have a say nor decide in any issue of paramount importance.
Take the example of the Associate Minister of Telecommunications saying in the Sale of SamoaTel, “To be honest, I don’t know much about the sale process. Everything was handled by SPC and I NEVER got any information.”
And things got worse when the Minister herself was asked about the fate of the SamoaTel staff, she said, all your questions relating to the sale and information of the staff, should be referred to the Chairman of the Samoa Tel Privatisation Committee.
A kind of tricky tactic common in Rugby, I would call Pass the Ball, often used by the HRPP attaches just to appease the questioner, but of course the person scoring is the PM himself because he is the lone ball carrier all the time.
Whatever he has decided will be done no matter what effect it has on his team and the team well wishers. It’s a one-man rule and truly Hosni Mubarakan style at its highest level.
The direction for the public servants to resign if they intend to run in the March 4th election is another recent example of this Pass the Ball tactic.
People here are threatened, but what can they do. As one Public Servant has said, “I have invested a lot into the campaign both in terms of time, money and stress. I certainly did not need this.”
He eventually resigned even without raising a voice because the PM has issued the directive.
On the question on the Cost Of Living where the PM has vigorously criticised the Tautua Party, insinuating where the funding comes from if the Tautua are taking away the VAGST taxes.
In my opinion, this is a kind of a joke if you think of the millions of Tala written off by his government inclusive of a $34 million debt off his government ministries cannot pay SamoaTel, let alone the recent sale of the SamoaTel $230 million tala short of its original cost, a few years ago with the Agriculture Store, thousands of Tala worth of unpaid debts,
(no listings provided) plus the many other millions of Talas worth of government funded high rises and development projects now lying idle built by his administration based on empty economic booming promises like the current $50 million NPF skyscraper.
The wharves at Salelologa and Aleipata he meant to be of international category, the Polynesian Airlines & airports, the costly road change which caused much inconvenience to the people, and putting Samoa’s national debt to $1.8 billion, just to mention only a few examples.
But according to the Tautua, Hon. Mata’afa Fiame did it, Hon Va’ai Kolone repeated it as well the Hon. Tofilau Eti Alesana.
It takes a person to be of good heart and compassion to do this, people who can feel and knows what and how it is to be poor and destitute. No doubt this was the heart with our former Prime Ministers they had to do it for the love and the feeling for their people.
Tuilaepa and the HRPP party in my thinking will never experience that feeling and compassion for any one else but themselves.
They wake up in the morning; they have more than enough on their dining tables. It is my opinion as long as the government people have about everything at their disposal everyday there is no need to make anyone of them to worry.
They have enough money in their pockets out of the high salaries and various allowances as ministers and associate ministers. As wel
l vehicles bought, maintained and run with public funds even if they wreck them, the Samoan public pay.
When people are loyal to their lifeblood, then for what else to budge to the cost to other people: loyalty in any human being is built in the satisfaction of the belly, as in the movie Armageddon.
To run a country, we need WINDOW PEOPLE not MIRROR PEOPLE. Because Window people open their windows and can see other people outside and they can understand what they do let alone how they feel and cope with life.
They allow and consider other people’s views rather than making a mockery of them.
By doing that they know and listen to what people say and need in life which is directly the opposite of what we see with the attitude of the current PM.
MIRROR PEOPLE look at their own pictures in the mirror rejoicing how good build and healthy (they think) they are, which in my mind made them fail to hear and note his other neighbours.
No one dares to go against its source of life, that’s why I think the HRPP government cannot remove the VAGST taxes on basic food items. At the end, the rich business people become richer, and the poor become more destitute.
The PM on many occasions has ridiculed members of parliament calling them gutless and cowards yet he has no guts to lower the cost of living for the public, because by any account this is the source of the life of his government.
It is my understanding, the people has been deluded by a lot of false promises that kept them in power for a number of years.
But they have failed miserably during all those years to put any money in the peoples’ pockets thus causing people failing to work the land but doing the nuisances in life.
While his theological knowledge is being displayed on a number of speeches he made, he seems to be missing the totality of Jesus mission on earth.
That is, Jesus made himself poor, so all can be made rich.
While the PM is vocal and boastful of Samoa as a country founded on God, yet his laws devised strongly contradicts God’s expectation of his people.
A clear indication of this is the CASINO legislation about to get through parliament.
Jesus himself taught us a model prayer of faith saying, “And not lead us in to temptation” Note the focus represents our weakness not to lead us through temptation which is exactly what is going to happen when this Casino bill goes through.
Moreover the PM seems to have taken the ill differences in observing the Sabbath by the churches as an excuse to get his message through. God’s law is obvious, Remember the Sabbath to be made holy. Whether it is Sunday or Saturday, the government has a choice.
Only when human life is endangered would this law be dodged like as Jesus taught.
The churches did not all want to avoid working on the Sabbath completely.
There is work necessary for the sake of life, and these works should be allowed.
In my opinion, the PM could have used his majority methodology here, as the majority follows Sunday as Sabbath and Jesus I would think, is the highest authority in Christianity.
But simply because money is god here, so the law should be money economics, i.e no work no money.
As for my friend Tofaeono Misatauave Joseph Hollywood, good for you to apply for a loan.
But before you do I advise to go to(http://www.scrbd.com/doc/17281756/SamoaExternal-Debt-Management-by-TarunPart1Text) or Email :Scribd[mailto: welcome@postmaster.scribd.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ] This a document by Dr Tarun Das, Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance, India And Resource Person, ESCAP, United Nations, Bangkok.
In that document Samoa is listed with Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Maldives, and Turkey under the Category of SEVERELY INDEBTED MIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIES. Or (SIMI).
That’s where Samoa has been placed PAGE 13 in this document.
The information displayed in that document is said to be based on an input from the Ministry of Finance, government of Samoa. Not to forget one more thing, that report was filed in 2005, meaning the situation now is worst of.
So please John when you get your loan, please do not forget Levaopolo and myself, you seem to be very diligent in making loans for me, my kids and their kids to pay in their lifetime.
Iteli M Tiatia
Lalomanu. Aleipata.
