Samoa Politics -Past Events need revisiting to understand the present
Editorial in Samoa Observer by chief editor Savea Sano Malifa.
15-03-2011 10:49
“What a beautiful country Samoa is if only
there wasn’t so much poverty” - tourist
TODAY'S TOPIC: Remembrance is the window through which you see the past.
[Savea Sano Malifa]
Savea Sano Malifa
They say remembrance is the window through which you see the past. We believe that.
Friday evening we drove down to Mulinu’u. The Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) are camping there for two weeks.
It’s a ritual.
They camp at their Mulinu’u headquarters after every general election bringing their wives and big supporters along.
HRPP Whip La’aulialemalietoa Polata’ivao confirms this saying: “I was part of this tradition when I was very young as my father was in Parliament for 40 years.
“So I know the procedures and what the camp stands for. “
He goes to explain that “for the new members, it’s a time to observe and get themselves immersed in the procedures of the HRPP.
“To become part of the whole movement so we are one when it’s time to go to Parliament.”
La’auli tells the Samoa Observer he’s blown away by the vision laid down by the founding fathers of the HRPP.
“The HRPP headquarters is called ‘Le Taelega i Petesa’,” he points out.
“In the Pool at Petesa during our Saviour’s time, people go there to clean themselves of ailments and to be renewed.
“That is the vision for HRPP where we come to Petesa to clean, renew and re-arm ourselves.
“It’s here where everyone is made ready for Parliament and fight for what’s best for the country.”
Great vision. Exceptional wisdom.
However the Whip missed a couple of things. He did not tell how an MP in the HRPP camp was “stolen” at night while everyone was asleep, so that soon afterwards a new government was formed. Since then more caution had been exercised with the security at camp.
Neither did he explain that just behind the HRPP camp is a sandy spot surrounded by clusters of mangrove growth. It is there that the former Minister of Public Works Leafa Vitale built his motel and bar and named it Le Penina.
The land is government owned but Leafa just took it and built on it. Later when Cabinet was reshuffled and the young lawyer Luagalau Levaula Kamu replaced Leafa at PWD, Luagalau repossessed the land and Leafa was angry.
And yet the HRPP Whip did not say anything about this one either.
Neither did he explain why the pool at Petesa failed miserably to “clean” the “ailments” of Leafa Vitale and his colleague Toi Aokuso, who went on and threatened to kill editors, reporters, the Chief Executive Officers of Treasury and the Lands and the Environment, the Financial Controller of the Electric Power Corporation (EPC), and ended up with the plot to kill Luagalau Levaula Kamu.
Incidentally, Luagalau was shot in the back by a son of Leafa’s on the night the HRPP was having its birthday party. And yet the Whip did not say anything about this one either. Neither did he reveal a part of the plot to kill Luagalau was an order to also “pull (kill) the PM and the fat judge.”
Still, what does he mean when he says it’s at the Pool at Petesa “where everyone is made ready to go to Parliament and fight for what’s best for the country.” So shouldn’t the government take some money out of Treasury and build a “Pool at Petesa” and make the whole thing real? That would certainly be the ideal thing to do.
Anyway, it seems the Whip is talking a lot of nonsense here. How can Cabinet Ministers and government officials living in government houses and using government vehicles as if they own them, ever think of “fighting for what’s best for the country.”
People have been living in squalor right here around town all the time the HRPP has been in power for close to thirty years now, and yet nothing has changed. They are still living in naked poverty today.
So let’s hope that this time the government would do something to rid this country of despicable, lousy poverty. A visitor last week had this to say: “What a beautiful country Samoa is if only there wasn’t so much poverty.”
And that is something for the HRPP government and its Whip to think about.
Poverty. If they have to think about nothing else but poverty when they go into Parliament this time and what exactly it means, that’s enough.
Meantime we should always keep in mind that remembrance is the window through which we are able to see the past.
15-03-2011 10:49
“What a beautiful country Samoa is if only
there wasn’t so much poverty” - tourist
TODAY'S TOPIC: Remembrance is the window through which you see the past.
[Savea Sano Malifa]
Savea Sano Malifa
They say remembrance is the window through which you see the past. We believe that.
Friday evening we drove down to Mulinu’u. The Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) are camping there for two weeks.
It’s a ritual.
They camp at their Mulinu’u headquarters after every general election bringing their wives and big supporters along.
HRPP Whip La’aulialemalietoa Polata’ivao confirms this saying: “I was part of this tradition when I was very young as my father was in Parliament for 40 years.
“So I know the procedures and what the camp stands for. “
He goes to explain that “for the new members, it’s a time to observe and get themselves immersed in the procedures of the HRPP.
“To become part of the whole movement so we are one when it’s time to go to Parliament.”
La’auli tells the Samoa Observer he’s blown away by the vision laid down by the founding fathers of the HRPP.
“The HRPP headquarters is called ‘Le Taelega i Petesa’,” he points out.
“In the Pool at Petesa during our Saviour’s time, people go there to clean themselves of ailments and to be renewed.
“That is the vision for HRPP where we come to Petesa to clean, renew and re-arm ourselves.
“It’s here where everyone is made ready for Parliament and fight for what’s best for the country.”
Great vision. Exceptional wisdom.
However the Whip missed a couple of things. He did not tell how an MP in the HRPP camp was “stolen” at night while everyone was asleep, so that soon afterwards a new government was formed. Since then more caution had been exercised with the security at camp.
Neither did he explain that just behind the HRPP camp is a sandy spot surrounded by clusters of mangrove growth. It is there that the former Minister of Public Works Leafa Vitale built his motel and bar and named it Le Penina.
The land is government owned but Leafa just took it and built on it. Later when Cabinet was reshuffled and the young lawyer Luagalau Levaula Kamu replaced Leafa at PWD, Luagalau repossessed the land and Leafa was angry.
And yet the HRPP Whip did not say anything about this one either.
Neither did he explain why the pool at Petesa failed miserably to “clean” the “ailments” of Leafa Vitale and his colleague Toi Aokuso, who went on and threatened to kill editors, reporters, the Chief Executive Officers of Treasury and the Lands and the Environment, the Financial Controller of the Electric Power Corporation (EPC), and ended up with the plot to kill Luagalau Levaula Kamu.
Incidentally, Luagalau was shot in the back by a son of Leafa’s on the night the HRPP was having its birthday party. And yet the Whip did not say anything about this one either. Neither did he reveal a part of the plot to kill Luagalau was an order to also “pull (kill) the PM and the fat judge.”
Still, what does he mean when he says it’s at the Pool at Petesa “where everyone is made ready to go to Parliament and fight for what’s best for the country.” So shouldn’t the government take some money out of Treasury and build a “Pool at Petesa” and make the whole thing real? That would certainly be the ideal thing to do.
Anyway, it seems the Whip is talking a lot of nonsense here. How can Cabinet Ministers and government officials living in government houses and using government vehicles as if they own them, ever think of “fighting for what’s best for the country.”
People have been living in squalor right here around town all the time the HRPP has been in power for close to thirty years now, and yet nothing has changed. They are still living in naked poverty today.
So let’s hope that this time the government would do something to rid this country of despicable, lousy poverty. A visitor last week had this to say: “What a beautiful country Samoa is if only there wasn’t so much poverty.”
And that is something for the HRPP government and its Whip to think about.
Poverty. If they have to think about nothing else but poverty when they go into Parliament this time and what exactly it means, that’s enough.
Meantime we should always keep in mind that remembrance is the window through which we are able to see the past.
posted by Meripa Weir at 3:02 PM
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