Samoa Ministers

House Rules For

From Felise Va’a in Apia

It is now about three months since Tupuola Efi was elected the new Prime Minister of Western Samoa. He now en joys an unrivalled position of having no ef fective leader to oppose him in parliament. At the moment, there is only speculation that there will be opposition, to be formed by the remnants of Tamasese’s old party under such leaders as Sam Saili and Tofilau Efi, intelligent leaders themselves, but not as charismatic

as Tupuola.

Former Prime Minister Tupua Tamasese has been cleverly manoeuvred into a respectable but ineffective position as a member of the Council of Deputies, members of which are also de facto deputy Heads of State. At the moment, because of the vacancies in the Mataafa and Tuimalealiifano titles, he is the only mem ber.

It is not clear what made Tamasese resign his seat almost immediately after he lost the bid for the prime minister’s position to Tupuola. According to one version, Tupuola talked Tamasese into it.

Another said he was advised by Lufilufi,

an important political district, not to remain in parliament while Tupuola is prime minister as this would sap his traditional prestige. There is every in dication, however, that Tamasese aban doned his parliamentary seat sadly yet gamely.

Tupuola’s selection of his cabinet mem bers was done apparently after con sultation with other MPs but the final decision was still his. Three of Tamasese’s former ministers, Vaovasamanaia Filipo, Tofaeono Tile and Lilomaiava Niko, were retained.

They presumably voted against their former boss for one reason or another.

The progressive and conservative elements in Tupuola’s cabinet are fairly evenly balanced with the progressives perhaps in

the majority.

Fuimaono Mimio, Minister of Agriculture, Lilomaiava Niko, Minister of Education, Mano Togamau, Minister of Lands and Survey and Tofaeono Tile, Minister of Communications and Tran sport, may be classified as the con servatives, while Asi Eikeni, Minister of

Economic Affairs, Vaovasamanaia Filipo, Minister of Finance, Ulualofaiga Talamaivao, Minister of Justice, Letiu Tamatoa, Minister of Works, and Prime Minister Tupuola may be classified as the progressives. This is only a rough

dichotomy, however.

At this stage, it is difficult to judge how well or how badly the new cabinet and their prime minister are doing as they are still settling into their jobs. The prime minister apparently has already laid down the house rules for his cabinet: be punctual at work, work hard, be honest in carrying out responsibilities, treat everybody the same, and so on. In short, the aim of the new policies is the production of a morally-superior type of cabinet minister (this is not to insinuate that there were no such ministers before) and to teach the new ministers to see their position as public servants, to be treated the same as

everybody else.

Hypothetical example: if the prime minister himself should arrive in a queue, he should not necessarily be given first place. He should take his turn along with the others.

The really first big event involving the new government was the reception for King Taufaahau of Tonga who came here in April ostensibly to meet the new prime minister and his cabinet but principally to interest the Western Samoan Government in increasing Tonga’s shares in Polynesian Airlines and in expanding Polynesian’s services to Rarotonga and New Zealand.

According to press reports, Tonga’s shares have been increased and plans are being prepared to extend Polynesian’s service to the Cooks and New Zealand.

Tupuola still goes about in his ordinary clothes, a lavalava and a shirt, even when he entertains royal visitors, ambassadors and other dignitaries. Like the people in the hamburger advertisement, he might say, “That’s my way.” None can argue about that. It is to be hoped, however, that his way will succeed in getting results in a country which is overpopulated, un derdeveloped, lacking in exports (because of bad agricultural policies?), suffering from both inflation and recession, having a high rate of unemployment and under employment, and not yet truly in the 20th century.

One Lousy Vote!

liga Suafole, one of the two women elected to the Western Samoa Parliament in February, did not hold her seat long.

She had a majority of one. Mulitalo Siafausa petitioned against her election on the ground that unqualified people voted for her. The Supreme Court declared one vote invalid and she lost her majority.

The Speaker, Leota Leiluaua Ituau, directed that a by-election be held to fill the vacant seat because the tie was the result of a petition and not the result of the actual voting.