Drugs in Samoa, avoidance and secrecy

Dear Editor

Allow me to share my views on a couple of issues featured in your newspaper recently.

Firstly, concerning the story titled “Samoa could get in a drug War.”

I would to suggest that Samoa being the next designated targets of these cartels is nothing new to the public of Samoa. The police chief seems to state that drugs will become a problem, but it’s always been that way. 

Drugs isn’t new to the people, there has been some extensive evidence that dictate Samoa has met its fair share of drugs. There are institutions within the region that conducted recent drug-bust, Samoa is a potential target.

In Prison, there was possession of marijuana within a packet of cigarette within their jurisdiction and it was underneath the care of police officers, that this is not the first-time drugs have been found at the prison.

 This includes the transportation of ‘Ice’ through vessels, in September of 2018 dictate that even the exportation of drugs has become a vessel of platforms, this was countered by various officers from different agencies.

Lastly was when a man on the 2nd April was caught with 26.6 grams of cocaine arriving from Fiji, with an estimated street value of T$60,000.

The past event involved a joint relationship with agencies and local police force to handle such influences, so the War is making its way here. 

Secondly, I write in reference to the story “Ministry of Revenue has $87.6 million debt.”

The recent reports that have been highlighted by the Samoa Observer is outstanding. The Government should recognise that the information should be available to the public. They are also accountable for the outstanding debt.

The department of revenue seems to have the audacity to disclose a ‘outstanding’ debt of the Ministry of Revenue, this seems to apply procedures to ensure that the information would not be acknowledged for the general public let alone the reason for the debt. It is because of such extensive debt that the public must know about it and decide for themselves the consequences for such expenditure.

We need to be aware of some the actions that are implemented by the government branches because this seems to have been occurring for years. 

So, the Ministry of Revenue have failed to mention an extensive debt that would surely reflect the appropriate expenditure of the government.

The report is crucial for the Ministry of Finance to incorporate a better understanding, some of the expenditures that occurred between 2014-2015. To promote better regional governance and would surely lead to ethical decisions and goals.

 

Levaula Titimaea

Samoa Observer

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