Why don’t we get China to fix the roads?

Dear Editor

Re: Samoa’s poor roads

To be fair, that west coast road is atrocious. 

There has been planning and consultations and more planning and more consultations about that road for years now and still nothing has been completed. 

There was even talk about a motorway from Faleolo to Vaitele about a decade ago. That went nowhere because of “lack of funds”. So they changed to a World Bank-funded “climate change resilient” road in 2012. 

Still, after all these years, nothing has come of it. Latest word last year is that the “climate change resilient” road project is now split into two parts because of “lack of funds”. What? there has been so much planning into that road. 

It would be nice if the media would do an investigation into that road.

Seriously, I know it is a controversial thing to say but it is the truth, if this road was funded by China’s Exim Bank, they would’ve finished it five years ago. In fact, the motorway would’ve been finished years ago as well.

Say what you want about China but they get things done. They don’t muck around. 

What’s more, their recent projects have employed several Samoan companies as contractors, as suppliers, labourers, and builders. 

So the usual anti-China argument that they don’t employ Samoans is rubbish. They are employing Samoans in these projects.

As for the other issue of today involving Laauli, he has a right to do whatever he wants ....OUTSIDE of the HRPP. 

He ran under the HRPP banner in the election. People voted for him because, in part, he was running for the HRPP. 

If he now wants to go against them, he should resign, go back to the people of his constituency and ask for their support to go back to parliament as an independent or as an opposition party member. 

That is democratic. It is because in the 1980s, MPs would run under one party, people vote for him under that party, and then as soon as he got into parliament, he would switch sides to another party after being promised cabinet positions. Forget about the people who voted for him under the first party. 

No, the people now have to accept that their MP has jumped to another party which the people did not vote for. Completely undemocratic.

In Australia or New Zealand, an MP who votes against his party doesn’t last long. In fact, he or she is likely to be kicked out of the party. 

This has happened many times in the past. They either remain in parliament as an independent or, more recent legislation in NZ means that the MP has to resign his seat and run in a by-election to ask the people to return as an independent or under the banner of another party.

 

Petelo Suaniu 

Samoa Observer

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