Dear Editor,

On January 13 2016, TV3 aired the Police Commissioner Egon Keil’s gun collection and disposal programme to create a safer Samoa for the next generation.

Most people would say that the gun collections were a complete success.

However, I couldn’t believe the Police Commissioner had the audacity to do and show on nation wide television the dumping of destroyed guns with the rusty metal barrels into our Oceans. 

This scene made me question the very reason for even starting the no gun campaign in the first place.

They claimed that it was for a safer tomorrow for the children of Samoa yet they destroyed the very ecosystem that the children of Samoa will one day depend upon.

This act was one of the most stupid and ignorant acts of pollution in 2016 made by the government.

Did none of the hundreds of people along with the Prime Minister himself Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi not stop to think? Did they not care that dumping the load, gunpowder, metal will poison our reefs and the fish we eat and sell? 

The ocean and seas are Samoa’s main source of income and should be treated with respect.

The decisions concerning proper disposal of hazardous material should not be made by incompetent, ignorant people. The worst part about this is that by showing the dumping of “trash” in our oceans it is sending a message that it is okay to do so.

I am here to say that it is not okay. 

What really churns my brain is that no other Environmental agent such as S.P.R.E.P or M.N.R.E had stepped in to stop this from happening.

All I can do now is voice my rage and concern about this type of unreasoned and unjust pollution and pray that it never happens again. 

Agatupu Lefao III