“I see the kids in the streets, with not enough to eat, who am I to be blind?”

Dear Editor,

Regarding: Business support lifting the minimum wage

There you are the good people of the nation! The cracks are starting to appear in the latest claim by the honourable Prime Minister of the country aiming the pendulum to swing the wrong direction.

Sir, remember what the late Michael Jackson had said about the man in the mirror and the kids not having enough to eat? I’ll ramble along that later.

But for now, it has been a wide held belief for years and years it’s not the business fraternity that is withholding wages at bay; the government had been the obstacle along the way. 

For the reasons I would claim: Public servants would go with the flow and depart in exodus towards the private sector if the money is right.

And for someone we hold high regards towards; being the holder of a Master degree in Economic matters etcetera etcetera; introduced daylight savings; he who spun the axis of the day to jump 24 hours ahead or a day forward perhaps; had transformed the fine mat into its glory of days; holds more titles than Salamasina and Fonoti o Tupu Tafa’ifa o Samoa; Etcetera etcetera but surely failed miserably to expunge one mostly needed change for the “larrikin maudlin minimum wage effect”.

We know the business sector is getting the crumbs while the government holds tight on to the cream not wanting to let it go. For sure the private sector also wants to get the best available talents for their operations to progress but the wage shambolic mountain lies ahead.

As a result, we end up with the “brain drain” departing in mass numbers to seek opportunities available overseas.

For a competitive human resources market with an open remunerations no tags attached to help keep the best talents home rather losing them to benefit other overseas countries, the government had to come clean. Let it go Mister honourable prime minister of Samoa. Add another milestone to your achievements.

The good the wages the better the spending capacity to help stimulate the economy and of course the local consumers to buy locally produced commodities and spinning the dollar back to make the local employers richer. 

For sure what the employer had to invest in its human resources to help boost productivity and certainly not a lost cause. The parted fortune would always come home to roost.

Take for instance Lucky Foodtown Supermarket in downtown Apia where I would find the best povi masima in the world. I buy the stuff like there’s no tomorrow. It is the best brine beef brisket I had ever tasted. According to the guy at the meat section, it is locally produced. Kudos to Lucky Ah Liki, family and staff. That’s one example for people spending like mad.

Here’s another Sir: The more money to circulate and stimulate the economy, the better the spending power of the consumers to benefit the local employers. No matter whether it is spent in Savai’i, Aleipata, Falealili and Siūmu, the supplies would always eventuate at the wholesales in Apia.

The workers would have money to buy the fishes and the farm produces; the fisherman and farmer then buy supplies from Ah Liki, Frankies etcetera etcetera. It’s a win, win situation.

Change for what Michael Jackson had sung about. And of course the government no longer fear of losing the human resources to the private sector for a salary it cannot match is garbage. That so is an argument of 50 years ago when Samoa had owed only a few thousand lousy Tālā where in today’s day and age, the debt is popping over a billion plus Tālā mark.

Without a slightest doubt in my humbled mind also, the better the wages, the more taxes collected to help pay the debt and a competitive public servants salaries to keep them intact.

But however Sir, the late Michael Jackson knew about he who got himself stuck in the mirror when he sung: I’m gonna make a change, for once in my life. It’s gonna feel real good, gonna make a difference, gonna make it right

Chorus

I’m starting with the man in the mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways. And no message could have been any clearer, if you want to make the world a better place (If you want to make the world a better place) take a look at yourself, and then make a ... CHANGE!

As I turn up the collar on my favorite winter coat. This wind is blowing my mind. I see the kids in the streets, with not enough to eat, who am I to be blind? Pretending not to see their needs. Chorus ... CHANGE! With my utmost respect.

 

Tofaeono Misatauveve Iosefo Joseph Hollywood 

Palisi 

Samoa Observer

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