Change the name – Palu

By Sarafina Sanerivi 18 February 2016, 12:00AM

The leader of the Tautua Samoa Party, Palusalue Fa’apo II, has called on Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi to change the name of his party.

“Instead of calling it the Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P), they should change the name to Human Rights Corrupt Party (H.R.C.P),” Palusalue said.

Palusalue made the call during his Party’s weekly press conference yesterday.

Asked to define what he meant by “corruption” in relation to Prime Minister Tuilaepa’s administration, Palusalue said he was referring to the “abuse and misuse of government’s resources for the personal benefit of members of the party.”

“The Tautua believes there is no better word to describe it than corruption,” Palsualue said.

The Opposition leader referred to the fact that Associate Ministers are still using government vehicles, when Parliament has already dissolved.

“They are abusing government’s resources and public assets,” said Palusalue.

“Associate Ministers are still using government vehicles and are still getting paid. They are using the cars now as means of transportation for their voters and for election campaigning. These people have no conscience at all.” 

Palusalue said such behaviours should not be tolerated because it hurts innocent people. 

 “They are doing all this while everyone is looking at them,” he said.

“It’s so blatant. I’m surprised to see the behaviour of these Associate Ministers, they know exactly that they no longer have to use government’s resources and yet they are still using them.

“But what’s sad is that the people are looking at their actions and so is God. Anyone who fears the Lord shouldn’t behave like that, they always choose to do the right thing. But this proves that these people do not fear God and are not scared of Him.”

Palusalue said such blatant abuse of power and public resources is one of the reasons they have decided to take the H.R.P.P to Court.

He wanted to clear the air that their decision to sue the government is not based on any bad blood.

“We just want justice for all and we want to do the right thing,” said Palusalue.

“Taking them to Court means that we are not just blabbing about these things and doing nothing about them. We will let the Court decide what’s best and just for us.”

Palusalue believes that the H.R.P.P has been in power for too long.

“They’ve had the power for too long that it feels like we are being run by one dictator,” he said. “It’s sad because they have so many candidates because they all want to enjoy the benefits from the H.R.P.P.”

Former leader and election candidate, Va’ai Papu couldn’t agree more.

“It’s about time to change the name of their political party,” he said.

As a former Member of the H.R.P.P Party, Va’ai believes that it is ironic for the party to be called the Human Right Protection Party.

“This is because instead of protecting the rights of the people, they are not only abusing the rights of the people, but they are also violating the rights of our people,” he said.

“That is why they should no longer be called the Human Rights Protection Party, instead they should be called, Human Rights Corrupt Party.”

It was not possible to get a response from the government yesterday.

 

By Sarafina Sanerivi 18 February 2016, 12:00AM

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