Coming out with howlers

Dear Editor, 

Re: “If P.M. says it’s rubbish, it must be rubbish,” says Minister Tuitama

The art of being a skilful politician is being able to disagree with a statement without actually saying that you disagree. With our politicians, starting from the PM, everything is black and white in Samoan politics.

As a result of this inability to talk at great length about a subject without actually saying anything, our parliamentarians are forced to come out with some absolute howlers! Take for instance the PM’s logic that since there are sex workers in the USA, and America is wealthy, then it mustn’t be poverty which drives these women to this type of work.

Even my friend at the makeki can come up with better logic than that.

While the USA is a wealthy country there are many people over there who live in abject poverty. Some of the women who are forced into prostitution do so because of poverty. This is a fact and no false logic can dispute this. 

So long as Stui s disputing the presence of poverty in this country, all the social ills and tough economic consequences we are now seeing including working for sex, would be continually laughed off as figment of imagination of some reporter or a researcher from overseas who doesn’t know anything about us. Talk about ‘a head-in-the-sand’ approach. 

These things are not going to go away and we are deluding ourselves if we keep denying their existence, and all because we don’t want to acknowledge one word POVERTY.

Poverty exists in other countries but if you hear their politicians talk about this term, the delivery is about everything else except poverty. Perhaps our politicians on their overseas study tours should listen to their overseas counterparts and learn something. Or watch various episodes of the series “Yes Minister”. 

Does sugar coating make the problem go away?

No, but using fancy words and vague phrases would make the minister appear intelligent and not look like a complete fool, and an unqualified ‘yes man’.

 

Vai Autu

Trending Stories

Samoa Observer

Upgrade to Premium

Subscribe to
Samoa Observer Online

Enjoy unlimited access to all our articles on any device + free trial to e-Edition. You can cancel anytime.

>