“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go but ought to be.” Rosalyn Carter, the First Lady of the United States, wife of the late President Jimmy Carter.

As the election campaign heats up, with the parties rolling out their lavish giveaways, if and when they get their eager hands on the levers of power, the voters must be very careful not to be taken in by the promises, as we all know these can be broken and very often are. Instead, voters should focus on the candidates who will most likely be of service to them, their district and the country.

It's a given that most of the candidates would be persons of some standing in their villages and districts, so voters would have some idea of what to expect if such and such a candidate should become the district's representative in parliament.    

So far, only one member of the last parliament, the Hon Faimalotoa Kika Iemaima Stowers Ah Kau, the former HRPP Cabinet Minister, has announced her retirement from politics.

Faimalotoa came to parliament with a wealth of experience in the broadcasting field as she worked for Radio 2AP straight out of St Mary's College, Vaimoso, from 1968 to 2003 and rose to become Director of Broadcasting.

She was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in a by-election in 2014. She was re-elected in the 2016 general election and appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for Women's Affairs and Social Development.

In the Cabinet reshuffle of April 2019, she was given the health portfolio, and as Minister of Health, she led the response to the 2019 measles outbreak and to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was a difficult time for our country. Wikipedia records that the epidemic began in September 2019 and by 6 January 2020, over 5,700 cases of measles and 83 deaths had been reported in a population of 200,874, an infection rate of over three per cent. The cause of the outbreak was decreased vaccination rates among newborns, from 74% in 2017 to 31-34% in 2018. Nearby islands had rates near 99%.  

Faimalotoa was re-elected in the 2021 general election.

Have a long and happy retirement Faimalotoa. Malo le galue, malo tautua ia Samoa.

Ia manuia lava le vaiaso fou.