In addition to its other policies, such as COLA, PELEGA, Disability Allowance, and the baby bonus, the Human Rights Protection Party's (HRPP) promise to abolish the Value-Added Goods and Services Tax (VAGST) on basic food items appears to be very popular with voters. 

It shows how people have felt about living in a regime with a runaway cost of living. However, it will be even more popular if the tariff (import duty) on these goods is also reduced, as it is passed on to consumers, thereby raising their costs. Anything that will help reduce the cost of living will be a hit at this stage.

VAGST on prescription medication and visits to doctors, especially for children and the elderly, for example, should also be removed to ensure that proper health care is accessible to all.

Constructing a bridge to Savai’i via Manono and Apolima is an ambitious project. Nothing wrong with that. (If you don’t have ambition, you’re never going to achieve anything.) There will always be critics who will naturally complain about the costs of everything or its impossibility. Unless these people live here, regularly travelling between Savai’i and Upolu, and experience the inconvenience caused by the lack of space for vehicles, breakdown of the ferries or stoppage in sailing because of rough weather, they will not appreciate how having a bridge linking the two islands, paid for by loans and levying a toll tax on users, will not only make things easier for people residing in Savai’i, but also open up the main island’s economy. It’s not something that’s going to happen in 10-15 years, but at least it makes people think about better ways to improve our country and boost our economy.

The Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) Party has an ambitious project of its own, which is to establish an “international carrier” that will not be funded and owned by the government but by our people residing overseas, who will be asked to donate $500 each. Having a Samoan airline flying to New Zealand and Australia is a must for us, as it will offer travellers competitive, and possibly even cheaper, airfares to these destinations, which have been monopolized by other airlines, charging expensive fares since the FAST government discontinued the lease of our international carrier. And Fiji Airways, which offers an alternative, is laughing all the way to the bank. The proper way to do it is for the government to be the major shareholder, with the rest held by individual shareholders, as is the case with Air New Zealand. Inviting people to donate to set up an airline shows that FAST is not serious about its suggestion.

FAST will repeat its $1 million grant per year to all electoral districts, possibly raised to $1.5-$2 million, should they become the government. Unfortunately, many voters have become disillusioned with the way that grant was distributed and administered due to impropriety of some of the Party’s Members of Parliament (MPs) and those entrusted with its distribution, Additionally, the discriminatory nature of prioritizing and favouring districts that supported FAST, while withholding the release of the grant’s funds to those that did not has also irked many. The grant could have been better spent on purchasing second-hand tractors and farm equipment, such as ploughs, from New Zealand or Australia, for districts to use in tilling their land. This would have allowed those who wanted their land developed for cash cropping or other income-earning projects to do so. Instead, the grant was used to purchase items such as wheelbarrows and weed eaters. Each district could have had up to 10-12 tractors that farmers and planters could hire for a small fee or even for free whenever they needed them, with the remaining funds set aside for fuel. It would also make it a lot easier for them to work the land in the future. (Second-hand tractors in good condition cost between $20,000 and $40,000 in New Zealand.)

The Samoa Labour Party (SLP) has announced a range of policies covering economic development, health, education, cost of living, climate change, trade unions, and sport. However, there isn’t much detail to any of these, so we’ll have to wait until they release their manifesto. The Samoa Uniting Party (SUP), apart from one of its spokespersons stating that they will focus on promises that FAST failed to deliver, including raising the pension to $300 a month and introducing a disability allowance, both of which are outlined in the HRPP’s manifesto. Caretaker Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi and the leader of SUP say they will release their manifesto at the right time. Hmmm, a week from the election?

Without any scientific polls to gauge voters’ preferences, we can only go by what we’re seeing. So, if the crowd of people turning up daily to show their support and cheer for HRPP at its headquarters in Mulinu’u is an indication of how the public will vote, then FAST, SUP. SLP and other minor parties should be worried. They may have a lot of supporters on social media, but how many of them will cast a vote?