It has been an unprecedented 12-months of celebrations in commemoration of Samoa’s 60th Independence anniversary.

Starting on 1 June last year it will end in the first week of June this year with an international music festival and a fautasi race among the activities on the cards to bring the curtain down on what was a memorable year. A story in yesterday’s edition of the Samoa Observer confirmed the line-up of international artists, whose presence in Apia in June this year, no doubt, assures the celebrations end on a high note.

But the job of nation building should not stop for a party – it should go on at this critical juncture of our journey as a sovereign. Realistically speaking, Samoa’s national economy was turned on its head over the last three years by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the damage could last a generation if the building blocks that can regrow the economy are not promptly put in place by the Government and all stakeholders.

Just four years ago Samoa’s tourism sector generated close to SAT$400 million annually to become the envy of the region, despite the industry’s footprint being much smaller when compared to our other neighbours. Samoa was only starting to warm up to its status as a fast-growing emerging tourism market, only for a measles epidemic and the pandemic that followed in early 2020 through to 2022 to decimate it.

But today in the post-pandemic era, you would be wrong to think that the marketing strategies that the Samoa Tourism Authority (STA) deployed in 2019/2020 would have the same effect.

The pandemic has been cruel and it is now every country for itself – so much so that only those with the largest tourism-support budgets can survive this cut-throat world. The STA should be smart and strategic in how they use the Government’s budgetary allocation for tourism, in order to make the most with less funding and resources.

The Atoa o Samoa discussions with American Samoa this week opens the door for a follow-up on the commitments made last year, especially the contentious sectors such as meat or poultry exports from Samoa to the American territory, which remains subject to American biosecurity laws. We hope there is a breakthrough during the discussions but there is only so much a territory can do when everything has to be taken to the U.S. mainland to be approved and hopefully signed off.

The recruitment of more Samoan nurses to work in Pago Pago is another pathway for potential labour mobility, to add to the 2,000 Samoan nationals who are already working at the StarKist cannery, and indirectly keeping the Samoan economy afloat through the remittances that they send home for their aiga (family) like other Samoans working abroad.

On the homefront, the current Government’s legislative agenda needs to be revisited, after it promised voters prior to the 2021 General Election that it will ensure that the Land and Titles Court Bills (now Acts) will be repealed, to ensure the Supreme Court has oversight over the LTC and avoid having a dual judicial system. The decision last year by the Government to only amend the contentious laws, while expressing no desire to repeal the laws, remains a broken promise to the voters and one that could come back to haunt the ruling party if not resolved.

At the end of the day, a ruling party’s performance in public office will be judged by its ability to not only empower its people, but also push ahead with institutional reforms that not only protects Samoa’s democracy today but well into the future for the benefit of the next generation.

By that time when we are all gone, our grandchildren and great grandchildren can look back at those hard decisions made today, and acknowledge that our Government indeed made those right choices for their betterment and that of their children.