The current governance dispute at the Samoa Triathlon Federation has raised questions about the mandate of the Samoa Association of Sports and the National Olympic Committee.

Members of the S.T.F. were hoping that the S.A.S.N.O.C. Board would intervene in the dispute, which has led to calls for a vote of no confidence in the leadership of the president and the vice president of the current executive.

They have made some serious allegations which include the S.T.F. being deregistered by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Labour (M.C.I.L.) in 2020; the current S.T.F. President living abroad allegedly in breach of the constitution; the absence of the convening of an AGM dating back to 2015; and the continued approval of financial grants for triathlon despite the de-registering of the federation.

However, in a new twist to the issue, an article in today’s edition of the Sunday Samoan quoted the S.A.S.N.O.C. Board Chairman Pauga Talalelei Pauga saying that they will not intervene in the dispute.

“From what I’ve heard, they have some issues within their own association but with S.A.S.N.O.C. we don’t deal with any individual, only with the sports that are related to us,” he said. “So the issues that they have has got nothing to do with us. 

"We hope that the triathlon will resolve their issues and come in as one unit instead of having all these different issues. It has happened before to others so we will help them out but at the end of the day we leave everything up to the sports itself.”

So what is the actual mandate of S.A.S.N.O.C. if it is not interested in resolving a dispute in a sporting federation whose leaders have lost the confidence of its membership?

Doesn’t S.A.S.N.O.C. think that it is wrong for it to continue to approve financial grants for an entity whose own registration by the M.C.I.L. is now under a cloud? And why is S.A.S.N.O.C. continuing to approve financial grants, as recently as April this year, when there are question marks over the status of the S.T.F. and its current executive?

The response by Chairman Pauga to questions from this newspaper – where he basically brushed the issue aside and added they didn't want to get involved as the issues relate to “individuals” rather than the sport itself –  is akin to forgoing its responsibilities of upholding the Olympic Charter and abiding by the rules put in place by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of which S.A.S.N.O.C. is a member.

Perhaps Chairman Pauga should be reminded of the work of the IOC in promoting and protecting sporting integrity, which includes working in partnership with various partners including sporting organisations, governments, and intergovernmental organisations to address corruption in sports.

The fact that the S.A.S.N.O.C. continues to approve financial grants to an entity whose own registration with the M.C.I.L. has expired is unacceptable and should be immediately ceased and reviewed. In order to restore the integrity of the S.T.F. (or any other sporting organisation for that matter), Chairman Pauga and his Board should convene a special meeting to discuss the governance dispute and direct the current S.T.F. president and vice president to hold a special A.G.M. so a new executive can be elected. 

Allegations by the S.T.F. members that there have been no audits of the federation’s accounts since 2015 raise a lot of questions about the organisation going forward. How can the S.T.F. expect funding support in the future from potential sponsors and funding agencies if its books are not in order?

It would be wrong for Chairman Pauga and the S.A.S.N.O.C. Board to assume that it should be “business as usual” and that the governance dispute at the S.T.F. can be resolved internally.

Failure by the national sporting body to resolve the dispute would be a loss to the triathlon athletes and to this nation, as it is already having an adverse effect on Samoa’s preparations for the upcoming 2023 Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands.