It has been 18 years since Samoa started officially celebrating Father’s Day and marked it with a public holiday to give it added national significance. 

And last week the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development (M.W.C.S.D.) held a meeting at its conference hall for community-led discussions on the significant role that fathers play in the Samoan family context.

An article (Ministry calls for recognition of father’s roles) in last Thursday’s edition of the Samoa Observer quoted excerpts from a speech by the Minister for Women, Community and Social Development, Leota Laki Sio who described fathers as the backbone of their family.

“This year 2023 marks the 18th year since Samoa celebrated Father's Day, where we value the roles of fathers in leading their families and serving through families, village, church and the government," said Leota. "We are yet again celebrating it this year again to keep adding value in the work fathers do through their leadership for the betterment of Samoa going forward."

The celebration of such a day of national significance should also be an opportunity for fathers in Samoa to undertake a self-assessment of how they’ve fared in their respective roles as heads of their families and ask whether they over the last 12 months were able to add value to the lives of each one of their family members including their children.

We say this because in recent weeks there has been news coverage in the pages of this newspaper of violence perpetrated by young people, whose behaviour and how they conduct themselves should be the responsibility of their fathers.

Last week Police arrested four youths between the ages of 19–23 in relation to the brutal beating of another young man at Motootua, with one of the young perpetrators a current student at the National University of Samoa. 

Last month the NUS administration said it had identified eight people who were allegedly involved in a brawl at the campus with three of them referred to the Police by the university following an internal investigation.

Why are many of our young men on the cusp of laying the foundations for a career pathway through their university studies quick to engage in violence and take the law into their own hands as a means to resolving their grievances?

Is it due to the increasing absence of Samoan fathers from a lot of homes in the country which is leading to young men not being disciplined at home and brought up to respect the traditional values that Samoan pillars such as the fa’asamoa espouse and represent within the community?

We ask these questions because they are at the heart of a speech that the M.W.C.S.D. Chief Executive Officer Dr. Mema Motusaga gave at last week’s conference on the significance of Father’s Day celebrations in Samoa.

“The theme Taimataali’i Taiali’i is really speaking to the role of men as the leaders who should be championing the principles of good governance in the village setting, churches, or in their families or setups like forums where they come to as government representatives,” said Dr. Mema. “Them leading the advocacy on ending violence against women and girls, the work on our gender markers and the safeguard measures that we have.” 

The C.E.O. is correct in saying that – fathers in Samoa should be championing good governance in the various community institutions by virtue of them being heads of their families.

Looking at the country’s current state of affairs, having fathers become champions in addressing the high rates of violence against women and children; rising youth consumption of illegal drugs as well as alcohol; and the rise in petty crimes such as break-and-enter and theft will go a long way in providing long-term solutions to these national challenges that continue to plague our country and its progress. 

This Father’s Day celebration offers families in Samoa an opportunity to express their appreciation and say thank you to the heads of their families for all they’ve done over the years. 

But building stronger family units in this day and age, amidst multiple challenges on the family front, cannot be realised without fathers also being self-aware of how far they’ve fared in their roles and responsibilities as heads of their family and being flexible to change for the benefit of their loved ones.