As the nation slowly progresses towards elections, a lot of things will be said and a lot of claims will also be made. It is important for people not to take every word uttered by politicians during this period as the gospel truth.

A fine example is the recent spat between the Fa’atuatua ile Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) Government and the FAST majority regarding claims about the national debt repayments. FAST party chairman, La’auli Leuatea Schmidt, made the claims that debt repayments that should be $100 million have now been reduced to $60 million, and there was no supplementary budget. He added the party had assessed the country’s debt, and the substantial repayment was to ensure the national debt is serviced quickly and cleared.

That is a big claim, and with the following Laauli has, many will believe that this is true. This claim has been refuted. The Minister of Finance, Lautimuia Uelese Vaai said public debt repayments were still normal as per the payment schedule.

“Public debt stands at 26 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product as of December 2024 and declining,” Lautimuia responded. “Samoa is now considered to be moved from 'high' risk to 'moderate' risk category as per World Bank and ADB classification, according to the recent IMF Article IV review.”

He stressed the government had committed in the past to get away from the practice of half-yearly supplementary budgets unless there is a real need for an extraordinary event or disaster. For this year, there was no need for a supplementary budget, he said.

“The main estimates for 2024/2025 were appropriately forecasted from the beginning of the financial year. There is no additional or extraordinary need. Ministries are well in control of their spending on approved programs, and there are sufficient funds to carry them through the last six months of FY.”

Lautimuia assured that Samoa is one of the very few developing economies continuing this practice, an almost outdated practice, in his view. He pointed out that there is an approved unforeseen provision of almost $30 million every year that may be utilised in the event of an unfortunate emergency like the electricity crisis.

This type of scenario will continue to pop up as we get closer to the election. There will be many more claims made to put ideas into the people’s heads. As voters, it is important that you are well-informed and the only way to do that is to have a transparent and accountable government where politicians are not there to hold on to power and work for their gain rather than for those who voted them in.

The other concern from last week is the revelation that the Minister for Natural Resources and Environment, Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster has leased a parcel of government land at Maalauli, Vailele. The property in question—Lot 206 in Plan 1904—is a 3035-square-metre piece of land adjacent to a government-owned property where the late former Chief Justice, Patu Tiava'asu'e Falefatu Sapolu, resided.

According to official documents viewed by the Samoa Observer, Lease No. 68891 stated that a 20-year lease commencing 1 July 2024 until 30 June 2044 "to Cedric and Suzanne Schuster, with an option to renew for a further 20 years." No unregistered dealings have been noted against the lease. Every person is allowed to lease land. We agree that the minister has every right to do so, but eyebrows are raised when he is the chairman of the Lands Board.

We are not saying that the minister has no right to acquire the property, but what is being questioned is the process. We hope that the proper procedure was followed, including a declaration of conflict of interest when the lease was being assessed, and the same scrutiny applied if the land was acquired by someone else. 

Transparency is not an option, it is a must.