The first part of the road to the 2025 elections is now behind us. As of Friday, 4 July, the voter roll was closed, and we are now proceeding to the second part, the nomination of the candidates.

An election hopeful will only become a candidate if the Office of the Electoral Commission gives the green light. The candidate has to satisfy all the eligibility requirements as stated under the Electoral Act. In the past month, each of the political parties has passed around names. Top bureaucrats have resigned to pursue their political ambitions. In all of this, we have also seen some hopefuls announcing their candidacy to run for constituencies they have not set foot in for years.

Such is the glam and promises of politics that election hopefuls are ensuring that they provide their service to the districts where they are hoping to get a vote to satisfy an eligibility requirement. This is not right. Many will use their chiefly titles as a means to represent districts they have never genuinely provided service to. This is a disservice to the voters in that area, because the connection to the constituency is just the votes the election hopeful seeks and perhaps the matai title. There have been instances in the past when, after the candidate is successful in an election, his or her appearance in a particular district becomes a rare sight.

These elected leaders then appear when it's time to get the votes again. Election hopefuls should be asking themselves if their political ambition is to serve the people who will vote for them, and also those who do not. Or are their political aspirations limited to getting into the Legislative Assembly and using it to grow their assets and inflate personal bank balances? If, as an election hopeful, your ambition is to only serve your selfish needs, then give way to someone who has a genuine connection to the people and wants to use the electoral platform to genuinely help constituents.

To those who want to get on board with the money train as their sole reason to join politics, you are not doing anyone a favour apart from yourself. These are the types of intentions that have seen poverty grow, children missing out on education, the drop in agricultural production, exports dropping, increasing crime, deteriorating infrastructure, including the power grid, a hospital that is falling apart, the rising cost of living, transparency and accountability are still dreams, there is abuse of power, corruption and in all of this the voters and their families are the ones who continue to suffer.

Please enter politics because you genuinely want to help the people who will vote for you. Become a member of parliament because you want every child in your constituency to have access to education, health and a better life. Enter politics because you want to help pass laws that will be good for the nation. If your motive to enter politics is anything apart from making your village, district and country a better place, then please stay away. And if you are going to represent a constituency, make an effort to go and see your constituents.

The people need a change. Do not become leaders who knowingly make false promises during election campaigns. If you are going to do this, you are undermining voters’ ability to make informed choices. Knowingly making false, unachievable, and illegal campaign promises amounts to a political lie and breaches ethics and honesty. It is deceiving voters.

The nomination period starts on 5 July and ends on 12 July. Let us keep our fingers crossed that those with genuine intent to serve the people they hope to represent make it to the final list. Samoa and Samoans deserve better leaders.