Inspirational remarks timely

By Mata'afa Keni Lesa 21 April 2016, 12:00AM

Our leaders have been making some wonderful statements during the past few weeks. 

Coming at the beginning of a new Parliamentary sitting, they are reassuring.  

Take for example the challenge issued by the new Minister of Works, Transport and Infrastructure, Papali’i Niko Lee Hang, for the E.P.C to reduce the cost of electricity. 

“My challenge for the next five years is to cut down the cost of electricity especially for the sake of low income earners,” he said. 

“With the big businesses, they can find ways to recover their costs but our target should be to help low income earners.”

Well who doesn’t want to hear this sort of talk? 

And who would say no to cheaper electricity? 

The cost of electricity affects everybody and we can only hope that Papali’i’s challenge is achieved. The sooner the better. We don’t want to wait for five years, we want it now – especially with fuel prices at its cheapest in a long time. 

Another new Minister who has already revealed some wonderful ideas for the development of Samoa is the new Minister of Finance, Sili Epa Tuioti. 

They are worth revisiting, we believe.

 “I have always taken the view that we need to take a longer term perspective, it’s not about now but we need to set the platform for the next five years that will allow social economic development,” said Sili.

“We need to motivate our people and incentivise them to develop their lands because we have so many lands but they are simply not working it.”

We couldn’t agree more with Sili. 

Our land is our biggest blessing and our people should make the most of it. To do that, we need to discourage this dependency mentality where people just wait around for families overseas to send them money. 

They need to work and work harder.

The government on the other hand has a responsibility to provide an enabling environment for our people to work and help them develop themselves. They need to find markets for products and goods produced in Samoa. They need to provide funding to allow people to set up small businesses to improve their lot in life.

“We need to start planning now and work really hard so that we will have a wealthy Samoa for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren,” Sili said.

He added that it is vital to communicate with people and listen to their needs. 

“This is very important so that we do developments based on what our country needs; because we should do everything for the benefit of our people.”

As for the public service and finances, Sili’s wisdom is sure refreshing. 

“We need to review the public policies with regards to public finances,” he said. 

“We have heard people talk about the external debt, the same things that Tautua Samoa always talks about, warning about bankruptcy and all of that.

“I think we need to make sure our finances match the reports. We don’t want to over stretch ourselves and we need to make sure that we have a lot more accountability and responsibility.”

When it comes to good governance, Sili said leaders must lead the way.

We say amen to that. 

Wonderful and inspirational. 

We wish them well in their journey. 

Have a great Thursday Samoa, God bless!

By Mata'afa Keni Lesa 21 April 2016, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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