When Samoa voted in a new Government last year, it was a sign. It became glaringly obvious that the people of this country, at least the ones who voted for the F.A.S.T political party, that they wanted change. For various reasons.

The political turmoil in the aftermath of Samoa’s most controversial elections to date marked an extraordinary transition, a period that will undoubtedly be remembered by the people of this nation, and the international community, for a long time to come.

But life goes on and with the assurance of the nation’s support, the dust eventually settled allowing Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa and her administration to take control of the wheel and begin to do what they had promised to deliver. A breath of fresh air it was.

Between then and now, it is way too early to draw a conclusion on how they have done. The opposition party, the H.R.P.P. after all had controlled the political pendulum in this country for nearly 40 years and it would be utterly unfair to judge the new administration this early. In fact far too soon.

What we can say is that the honeymoon period for the Government has clearly come to an end – as all honeymoons do. After their orientation during the later period of 2021, where they needed to make some tough decisions on a number of fronts, they have not wasted time at all as 2022 kicks on, and rightly so. They have a lot of work to do, especially in dealing with some of the bad choices made by the previous government.

The recent debate about the failure that was Samoa Airways is a case in point. The revisiting of the law to tax church ministers and the Head of State is another.

But perhaps the most significant decision up until now was made in Parliament this week when a Commission of Inquiry to investigate discrepancies in the establishing of an independent Land and Titles Court in 2020 was approved. If anything, this clearly reflects the urgency with which they are looking to right some of the wrongs they have inherited. We cannot think of a more important issue to get stuck into.

The Constitutional Amendment Act 2020 and the Land and Titles Act 2020 were defective and dysfunctional pieces of legislation that were rammed through Parliament by a party that simply wanted to show how far they could flex their political muscle. They were rushed and they were unnecessary.

It was why the entire judiciary, countless eminent international experts and so many well-meaning people cautioned against them. It was clearly an offence against the principles of democracy and it was an attempt to undermine the judiciary in this country with immediate consequence. The recent debacle about the appointment of the Vice President of the L.T.C is clear evidence of this.

But that’s not all. Apparently there are different versions of these laws floating around. From what we’ve been told, the version published on the Parliament website is different from the version sold to the general public. There were also two different versions used by the L.T.C. Court and the one used by the Attorney General’s Office.

If it sounds like a joke, it’s hard to make it something else other than that. But then does it surprise anyone? It shouldn’t, if our humble opinion is sought. The process was flawed from the start. What makes anyone think then that the end result would not be flawed? It was only a matter of time before it was uncovered.

Speaking in Parliament, Prime Minister Fiame revealed that the L.T.C. law does not have provisions that include criteria on the appointment of judges for that Court, their tenure of office as well as benefits and salary.

“If we do not put in place regulations for laws it can affect the independence of the Courts,” she said, adding that as a result “the entity is powerless in enforcing appropriate criteria for judges of the Land and Titles Court.”

The good news is that this has now been exposed and we applaud the decision to establish a Commission of Inquiry to investigate it. This matter is of paramount importance. These laws have changed the foundation upon which our justice and judicial system rests. They have an enormous impact on everyone in this country – including the unborn generation.

Could all this mess, however, have been avoided? Of course. The words of the former Attorney General, Taulapapa Brenda Heather-Latu, who was the first to speak out when the bills were promoted by the then government, immediately come to mind.

“As a former AG I would not have entertained the preparation and drafting of these Bills for any reason, and certainly would not have certified the Bills as suitable to be tabled for the consideration of the Prime Minister and Cabinet or the Legislative Assembly…” she said.

“(These bills) are fundamentally defective and badly drafted, given the new justice system which is created under the Bills cannot actually work because of the enormous number of gaps and uncertainties which are not addressed in any of the Bills.”

The Commission of Inquiry is going to cost a lot of time, money and resources, something that could have been easily avoided if the advice from the Judiciary, so many eminent legal experts and Taulapapa, who was of course called all sorts of unpleasant names, was heeded.

Let this be a lesson for everyone, and the new Government as well as they proceed in their season in control of the destiny of our beloved Samoa.