Someone asked me recently about my thoughts on the Human Rights Protection Party case against the Speaker and his Deliberative Vote on a Constitutional Amendment.

I said I am not so sure. Why?

We argued that the Speaker has no deliberative vote. He has only a casting vote when there is a tie.

It is the same as in any organisation meeting all over the whole of Samoa and the world at large.

The Chairman does not vote except when there is a tie. A straightforward case!

The Amendments in question are said to reverse the changes to the structure and mandate of the Land and Titles Court, which were brought about by the 2020 amendments to the Constitution and the Land and Titles Act.

Those amendments were the result of a nationwide consultation facilitated by a special Parliamentary Committee.

The amendments even received comments from the Judiciary.

While the recent constitutional amendments are important, the process for passing those amendments is equally important.

After all, as the saying goes, ‘justice must not only be done, but it must also be seen to be done’.

Following the constitutionally mandated process for passing an amendment contributes greatly to maintaining the appearance that justice has been done, i.e. the amendments were passed properly and therefore legally binding.

For the 2025 Amendments, we maintain the belief that the Speaker has not followed the process by casting a vote when there was no tie in the votes and, by his own words, made it clear that his vote was a deliberative one.

We believe that his actions are not only unconstitutional, but unprecedented, as in my years of experience as a parliamentarian, a speaker has never cast a vote during a two-thirds majority vote over a constitutional amendment.

In the interest of educating our young generations of the future on our history of ongoing questionable developments within the 3 branches of Government, the HRPP continues to express views openly in the media for their information for their ongoing studies and research to become great lawyers and judges of the future.

Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi

Leader of HRPP