Samoa stands at a crossroads, and not the kind where you stop to enjoy the breeze or sip a coconut. This is the kind where the wrong turn might send us straight into the vao. The political climate is stormy, and as the 2025 election draws near, our beloved nation must ask: who do we trust to steer the canoe?

The Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party came in like the first rains of the wet season, full of hope, ready to cleanse. But lately, the downpour feels more like a leaking roof than a blessing. The public sacking of Laʻauli Leuatea Polataivao Schmidt, a founder and senior minister now facing serious criminal charges, has sent FAST into a tailspin. The split with Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa was not just political, it was personal, public, and painful. It’s starting to look like a to’ona’i where everyone brought food, but now they’re throwing the plates instead of sharing the meal.

Fiamē says she’s still FAST’s leader. Laʻauli says, “Leai, ua uma lou taimi.” One says fa’atuatua, the other says fa’amavae. It’s a power struggle fit for a Samoan telenovela, if only it weren’t real.

And watching all this, quietly sharpening their old swords, is the HRPP. Yes, the party with four decades of rule behind it, and a legacy that includes both steady development and serious controversy. They’re now polishing their old trophies and telling us, “See? We told you this would happen.” But before we get swept up in nostalgia, let’s not forget the chaos they left behind in 2021 when they wouldn’t concede defeat and tangled the nation in courtrooms and constitutional limbo.

Now here’s the part that always makes me chuckle: our family from overseas! You know the ones. They haven’t stepped foot in Samoa in 10 years, but come election season, suddenly everyone’s an expert. They call home saying, “Aua le palota i lena party... vote FAST! Vote HRPP! If you vote wrong, o le Western Union o le a tapunia!” As if democracy depends on whether you get your $100 for White Sunday. One cousin even said, “If you vote for the wrong people, I’m sending the money to Apia Bingo instead.” We love you, uso, but please, we live with the decisions, not just the bank receipts.

“Anyways”, Samoa is in a fragile place. We need leaders, not actors. We need service, not status. We need parties that remember they are servants of the people, not warriors fighting over chairs and titles.

So as we approach the polls, let’s remember who we are. Samoa, the land of fa’aaloalo, of wise elders, of sacred service. We don’t vote for show, we vote for the soul of our nation. Whether HRPP is making a comeback or FAST is trying to hold itself together, we must choose leadership that values peace, humility, and the people first.

Let’s not let the noise drown out the truth. Let us vote with open minds, and more importantly, with clean hearts.

“O le ala i le pule o le tautua.”

Le Masina Fasia