Prime Minister and HRPP leader Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi delivering the party manifesto at the HRPP headquarters, Mulinu’u, Monday morning

By Nanai Laveitiga Tuiletufuga

In two political rallies this week by the Human Rights Protection Party – in Upolu and Savaii – party leader and Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi outlined some of the major challenges his government faced in the last five-year term.
They include;

• The global financial crisis and the slowdown in the Chinese economy in 2012 that severely affected government revenue, adversely affected the ability to secure markets for our exports. The scaling down of the Yazaki operation in Samoa is a direct impact of that phenomenon. These two events also impacted adversely on the tourism sector as fewer tourists travelled to Samoa.

• Cyclone Evan that struck in December 2012 caused significant damage and incurred substantial losses to key economic infrastructure such as roads and bridges, agriculture, tourist facilities and personal properties to the value of $470.0 million tala.

But government under the HRPP persevered by adopting appropriate policies and strategies as well as implementing development projects to ensure a stable development pathway was maintained, assured the Prime Minister.

Among the highlights in the last five years include;
• Samoa’s Graduation to Middle Income Country in January 2014 – This is a clear recognition of Samoa’s progressive development over the past 30 years since the HRPP came into power.

• 2014 UN SIDS Conference – The first world conference to be hosted by a Pacific Island country including New Zealand and Australia, the event brought close to 4,000 delegates from across the world to our shores giving good business to our tourist operators and the private sector.

A key outcome of the conference was the endorsement of the S.A.M.O.A Pathway (SIDS Accelerated Modalities Of Action) for the implementation of sustainable development and poverty eradication.

This is a notable marketing icon for Samoa because every time a world leader refers to the SAMOA Pathway, our country is being advertised and promoted automatically worldwide.

• 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games – Another first for the Pacific Islands attracting thousands of foreign athletes and supporters. The games exposed our local athletes to international level competition which is extremely valuable for their development in their respective sports. Preparations for the SIDS conference and the games benefited a number of local engineering and construction companies as there were a number of civil and building works required.

• 2015 All Blacks – Manu Samoa Game – Prior to 2015, the All Blacks never played a game in Samoa. This changed in July 2015 when the Chairman of the Samoa Rugby Union who is also the Prime Minister pressured New Zealand Rugby to have the world champions play against Manu Samoa at the Apia Park. The game attracted many NZ based All Blacks supporters to Samoa filling up all the hotels in town for two weeks.

• RSE Scheme Extended to Australia – The RSE scheme is one key measure to create job opportunities for our people. In the last five years the scheme was extended to Australia paving the way for our youth to engage in short term employment in Australia in addition to the ongoing seasonal arrangements with New Zealand. Increasing labour mobility opportunities for our people is an important element of our livelihood strategies.

• 2012 Acquisition of PFL – The Pacific Forum Line is critical for Samoa’s trade with the outside world and therefore the cost of losing PFL to a private operator would be far too excessive and could stifle Samoa’s trade.  While PFL (now fully owned by the Samoan Government) is still in its infancy stage, indications are that it is beginning to operate profitably. PFL’s joint venture with Neptune Shipping Company provides secured placings for our trained local seamen on Neptune ships.

• Climate Change –The agreement in France in December 2015 (COP21) commits 195 countries to keep the increase in global average temperature rise well below 2°C and pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Countries agreed to use the US$100 billion a year figure from 2020 onwards to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change. This demonstrates that developed countries are now more serious about climate change and are committed to contributing to the funding facilities such as the green Climate Fund. Samoa stands to gain from these funds but need to prepare sound projects in line with GCF guidelines.

In formulating its development agenda for the next 5 years the Prime Minister said;
“We will deliver on the things that matter to the people not only in the immediate future but also the medium to long term.

Share This

About the author