During the great public debate leading up to the passage in Parliament of three major Constitutional Bills and the General Elections 2021, we often heard of the call for the “Rule of Law” from an opposition lawyer.
That lawyer is very silent now. Why?
This is the most appropriate time to bark the loudest, day and night.
And what exactly is the rule of law?
For us lay people, who are not lawyers, it means citizens and most especially the lawmakers alike, must observe and obey the laws of Samoa, especially the Constitution, the highest law of the land.
The emphasis is on the lawmakers’ attitude.
It is certainly not nice to witness in broad daylight the exercise of the “do as I say and not as I do” syndrome becoming the rule of the day in our country which proudly proclaims at every opportunity that Samoa is founded on God, using telecommunications to let the world know that Samoans of all the races in the world are the most God fearing.
Samoa belatedly modernized its communications network compared to other Pacific Nations when we decided back in 2000 to break up the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, taking out the Telecommunications sector for corporatization against much opposition from the Ministry’s Management staff and the opposition in Parliament.
Today we lead the Pacific in Telecommunications using our Tui-Samoa Submarine Cable, the Regional Manatua Submarine Cable and the ASH/SAS Submarine Cable used by Vodafone.
Compared to Satellite Communication, the submarine cable communication system is more reliable and we can also easily filter the programme contents which is safe for use by our children.
Our people are now accessing 24 hours a day, global events causing greater awareness on social, legal, economic and political issues, on a wider scale.
And therefore, no one can sidetrack our people from the truth any more, especially our well-educated sons and daughters of today.
Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi
Leader of HRPP