By Mataeliga Pio Sioa
Right now we have a brewery that brews no beer and an airline that flies no aircraft – these are hard facts.
If we continue down this pathway we would soon be a country with no pride.
These are rambling thoughts for now, more in an anxious reaction to the direction we seem to be heading.
Our pride in our locally brewed beer as ‘Samoa’s Own’ is now tagged with…but brewed in Fiji. Luckily for us it is a but spelt with one t.
The move has cost 50 people their jobs and hopefully not too many worried faces.
Neighbouring airlines are going to the bank on our travel routes while our national carrier is forced to sit and watch.
Travelers on Samoan routes are being fleeced with costly airfares like prime New Zealand sheep. These outside carriers are more interested in storing away the ‘wools’ for rainy days.
The nagging worries while all this is going on is where is it all heading? To what end are we being pushed?
Today it is the Vailima beer and the Samoa Airways. Tomorrow is what? What new misery will it/they bring?
Parliament has just passed what several members analysed as the smallest budget in recent times.
The blame is on our economy in a struggle to cope with the effects of global financial setbacks from health, climate change and war.
We are not the only one of course.
So far our only clear response is to gamble on the hopes that the villages will respond well to the ‘handout stimulus’ of free money to fund development projects.
The gamble is set to run for the next three or four years left of the Government in power.
For our sake we can only hope and pray the gamble pays off.
At this point we have more than enough uncertainties simmering on our plate to add more.
The best we have heard since all this started is not about our lovely PM arriving back home safely but the good news she brought with her.
Samoa is the next venue for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2024. Good one Fiame.
More than 3 thousand visitors are expected to be drawn into Samoa for the event.
Our experience with the SIDS conference gives us a pretty good idea of the many economic benefits CHOGM holds for us.
At last, something positive to look forward to.
Hopefully when the time comes we are in a position to fly in our visitors on our own aircraft and be greeted on arrival with a cold ‘Samoa’s Own’ brewed Vailima.
Must tip off the hat to our former PM Tuilaepa for his contribution in making the hosting of CHOGM in Samoa possible.
He may no longer be at the Government helm but his leadership influence has reached out and felt at a time when the country needed it most.
At least for now we can focus with hope and resolve to make the most of this opportunity to get us back on our economic feet.
Our present Government will need to squeeze all they can out of this meeting for their own sake as much as everyone else’s.
CHOGM could do more than spike our faltering economy. It could help soften any blows in this ‘cash splash’ gamble on village developments if it tumbles on its backside.
We have a Government with only 2 years experience in running the country and as the excitement of power and leadership runs out, the harsh realities of managing the country catches up.
Much of what they have been doing so far is ride on what the previous Government did and they should.
To throw it aside because the others will take the credit lacks the kind of maturity needed to lead.
Bear in mind that if we are not vigilant it is not just our Vailima beer or a national airline without an aircraft that may turn around and bite us in the bum.
There maybe other issues with much bigger and sharper teeth sneaking behind us.
Try not to bum around too much.
We have to sit sometime.