FILE PHOTO : Speaker Papali’i ( second from right) next to MP Lealailepule with others
By Mataeliga Pio Sioa
Speaker Papali’i is or was supposed to be a good guy. He was actually seen as one in his time as a police officer and even when he first moved to politics.
When he hooked up with the Tautua Samoa Party at the start, politics at the time were clean and healthy.
Unfortunately, all has changed since our political world turned inside out with newcomer in politics, FAST party, taking over.
Since the controversial results of the 2021 general elections dragged the stability of Samoa into chaos, the whole political landscape has collapsed into a shameful mockery.
We are living or at least trying to put on a brave face at the disgrace of being the laughing stock in a region where once our political stability was envied.
The forced removal of the Associate Minister of Police from office by the PM is a more recent example of our political decay.
We will not go there while the Associate Minister is awaiting a court hearing on alleged issues related.
But there are lots of circulating talk about a big stink behind it at risk of bursting.
….and so we sloshed along in the smelly mud of our stinky politics.
Going on 4 years since we ended up in this political dump, still no real hopes of any harmonious end in sight.
Our current political environment is too dodgy to allow for that.
Speaker Papali’i maybe at the centre of what is currently felt to be an all out effort to forcibly remove Tuilaepa and Lealailepule from Parliament, but he is only a front.
The general belief is that political party strings are being pulled from behind to direct his actions.
His legal motion to keep the niggling HRPP agitators out of Parliament by appealing the Supreme Court ruling against it is the primary example.
Unfortunately, the Appeals Court gave his legal efforts the goodbye boot.
But there is no stopping the man. His next move currently pending is for Parliament to pass a new Act of Law to stop MPs from conducts unbecoming.
Standing Orders of the House to throw members out for misbehaviour did not hold up in court in the case of Tuilaepa and Lealailepule, so off to Plan B – an Act of Law.
Members caught in heated political rhetoric in and out of Parliament, is high drama to the watching and listening public when and as it happens.
When one side offends the other by talking trash, most likely the others will rubbish them right back.
No surprises. The general reaction is ..”oh it’s just politics’.
Back in the Tofilau-Tupuola days, those two were calling each other names across the floor whenever there is a flare-up in the House debate.
There was even a time when they threatened to go one-on-one outside the Parliament lawn.
Ears would be glued to the live radio coverage of Parliament as the drama of verbal warfare exploded.
But as the whole country held their breath,‘Stofi and Stupu’ as they were popularly known then, would end up sharing a laugh outside the ava bowl while the House was on a session break.
Many are likely to remember all that as ‘back in the good days’ of our stable political past.
Today though, any threatening rhetoric is taken to another level.
Talk is no longer enough. Ask Tuilaepa and Lealailepule.
They are walking bulls eye for the trigger happy FAST party cowboys – at least that seems to be the general understanding.
The alleged target is to slam the Parliamentary doors in their faces to keep their watch-dog hounding from agitating against dubious issues of pubic interest.
Fortunately, the rule of justice is on these opposition gentlemen’s side.
The rulings of both the Supreme and Appeals Court have kept them safe and protected from being tossed by their ‘lavalava’s’ into the political wilderness of humbled futility.
There is little doubt the Speaker’s wish for the Act will be easily granted passage in the House.
If it does will that silence the rights of any opposition member of the House to speak freely in what they believe is for the good of their constituents and the country?
In direct terms will this Act of Law gag the members freedom of expression to be critical of the ruling policies of Government?
Should alarm bells be banging on the fears of this new law opening the door to dictatorship in the governing of the country?
Dear Lord are our political rulers of the day aware of the direction they are taking the future of Samoa?
Are they so blinded by their vengeful rage against Tuilaepa and Lealailepule they will stop at nothing to lash out without a care for the country’s peace and wellbeing?
Why us Lord?