Mataeliga Pio Sioa
Say it sweet, sour, hard, soft, long, short, big, small, loudly, quietly… the list is long and practically endless.
By the time it is all done you would have heard them all. To some it is trash talk, to others they are either sincere or ‘could not be bothered’ verbal drone.
Ladies and gentlemen welcome to ‘election talk.’
There are still a few of us around who were exposed to this kind of chatter after every 3-year election cycle.
The time cycle has since changed to after every 5 years. Yes thank you for allowing us to enjoy the peace and quiet a couple of years longer.
ET or election talk is quickly grinding into motion with the count to the 2021 general election down to 9 months.
The momentum stepped up a pace when the La’auli fallout from the HRPP ruling bubble started just a few weeks ago.
The verbal resignation and the reaction from the Gagaifomauga No.3 electoral constituency have certainly made high political drama for many of us excitement addicts.
Both the Government and La’auli have endeared their acrimonious separation to the local media, like the biblical breads that dropped from the skies….news wise of course.
The act is now a done deal except for the many layers of icing on the media news cake.
A newer layer rolled out at the start of the weekend with the Electoral Commissioner’s Office responding to a by-election warrant issued by the House Speaker for the La’auli Constituency.
The voters roll for the by-election opens for the next two weeks starting tomorrow, Monday 20 July 2020.
Voters have to register at the start of the process that will take them right up to the polls with a date yet to be finalised.
Will La’auli be returned un-opposed or will all the talk about the will of the constituency turn into hot air, if he is matched up against another by-election candidate?
Will the HRPP sit around and give La’auli a free by-election run or will they be canvassing for a party candidate to show him up as all talk?
Listen to the talk. Whatever you hear from today onwards that will be ET. But in the case of La’auli that is only going to be on the by-election.
Outspoken Associate Minister of Communications, Lealailepule is already making new noises from his inside observations.
Former MP and now head of the Tautua Samoa political party revival for the general elections has been warming up for a while also.
Time to speak out after sitting around watching the HRPP party doors open in and out by a steady stream of election candidates signing up to run under the Government banner.
All the more ET for us the avid political watchers to munch and digest slowly. While we chew away keep in mind we are no longer alone as we used to be in contemplation of our political front yard.
We have some very vocal political chatterers joining us on social media from the diaspora in distant places like Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Australia…er… that’s the country of Australia.
Soooo….it is going to be a very riotous, rowdy pathway to the 2021 election polls. Just try not to let your head spin around too much with the sounds and fury of all the ET bubbling from everywhere.
We have a lot of sharpening up to do on who or what we should believe from all the bubbling.
The ET will be coming from all sides and we have to be ready to respond in a snap to what is trash, sincere or could not be bothered with mutterings. Have to feel for our poor ears getting dragged into the hot chaos whether they like them or not.
There are basically two sides to all the hot uproar. Government will talk about their achievements and how they will easily add to them when they are again entrusted with the mandate to govern.
Political opposition will drag the narrative through all the sad shortcomings of the ruling administration.
Government will be thrashed for all the damages wrecked on our social and economic landscape during their long tenure in power.
All will be chucked out into the open like a struggling thief caught red handed in the act.
Government sins whether as a group or as individuals like the Prime Minister, will be aired.
The washing line will be loaded under the unbearable weight of smeared dirty linen, the opposition claim is in desperate need of the cleansing rays of the afternoon sun.
While all this is going on, imagine yourself in the middle of our busy four-lane Beach Road at peak traffic hours! On one side a group is screaming you will be safe if you step forward while the yelling from behind you is going full blast to stand still and take your time.
What should you do? Who should you trust? Run or stand and wait?
Veteran politician Lealailepule believes our Samoan democracy is based on personalities rather than ideologies. He may have a point there.
So should you listen to your heart or to your head? The debate is not a new one, it is as old as when God made Adam and Eve and told them to eat anything they fancy in Eden but not the apple.
Adam listened to his heart after Eve decided to listen to her head.
But what kind of answer is that? Well, whether we listen to our heart or to our head we will always make mistakes. We are humans, created to make mistakes so we could tell right from wrong.
Whatever decision you make as long as you are genuine about who or what you believe in, you have done the best you are humanly capable of.
Leave it there.
Win or lose you have given it your best. Surely you can live with that.
Sorry to knock on your door on your day of rest but what do you think Lord?