By Mataeliga Pio Sioa
So if the end is when the ‘fat lady’ sings then she is going to have much to be thankful for with the ups and downs of our political upheavals.
By the time we settle our political differences she will have sung herself into a trim and slim, Miss Samoa body to die for.
No body fat left or loose hanging skin that needs urgent cosmetic surgery to worry about.
Regrettably that is the only good to come out of this political quicksand dragging all our hard work down into the unknown.
On hindsight this pathway of destruction we are going through started long before talk of the general elections started.
Vengeful former Speaker and Cabinet Minister La’auli Polataivao Schmidt was shooed out of the ruling Human Rights Protection Party in disgrace.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa decided to play mystery woman and walked out too.
These two became the force behind FAST including imaginative election campaigning that hit the right notes everywhere.
The Samoan overseas diaspora were won over in a big way.
At first the wave of opposition to Government emanated mainly from Australia before it fanned out to New Zealand and even the US at the later stages.
FAST tapped into this new emerging support with their election fundraising that raked in an outrageous $1.6m tala in a radiothon.
This huge non-voting, non-residential overseas family connection, latched on to the social media, to become a phenomenal influencing force never before felt in a general election.
Soon this outside intensity was galloping on a full frontline infantry attack on the Government’s trusted image.
One of the evils dangled on social media was big bad China coming in to steal ownership of the land and chase the natives out to sea to live with the fish.
The EFKS Church was at the same time mobilising its huge army of Reverend Generals for guerilla warfare in the divine battlefields of the Lord.
The mission was to convert the faithful away from the evil Caesar who dared to make the servants of the Lord pay income taxes.
Despite all these new battlefronts FAST was opening up the HRPP still remained quietly confident.
PM Tuilaepa was content to reach out through the sessions of Parliament to remind the villages of the benefits from the many Government developments.
The rush of election candidates to run under the HRPP banner turned into an avalanche to reassure the support of the country.
There were more Government candidates than FAST and other smaller political parties added together.
This massive show of early support lulled the HRPP away from taking the FAST challenge seriously.
The FAST election hero is obviously Gagaemauga 1 independent MP Tuala Ponifasio who tipped the winning numbers 26-25 in favour of Fiame as Samoa’s new leader.
But legitimate legal disputes surfaced including integrity issues and much more that are going to take the rest of the year to clear up.
We have election petitions to be decided in court starting next week. More than half the seats in Parliament may return to bi-elections leaving the balance of power hanging.
Fiame, La’auli and several other leaders of FAST are being brought up under private prosecutions in the magistrate courts for alleged election bribery and treating.
How long will all that take to settle? Will our COVID-19 deteriorating economy be able to hold off from collapsing while we hang around?
In simple, everyday language, even if a new FAST Government is sworn in, it will not stop us from drowning in deep political sh-t we are in already.
We have missed our one chance to be rescued with that lifeline the Head of State threw in when His Highness called for fresh general elections.
The ‘Tama Aiga’ attempts to restore peace and stability quickly in the country with fresh general elections ended in a humiliation never before handed a Head of State.
As one of only 4-paramount chiefs respected as Samoan royalty his dignity was dragged into the stench of social media low life.
His Highness was even threatened to the point where his royal Tui A’ana village power base at Falelatai, raced in busloads to his rescue at his Vailele official residence.
Where is Samoa going with all this? Where is our democracy heading?
Can we afford to be positive and believe that what is happening now is testimony that our democracy is alive and well?
Is that the same as allowing political ambition to destroy all the years of hard work we were once told to sacrifice for?
The word back then was ‘ositaulaga’.
‘Ositaulaga’ is a commitment Lord you know so well.
‘Taketh this cup away’ are Your words before you drank. Your ‘ositaulaga’ brought us eternal life.
If we follow your example will that fix up our political mess? How?