By Mataeliga Pio Sioa
If it will bring you closure to leave the public service, go for it Judge Faimalomatumua,
You have done your duty to country with the best that you had to offer and there will always be regrets – human nature.
Leave with a clean heart and clear conscience. Leave knowing that you had served well enough to be satisfied with your contribution as a public servant.
No guilty hang ups to be regretted.
After all the political rubbish you were unjustifiably exposed to, simply give it a clean swipe and move on.
The real world awaits. Welcome to the rough and tough challenges of the private sector.
Living off a life of long working hours and much higher stress levels is not recommended for the meek and the weak-hearted.
To survive all that is a blessing. When the Pearly Gates call, there will be a happy, contended smile on your face as just reward for all your hard and honest toil.
The greatest satisfaction of surviving in the private sector is the sweet rewards of knowing that you have fully earned it.
You are not alone as a Government CEO exposed to the hounding of political bullying and abuse, never before seen until now.
Was there ever a time when CEOs were forced to have their services terminated or deliberately denied renewal of contract like we have now?
How many are no longer in the service since the FAST Government came to power?
More CEO heads are on the chopping block ready to roll and that is a solid bet.
Good luck on former CEO Matafeo Avalisa having any shot in hell of having her contract renewed.
A few more who are close to the end of their contracts will be rightly anxious as well about the chances of retaining their jobs.
How unfortunate, for these servants of the public with the skills and experience to serve us the public well, to work in a hostile environment.
The traumas the CEOs are going through are not lost on the watching staff surely. How they react working under such adverse conditions maybe cause for unwanted morale issues.
Imagine the divisions created in this kind of working situation with loyalties divided for and against the CEO.
Political allegiances are bound to be at play at the same time too, adding to the emotional chaos and failure of the staff to work in harmony.
A glaring example is the run of unsuccessful attempts by the Public Service Association to organise and rally support behind the rights of the workers.
The reason is the division of loyalties inside the association. The last attempt to hold an annual general meeting failed for the lack of a quorum.
CEOs fighting for their job security rights would welcome the support of the PSA but they are not getting it when they needed it most.
What does that say and where will that leave the future of workers standing together for their own good?
Politicians come and go. The Prime Minister Fiame said that and she knows that well from experience as a veteran politician.
This is the kind of assurance those in the public service need to reassure them of their value to the country.
But the PM’s encouraging rhetoric rings hollow every time a CEO service is terminated or contract renewal rejected for obvious political reasons.
Even the PM herself is guilty of going against her words when she terminated the contract for Attorney General Savalenoa because she cannot work with her.
The Minister of Finance gave the same excuse to force CEO Leasiosio to resign from the Ministry of Finance.
The Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, Tiatia Graeme Tualaulelei, suffered the same fate.
Former Education CEO, Professor Afamasaga Karoline, was bundled out of a job for a miscommunication over the need for the children to stay home for their own safety from the COVID 19 pandemic.
What do we have now? Government is not risking the children to this ‘living with COVID’ assertion by closing schools.
Did Professor Afamasaga made the right choice keeping the children at home whether or not it was a miscommunication?
The more these trigger-happy reactions by the FAST Government are added up, the easier they come across as bullies wielding their political muscle to demand respect.
Where will this end and at what cost to the public and the quality of service they are offered if the educated sons and daughters of the country are forced to work under political intimidation.
What benefits are there for the public if the quality of service they rightly deserve are degraded by public servants frozen in terror for the security of their jobs?
This environment of fear created by Government inside the work place has to stop.
Samoa can do without this political bullying of our most eligible work force. Nothing good will come out of it.
Politicians come and go. The people who stay behind are there to serve and look after us the general public.
For goodness sake let them work in peace and harmony and to the best of their God given abilities for the good of Samoa.
Butt off!