Not long ago, a former Speaker of our Parliament was dismissed following a post-election legal challenge over a $10 tālā gift he gave to a relative during the election campaign period.
The Court deemed that this gesture was an act of bribery under our election laws.
Recently, the Fa’atuatua I le Atua Samoa ua Tasi Minister responsible for the million tālā a year per district development projects informed all the District Development Committees that by December 2024, an additional $20.4 million tala will be disbursed under the scheme, in lump-sum payments.
She also announced that a total of $71.4 million tala will be released in the 2025/2026 financial year, which runs from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.
For the FAST Party, this conveniently overlaps with the 2026 election campaign period, all the way to polling day.
And where is this money coming from?
Very simple.
It comes from unused budgetary allocations that have been siphoned off to a so-called Special Purpose Account.
This is only made possible through direct budget support from Development Partners as the FAST government has not generated any new revenue streams needed to finance their $255,000,000 tālā scam.
The remaining $91.8 million tālā that will be handed out in the next 18 months comes from Samoan and donor taxpayer funds that were approved in the budget to provide basic and essential services to our people but have been diverted to this disgraceful scheme.
It is funds that were meant to maintain our hospitals and roads, pay overtime for our civil servants, upgrade our electricity services, fill vacant civil service positions, cover emergency overseas medical treatment, pay scholarships for future doctors, nurses, lawyers, teachers, engineers, and to fund our police to stop the uncontrolled flow of methamphetamine across our borders.
Our Donors must be careful not to be caught up in this deception.
It is an open secret that this plot has been run in other parts of the Pacific.
It will not look good when donor taxpayers start asking how it is possible that the Samoan government can afford to simply hand out an average of $5.1 million tālā a month to its constituencies over the next 18 months, when families in Australia and New Zealand are struggling to make ends meet.
Remember, no good deed goes unpunished.
As Dickens famously wrote, “the law is an ass.”
So, whether it is $10 tālā or $255,000,000 tālā, you will be held accountable.
Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi
Leader of HRPP