By Martha Taumata Faavae
A political career of more than 30 years is about to end in retirement for the Speaker of Parliament, Toleafoa Fa’afisi.
He is the incumbent Speaker with his appointment in 2016 set to run out when the 5-year term of the current Parliament ends this year.
Toleafoa will step down with the rare distinction of the longest serving Speaker since the first Parliament of Samoa in 1957.
His first appointment was in 1966 for back-to-back terms that ended in 2006.
Toleafoa has served as the A’ana Alofa No. 1 West Constituency for 6 different terms.
He was a Minister of Police after serving out his first term as Speaker and again for his second and final duties in Parliament.
“I have to spend some time with my family after all these years in politics,” Speaker Toleafoa told Newsline Samoa.
“ My son, Aiono Afaese Toleafoa, is interested in following my footsteps into politics and has already registered with the our HRPP party to run in the general elections next year.”
The Speaker hastened to assure that being his son does not guarantee he will take over the seat next year.
Toleafoa believes that any appointment is by God and is ready to accept whatever the outcome of the general elections for his son.
“My son made his own decision to run, he want to follow in his father’s footsteps,” he quipped.
The father of five reflected on his role as the Speaker of the House and willingly sighed that the challenges of the job is always a struggle trying to bring order to members debate.
“Everybody knows what it is like in the heat of debate and as Speaker I must be careful not to rush into making spur of the moment decisions.
“Once I decide on a course to take as the Speaker I do not want to do back on what I had ruled on.”
As a strong Christian, Toleafoa, relied on the counsel of his faith and trust in divine support to guide him along in his duties in Parliament.
Toleafoa is the 10th and 13th Speaker of Samoa’s Parliament since it became a sovereign nation close to 60 years ago.
Under the new election boundaries drawn for the 2021 general elections the A’ana Alofi No. 1 electoral constituency is made up of only two villages, Faleasi’u and Sapulu, in Upolu.