PRESS STATEMENT : The Fa’atuatua I le Atua Samoa ua Tasi government of Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, should “walk the talk” as it regularly pronounced through the media during their election campaign that the HRPP government was not observing the rule of law.
FAST legal adviser Taulapapa Brenda Latu was especially over emphatic in her many verbal attacks against the HRPP government and the rule of law.
This is the view of the Opposition Human Rights Protection Party.
Leader and former Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, says two recent actions by FAST have completely ignored the law.
“It sure looks to me like these people continuously like to espouse the rule of law but they don’t want to obey the law,” says Tuilaepa.
He said that last week, Fiame and her Cabinet decided to do away with daylight saving which caused havoc amongst the population with most computers and mobile phones automatically falling into line with current international practice.
“Many were an hour early to church last Sunday because their clocks changed time automatically,” he said.
He stressed that the act of stopping daylight saving was also illegal because there is an Act of Parliament that needs to be changed before they could do it.
“That makes this decision by the FAST government unlawful and unconstitutional,” he said.
Tuilaepa also believes that the amendments to the Electoral Act 2019, passed by Parliament in a late night sitting on Tuesday, should not be introduced for the upcoming seven, court-imposed, by-elections.
He said the by-elections should be conducted under the Electoral Act 2019, used for the April General Elections.
Why?
“This amounts to discrimination against all voters and candidates who now have to vote under new rules and conditions”.
He said any new amendments to the Electoral Act 2019 should only be considered by a Parliament that is fully represented by all the electoral Constituencies of Samoa and therefore be fully implemented at the next General Elections in 2026.
“That would be in keeping with the rule of law and with the country’s supreme law, our Constitution”.