Angry resident demands action

An eighty-year-old resident of Ululoloa, Josef Baukes, is one frustrated man.

At his age, he doesn't need the stress.

But he says “years of inaction” from the Electric Power Corporation (E.P.C) has given him plenty of headaches to the point where he has been left with no option but to complain publically.

For eight years, Mr. Baukes has been pleading with E.P.C to cut the trees next to the electricity lines on the road to his home.

“I asked them before Cyclone Evan and nothing was done,” Mr. Baukes said.

“What happened during Cyclone Evan was that all the trees, the tamaligis and others, ended up on the power lines. I had to clean it up, pay for the boys to clean up the trees myself because they were busy with similar clean ups elsewhere.”

With a lot of talk about cyclones, given the current Cyclone Season, Mr. Baukes has been knocking on the door of E.P.C for help.

Has anything changed?

“None,” he said. “I’ve visited them, I called and on one occasion I even gave a guy at Vaitele some money. He took the money and he promised they will be down at my street the next day.

“Today the trees are still standing.”

According to Mr. Baukes, the failure of E.P.C to carry out this “simple function of theirs” ends up costing the government millions of dollars during natural disasters.

“We’ve seen it time and time again,” he said.

“The first problem when the wind starts blowing is that the power goes off because trees that are supposed to be cut regularly are not.

“The question I ask is, where are the people who are supposed to do this job? And why are they not doing it?

“What I’m saying is that we are in the hurricane season and there are three important things, observation, planning and taking action.

“I’ve been several times to the E.P.C. and nothing has happened.”

Mr. Baukes admits that he does not want to be a whinger. “But this issue is serious, it’s about safety. When the wind blows them on power lines, not only will they block the road for vehicles to get around in during times of emergencies, you have to think of the live wires and what that means for the safety of our people.”

Looking at the bigger picture, Mr. Baukes, who is a Civil Engineer by profession, said Samoa gets a lot of aid from overseas.

“I know we get all the help from overseas when there is a disaster but we cannot continue to ask for help when we don’t help ourselves.

“God helps these people who help themselves but we cannot continue that. I’ve reported this matter to the E.P.C but nothing has happened.”

Attempts to get a comment from the E.P.C were unsuccessful. But Mr. Baukes said about 80 per cent of Samoa’s problems during natural disasters, such as cyclones, could be avoided.

“Simple things like making sure the power lines are cleared,” he said. “It goes a long way to prevent further headaches.

“That is why I said planning, observation and action is a must in Samoa. Climate change means we will have more and more hurricanes and I can’t understand why the E.P.C is so negligent.”

Mr. Baukes also said donor partners should also take such negligence into consideration when a disaster trikes.

“Nobody seems to plan here in this country,” he said. “My talks, my effort seems to run on empty doors.”