It’s Samoa’s Parliament, Speaker La’auli reminded

A former Speaker of the House and acting Opposition leader, A’eau Dr. Peniamina Leavaiseeta, has brushed off a threat by the Speaker of Parliament, La’auli Leuatea Polata’ivao.

Instead, he has reminded the Speaker that the Parliament of Samoa is for all Samoans.

Therefore, he said “the issues are for everybody and are for the people to understand.

Everyone has the right to express their own opinion.

He added: “Anything that happens in Parliament is a public issue. It is not specifically for us Parliamentarians.”

Ae’au made the comment during an interview with the Samoa Observer yesterday.

It followed an order by the Speaker for members of the Officers of Parliament Committee (O.P.C.) to stop expressing opinions in the media about their report.

The report in question confirms instances of “collusion” and “corrupt practices” in the government. The order, made in a letter leaked to the Samoa Observer last week, also warned that failure to adhere to the Speaker’s instructions would result in members of the Committee being referred to Parliament for a “decision.”

A’eau is a member of the O.P.C. Chaired by Associate Minister, Muagututagata Peter Ah Him, other members include Taefu Lemi Taefu (H.R.P.P), Agafili Eteuati Tolova’a (H.R.P.P. and deputy Speaker), Papali’itele Niko Lee Hang (H.R.P.P.), Motuopua’a Dr. Aisoli Vaai (Tautua) and Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster (Tautua).

Yesterday, the Committee, through a spokesperson, issued a response to the Speaker.

“We are not worried about that, we are not even threatened by it,” the Committee responded.

“This will not stop us from telling the truth and saying what we need to say to keep the public informed. The Speaker has already warned us. It is okay for the Speaker to have his thoughts on the situation. If he takes us to Parliament, we will challenge his decision because we know we have not done anything wrong.”

According to the statement, the Committee’s position is that while it was not their intention to go against the Speaker, they felt they had to correct a number of points made by former Minister of Finance, Faumuina Tiatia Liuga, when he resigned.

“We are responsible to the voters, as such we need to keep them informed regarding the Auditor’s Report and the Ministerial Response. We felt that we needed to correct some points in the Minister’s statement.”

The Ministerial statement in question was made by Faumuina in response to a number of allegations against him. The 25- page statement has been widely publicised.

Asked about the Speaker’s letter, the Committee said: “We know we did not break any Parliamentary rules.”

The Committee said they only spoke out because they felt the public had a right to be informed.

“We only want the public, the taxpayers to be informed especially to the situation in relation to the S.L.C.’s (Samoa Land Corporation) activities as exposed and reported by the Chief Auditor.

“While the Speaker is not happy about the comments from us, our argument against this is that the Minister’s Statement was made public and we needed to correct it.”

The Committee said they understood that the Government had 90 days to respond to their report.

“We are waiting for those 90 days. We weren’t responding to the whole statement, just some aspects. There were also many issues raised by our report that were not addressed in Parliament.”

The Committee also answered the Speaker’s question about why they became Members of Parliament when they have chosen to discuss these matters “on the road.”

“We became M.P.s (Member’s of Parliament) so we could make a contribution to our country and say what we want to say.

“We have a responsibility to our voters and to the taxpayers to tell them what is happening. That is why we wanted to become M.P.’s.”

At the end of the day, the Committee believes Faumuina gave his speech in Public and they felt they needed to respond to it in public.

“It is true that we were given the opportunity at the end to respond, but after he resigned we felt sorry for him so we left it at that. But when his statement was published, it was then our responsibility to tell the public that with his statement, he misled the public as some aspects of it were not complete and some aspects were not correct.”

Speaking as an Opposition M.P., Aeau agrees. He stressed that if there are “opinions being thrown in by the public, it is because it is a public issue.”

He said “people need to understand it.” The veteran M.P. is one of the few O.P.C. members who has come out publicly to criticise the handling of the undebated reports.

In the letter from Speaker La’auli dated 28th April 2014, he expressed his displeasure following two media statements issued by Members of Parliament. The first quoting the O.P.C. was published under the headline “Committee attacks Faumuina’s reply.”

The second statement, issued by Papali’i as the Chair of the Public Finance Committee, was published under the headline “Collusion, reckless and total negligence.”

The Speaker was not impressed.

In the letter, he wrote; “I was under the impression most of you have had two or three terms in Parliament and that you are well versed with the basis of the issues that have been referred for the consideration of Select Committees according to orders of the Legislative Assembly.

“However, it now seems from your actions that you do not have such awareness, despite our efforts to push our Parliamentary procedures project.”

According to the Speaker, Parliamentary issues should not be discussed out “on the road.”

He said the Committees have taken “the decision making process of Samoa to be done on the roadside thereby doing away with Parliamentary procedure.”

The letter from La’auli warned O.P.C. members that failure to adhere would result in members of the committee being referred to Parliament for a “decision”.

La’auli did not elaborate on what the decision is.

The Speaker’s letter was published in the Sunday Samoan, 4th May 2014.