Emerging leaders visit Parliament, Justice Sector

“The tour has been very eye opening and quite overwhelming as there are many layers of the Law and Justice Sector which I, and I am assuming the general public are not aware of.

PR - The Leadership Samoa Class of 2014 continued its 10 months journey with its second study tour two weeks ago.

The focus was on Parliament, Law and Order. The first day consisted of informative and challenging talks and discussions from the Electoral Commissioner, Papali’i Malietau Malietoa; Speaker of Parliament, Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt,

Legislative Assembly senior personnel, Tigaina Laupepa, Samoa Law Society President, Mareva Betham - Annandale, Taulapapa Brenda Heather-Latu, partner of Latu Lawyers and Justice Vui Clarence Nelson of the Supreme Court.

Papali’i updated the emerging leaders of Samoa about the plans of the upcoming general election in 2016 and the role of the Electoral Office in government.

Despite his busy schedule with hosting 40 Speakers of Parliament from the region, Laaulialemalietoa still had time to share with the 2014 Class the role a Speaker plays in the Legislative of Samoa.

He also shared his experiences and hardships he faced in life that contributed to his achievements of being the leader of Samoa’s Parliament.

“Every calling is from God,” he said.

“My role as speaker is a reward of my services to my family, my village, and my religious denominations. The way to lead is through hard work.”

Mareva Betham-Annandale presented the role of the society to Samoa’s law and order sector. She highlighted the challenges faced by the Society, which included continuing legal education for its members, handling of complaints from the public, disciplining of its members and the charging of legal fees.

Taulapapa Brenda shared about the issues and challenges faced by her firm, which included the increase in the number of Law graduates and the inability to provide jobs for all. She also noted the criticism often raised regarding the quality of their services and the lack of training.

She noted that the major drivers of crimes of theft as a servant were cultural and church obligations in that families were under financial pressure to give more than their means allowed.

In their work as Legal representatives for ANZ Bank, the Latu Lawyers have extensive experience with this situation. Tellers found to have committed theft said they did so because of intense pressure from their families and peers.
Justice Vui Clarence discussed the role of a judge to the Law and Justice Sector, and the major challenges he faces daily. One of the major difficulties he encounters is sentencing young offenders, especially those he calls “Borderline” cases (i.e. not young enough for Youth Jail but not quite old enough for Tafaigata). Justice Vui shared the some of the personal effects of his role and his decisions made. This included youths reoffending when he has given them a chance of reforming, public opinions and criticisms.

The second day of the Parliament, Law and Order study tour included more inspiring and enlightening presentations and discussions from the Attorney General of Samoa, Aumua Ming Leung Wai, Superintendent of Ministry of Police Auapaau Logoitino Filipo, the new Commissioner of the Ministry of Prisons and Corrections Facilities, Taitosaua Edward Winterstein, new Executive Director of the Samoa Law Reform Commission, Leota Theresa Potoi, the Coordinator of the Law and Justice Sector Secretariat Roni Fereti and lastly the Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration, Masinalupe Tusipa Masinalupe.

The AG discussed the role of the Office of the Attorney General to the Government of Samoa. He clarified the AG‟s responsibility as the Chief Legal Advisor to the Head of State, Prime Minister and Cabinet. The AG‟s Office provides legal advice to government, parliament and less often the Judiciary. AG does not give legal advice to those outside of government. A couple of the continuing challenges their office face is the retention of senior lawyers and the lack of understanding of government ministries to the AG‟s office roles and functions. He concluded by sharing some leadership tips for the emerging leaders group. This included leading from the front, have balance in our lives, respect others, never compromise your values and always act with integrity as it instil trust. Never forget your role as a Leader and never lose your way. Work smarter, not harder! Understand your staffs weaknesses and strengths, delegate accordingly and always trust those under you. Always take responsibility and lastly, he emphasized to put God first in everything we do.

The presentation from the Ministry of Police highlighted their core functions as mandated by the Police Service ACT 2009. He also gave a brief overview of the common crimes in Samoa, which are sexual, crimes against persons, traffic offenses, offenses to public order and crimes against personal property. The notable highly prevalent acts in the Samoa Sexual Crimes are rape, incest, carnal knowledge, and indecent assault. Technology (especially mobile phone usage) has brought another form of crime which the Ministry are now seeing and pertains heavily to sexually explicit materials. These are cybercrimes which are rapidly taking speed and are difficult for the Ministry to detect and track.

The new Commissioner of the Ministry of Prisons and Corrections facility talked about his strategies in improving Corrections facilities in Samoa. One of the strategies discussed was to improve standards by creating more rehabilitation programmes to assist inmates and help reduce re-offending. Currently there are six available programmes for Tafaigata, 5 for Oloamanu and two for both Vaiaata and Vailele. He is hoping to include an additional 12 new programmes to all

Corrections facilities in Samoa. The 12 include drug and alcohol counselling, education and vocational trainings, mental health trainings, improvement of working relations between officers and inmates, apprenticeship programmes, prison industries,village fale projects, biogas projects, medical and chaplaincy services, improvement of hygiene and case management of offenders. The new Commissioner is hoping with the new strategies in place it will help improve the status of the facilities in Samoa.

The new Executive Director of the Samoa Law Reform Commission, Leota Theresa Potoi talked about the role of the Commission and the challenges and issues faced. Some of the key challenges they are facing include; trying to move ahead with public opinion relating to all legislations under review, reconciling and harmonising western laws with customary law, the public perception of the Commission, ensuring laws intended for reform are consistent with
international obligations and international best practice. The amount of references given to them, technicality and diversity of references, delay in translations, consultations issues, funding, attraction and retention of staff and difficulty of obtaining relevant data are additional challenges faced by the Samoa Law Reform Commission.

Roni Fereti, the Coordinator of the Law and Justice Sector Secretariat and Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration, Masinalupe Tusipa Masinalupe each discussed their role of the Law and Justice Sector Secretariat to the Sector.

The Leadership Class of 2014 have learnt a wide range of new information which contributed much to their personal development. According to one participant, Lisha Sablan of Janet’s of Samoa “The tour has been very eye opening and quite overwhelming as there are many layers of the Law and Justice Sector which I, and I am assuming the general public are not aware of. What I come to realization is that, it is not as easy as presenting a set of laws and expecting people to follow these”.