Thank you, Samoa Observer!

Dear Editor,

Re: Ele’s Fund 

I thank you Samoa Observer Newspaper Group, your Editors, Publisher and staff for this beautiful act of kindness, you have shown towards Ele Opeloge to honour her achievement – earning Samoa’s first Olympic medal.

This woman deserved much better treatment and with respect from P.M. 

Tuilaepa and his H.R.P.P govt. 

Unfortunately, not only did PM Tuilaepa NOT offer her a financial award for her Silver Medal achievement, but he ignored the public’s outcry to offer her a financial gift. You see Samoa Observer, the people are not stupid as he thinks they are and this is one of the worst mistakes P.M. Tuilaepa has made.

As I said in a previous letter I wrote to your newspaper, “If this was one of PM Tuilaepa or any of H.R.P.P.’s children, nieces or nephews, they would not hesitate to pull out the cheque book and offer her a financial award.”

Well, it’s not like it didn’t happen before – it did and we all know it. 

Every time something like this happens, P.M. Tuilaepa always comes up with his stupid politics to deny the citizen of Samoa an award.

P.M. Tuilaepa and his govt offered $280,000 in support of his nephew, Joseph Parker’s fight (without the people’s approval first), yet he was born in N.Z. and lived there most of his life and paid no taxes to Samoa, unlike Ele Opeloge who was born here and raised here all her life; sold goods at the market and on the streets and paid her taxes to the govt.

The pathetic excuse from P.M. Tuilaepa’s supporters was that Joseph 

Parker was a World Champion. Remember, the money was offered to Joseph Parker before the fight and before he became a World Champion. So really, if he didn’t win that fight, Joseph Parker would still have the taxpayers $280,000 gift in his pocket. What would they say then?

And so I ask - Does this ill-treatment of Ele Opeloge have anything to do with the reclassification of our people in our society where the lower class, the poor, the sick and the weak are ignored by P.M. Tuilaepa and H.R.P.P.?

Opeloge’s family used to sell their wares at the market for many years to support their family and it’s very disappointing that the very people this corrupt gov’t chose to ignore are the very ones paying for these gov’t members’ wages.

This is not the first time you Samoa Observer have done this for the people especially for the vulnerable and the poor of our society. P.M. Tuilaepa and H.R.P.P. owe you a lot – and can also learn a great deal from you too.

I also would rather have either one of you, Gatoaitele Sano Malifa or Mata’afa Keni Lesa, as the P.M. of Samoa anytime instead of P.M. Tuilaepa and H.R.P.P. who lack compassion and are cold, ignorant, arrogant and incompetent towards the people of this nation.

I always remember what one business man said about people like P.M. Tuilaepa and H.R.P.P. and their supporters, “You lot will end up back into the hole you crawled from.”

Once again, thank you Samoa Observer. Ia alofa Le Atua ma toe faatutumuina mea ua fa’agaogaoina ona o la outou alolofa ma le agalelei ia Ele Opeloge. May God bless you with unlimited abundance. A’o P.M. Tuilaepa and H.R.P.P., I forgive them because they are a just a bunch of corrupt fools who don’t know what they are doing.

Mebahel Raguel

Samoa Observer

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