P.M Tuilaepa’s exports dream like a comic book

Dear Editor,

When I read what PM Tuilaepa said about the need to increase exports, it was like reading a comic book. He said he wants to increase export. Export what?

Nothing? The govt. never invested in agriculture in the past years. 

The first Agriculture meeting was held earlier this year since the last one about eight years ago. The only money H.R.P.P spent on agriculture since they came to power, was on 11 brand new Ford Rangers for the agriculture staff and a rusty old tractor that does not work and will cost more than the tractor to repair, and was shared between all the farmers in Samoa - both Upolu and Savai’i. 

I’ve written a lot of threads from years ago and asked the govt. to invest more money into Agriculture, Health and the Education sectors. Instead P.M Tuilaepa and H.R.P.P borrowed $100s of Millions from Exim Bank owned by the China govt. and built these white elephant buildings that do not generate an income for the people but created jobs for the Chinese and the people are paying for it - instead of spending it on our agriculture sector and to create jobs for our own people. 

If he and H.R.P.P invested in Agriculture from 10+ years ago, then I will believe our export will increase but at the moment, it’s all hot air to mislead the people like they always do. Remember the Nonu project?

There was a palagi from NZ who came to Samoa and invested $100s of thousands of his money into a vanilla farm, bananas and other crops. The palagi wrote a lot of letters to the govt advising them on Quarantine and what to do to make it easier for his crops to be exported to NZ – PM Tuilaepa and H.R.P.P ignored his advice and did nothing about it. The palagi got sick and his vanilla farm was overgrown by weeds. I don’t know what happened to him now but PM Tuilaepa and H.R.P.P have taken the credit of the poor palagi’s vanilla farm idea, for themselves. Every Agriculture consultant and the Samoa Trust Estates Corporation (S.T.E.C) know about this palagi farmer from NZ.

PM Tuilaepa also said that he now has a clear vision. I couldn’t help but laugh. After 30 years of being in govt, is he saying that all that time he never had a clear vision until now? That explains why Samoa is a mess under his leadership.

He also talked about cocoa and coconuts which H.R.P.P never invested a penny – why talk now? They should’ve acted on it from years ago perhaps by now our export and employment rate would’ve increased and poverty and crime rate would’ve decreased in the process. 

PM Tuilaepa and H.R.P.P only decided to hold talks on improving Agriculture this year. And now they’re talking exports like they’re harvesting already. My advise to PM Tuilaepa, please stop your rubbish. They don’t work anymore. You’re only making the people more angrier. The people know who you truly are.

My question to you PM Tuilaepa, why did NZ import all their bananas from the Phillipines and not even one bunch from Samoa? NZ consumes more bananas than any other country in the world. NZ was supposed to be our trading partner yet we import goods worth between $270 - $300 Million per annum from NZ with zero export in return. So where’s the fair trading here under W.T.O? What was the point of signing the W.T.O when you’ve got nothing to trade with?

According to reports, our exported produce were rejected by NZ Quarantine because Samoa’s govt did not know how to fill out the quarantine paperwork properly and they were always incomplete or not signed off.

On the other hand, it doesn’t matter if our exports do increase or how much foreign aid given to Samoa, as long as we have the same people running this govt, Samoa will continue to decline. For Samoa to improve economically, we need to investigate the Chief Auditor’s report and the O.P.C reports regarding evidence of corruption in this govt. 

So where are those new H.R.P.P MPs that promised the people that they were going in to Parliament to make a change for the betterment of Samoa? 

The only changes I see so far apart from the $1.5 Billion loan increasing are the new H.R.P.P necks with PM Tuilaepa’s hands around them.

 

Mebahel Raguel

Samoa Observer

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