We are living in tough times and questions from citizens querying the use of public funds shouldn’t come as a surprise to our political leaders.

With our lives getting inundated with news and information from multiple media and social media platforms on a daily basis, it can become difficult negotiating through this maze, unable to filter out fake news or even misinformation and rumours.

This is why the intervention by the Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party treasurer and Public Enterprise Minister, Leatinu'u Wayne So'oialo to put the record straight on rumours that taxpayer money was allegedly used to pay for the party’s Members travel to Australia is timely.

An article (FAST party trips not taxpayer-funded: Treasurer) in the Friday 14 October edition of the Samoa Observer reported on the response from Leatinu'u, who appeared on the televised Soalepule programme on the EFKS TV on Wednesday night to respond to the rumours.

The Minister told the church-owned TV program that not 1 sene (cent) of taxpayer money was used to fund the overseas trips taken by the FAST Members.

"I paid for my own airfare to go to Sydney," Leatinu'u said. "We have not used any money from the Government for these trips. 

"The members of the party had to pay for their own airfares while the party had to pay for the airfares of the other members. 

"There were some who were already overseas for work trips attending conferences who joined us there in Australia but we did not use taxpayers' money for these trips.

"They (party members) are using money from their own pockets to fund these trips."

We appreciate the clarity from the Minister on how their party Members paid for their own travel to Australia for their meeting with the Samoan diaspora. His interview on the church-run station should put to bed those rumours and quickly dispel any attempts to misinform the public.

However, as media practitioners and users of information ourselves, we believe a lot of this rumour-mongering could have been avoided in the first place if the party was more strategic in how it disseminated information on its Members’ travels prior to them going abroad.

May we suggest that the next trip the ruling party is planning for its Members abroad they convene a press conference to advise the nation of their itinerary before flying out of the country?

You can be assured that no stones will be left unturned at a party-convened press conference, as the media will have a lot of questions for the Members, including queries about party funding.

If you were voted into power by the people, what is there to hide about your travels to Australia or New Zealand, to meet the Samoan diaspora and to thank them for their support in the lead-up to last year’s polls?

Political parties can become platforms of accountability to the people, through its Members by virtue of their membership. This is why the party convening press conferences to advise supporters and the public of upcoming events and party-related developments would be a proper thing to do as an accountability mechanism.

With the country having gone through four decades of Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) terms in government, it would not hurt introducing a new culture of accountability and transparency at the political party level.

We believe the FAST party is in the box seat to bring in that new political culture in Samoan politics and recall an interview this newspaper did in April last year after the polls with the current Deputy Prime Minister, Tuala Iosefo Ponifasio.

Tuala – having been declared the Independent winner of the Gagaemauga No. 1 seat on Saturday 11 April 2022, with his party choice to trigger the installation of a new government – told the Samoa Observer back then that he wanted to change the nature of Samoan politics, which meant installing safeguards against corruption and raising the standards of parliamentary behaviour.

With that in mind, we believe political parties such as FAST can play a critical role in engendering proper behaviour and conduct amongst its members, in line with the values of Samoa’s parliamentary democracy, which ultimately pushes for legislators to hold themselves accountable to the people.