My predictions for 2025 are that public works like road maintenance will deteriorate, cost of living will worsen, PM Fiamē Naomi will resign before the end of the year and call a snap election and the FAST Government will disintegrate before the year is over.

Last year was not as problematic as this year will be for the government as many of the major projects like the road to the airport, solar power to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel and clean water supply for everyone were initiated and started by the Human Rights Protection Party when they were in government. All that Prime Minister Fiamē’s government did was to continue and complete them. The public’s attention was diverted away from problems like the high cost of living, frequent power outages, and rising crime towards preparation for CHOGM. But they now want to hear what development projects her government has in the pipeline for the next 3, 5 or 10 years that will benefit the country. They have been desperate to hear from her and despite her repeated promises following pressure from the media that she would hold weekly press conferences to inform the public of future government plans, nothing has happened.

The reality is that our government is broke. With the rainy season dawning, our roads will soon be dotted with potholes and there is no money to fix them. We see that now with the damaged Fugalei road caused by flooding from heavy rain a couple of weeks ago. Instead of prioritising the country’s needs, the minister responsible is too busy focussing on his own personal developments as he realises that his Party’s chances of remaining in power are zilch.

Our ‘cost of living’ will worsen especially with a sharp increase not only in the cost of imported goods like meat, fruit, dairy produce, and vegetables but also in locally produced crops. In 2024, goods that our people could afford like chicken legs increased by 23 per cent, tomatoes by 40.3 per cent, dairy products like butter and 15 per cent, and cheese by 17 per cent. Yet, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour whose job is to monitor and publicly report what was causing these increases and stop them if they were the result of price gouging by retailers, did little at all. When questioned, the government kept on blaming COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, freight costs and any other excuse they could think.

Last Friday, 3 January 2025, I went shopping at Pak n’ Save Supermarket and noticed how reasonable their prices are: 10kg sack of potatoes ($8.99), large ripe tomatoes ($2.99 per kg), green acre lettuce with large solid heart ($2 each), Colby cheese 1kg ($10) Mainland tasty cheese 1kg ($15), Anchor butter 500gm ($8), Kalo authentic Greek yoghurt ($6), Beehive bacon 1kg pack ($20), rump steak 1kg pack ($20), lump of porterhouse steak 3.5kg ($90), Pack of Hellar’s 18 piece sausages ($12), leg of ham 3.7kg ($50), 1 litre of tomato sauce ($6), 12 oz. corn beef (pisupo), PACIFIC ($6,50) and PALM ($6), PAM’s tin of baked beans (79c each), fresh mussels ($3,50 per kg) mullets ($7.99 per kg) king salmon boneless fillet ($38 per kg) and large fresh prawns, ($12 per kg). Even after considering the tariff and freight that our importers have to pay as well as foreign exchange rates, the price of many of these commodities should not be 200% to 300% more in Samoa.

Government leadership has been absent for quite some time now as Prime Minister Fiamē grabs every opportunity to travel overseas leaving the country in the hands of some rogue ministers. She has found out that being Prime Minister means a lot of hard work perusing piles of documents daily to keep ahead of what is happening not only to our country but in other countries, as well as international organisations that are important to us. She loves the limelight provided by big events like CHOGM and international meetings and conferences but does not like facing our people or solving our country's mounting problems. Simply put, she does not like demanding work like our former Prime Minister Tuila’epa or New Zealand’s Helen Clarke which made her sought after by the United Nations and other international organisations.

As her ministers and leadership of the Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) tend to ignore her by making decisions without her and/or Cabinet approval, and speaking on issues that only she as Prime Minister should be speaking about; and as their Party becomes more dysfunctional, soon, she will have no option but to resign. Even called a snap election and left FAST to retain what dignity she had left.

She has been used.