Last year, talking to those who do not normally express a political opinion about how our country is doing or whether our government puts our people’s interest first instead of its ministers, its members in Parliament and their Party, often elicited little response because of fear of being rebuked by friends and relative who support the Government.

Others who were hoping for answers to many of the problems facing us like rising crime rate, sharp increase in cost of living, recurring power failure, illegal substance abuse and domestic and sexual violence say they dread listening to parliamentary debates and are frustrated by the polarisation of views because of the numerous interruptions, members talking past each other and the yelling by populist leaders who act like demagogues who think that our people are so dumb they will buy any misinformation and prejudicial comments they give out.

Those of my generation speak nostalgically about the non-existence of this type of behaviour in our Parliament in the past, the display of integrity and fairness by various Speakers who were in control of the House, and the respect and civility shown by members to each other regardless of which side of the House they sit.

The past two weeks’ political upheaval within the Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) Party that saw it split into two factions and the ousting of its chairman from Cabinet by Prime Minister Fiamē, (he believed he is indispensable), along with three other ministers has deflated its MPs and supporters’ collective ego. It has also helped lessen people’s anxiety and bring down the ‘fear for the future’ temperature of the country.

Disposing of all associate ministers who declared their loyalty to their Party Chairman instead of her as Party Leader and Prime Minister has also revealed the real reason why they went to Parliament. To promote their interest and not that of their constituents.

As of now, Prime Minister Fiamē’s government is a minority government. To survive, she will need the support of former Prime Minister and Leader of the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP), Tuila’epa and all their MPs. It’s possible that that advice was also given to her by the Head of State who wants to ensure the political and social stability of our country and a peaceful existence amongst our people first before exercising his constitutional power and dissolving Parliament. That is the only logical reason why she sought a meeting with Tuila’epa last week.

Had she resigned as Prime Minister, that would have led immediately to a snap election. However, this does not mean that Fiamē will not resign and a snap election happening before the year is over as predicted by this column on January 5. Reports by the media since have also indicated that the HRPP is thinking along the same line and that they are ready for it:

Samoa Observer (12/01/2025) headlined a story, “Snap election likely…” says that “Tuila’epa believes there is a possibility of a snap election before next year’s scheduled General Elections.”

For the two parties to work together after the last four years of antagonism and finger-pointing will require a lot of goodwill, forgiveness, honesty and humility from both sides and never lose sight of the fact they have come together because they want to deliver the best for our people. It will necessitate both sides signing a coalition-type agreement that sets out the arrangement between Fiamē’s Government and the HRPP to ensure a constructive and enduring relationship is established in the best interest of the country. Both Parties will commit to delivering a stable and effective government whilst maintaining their independent political identities. The two will work in good faith, and cooperate with each other where their policies do not come into conflict. And no surprises. And any agreed decision is driven by consensus and compromise.

However, Tuila’epa and HRPP are not going to give Fiamē’s Government their support for free. They are going to place certain demands on the negotiation table like the following:

1. Resurrect/Reactivate the Harmony Agreement

2. Remove Papali’i Panoa from the Chair of the Samoa National Provident Fund and cease any policy change to the contribution rates by employees and employers.

3. Void the agreement initiated by the former Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries to sell 400 acres at Togitogina Farm to the Government of American Samoa and bring the issue back to Cabinet as required by Section 37 (4) of the Constitution

4. Remove the fees charged to RSE applicants and agents. They penalise people who are bringing millions of dollars back to our economy and country every year.

5. Force the New Zealand Government to modify or remove their ‘Application for Visa” policy, or we will do the same to their citizens visiting our country.

6. Resume investigation into the ‘Kite Runner’ and make the report public.

7. Change chairpersons of some Parliamentary Committees to HRPP members.

8. ‘Open the Books’ before HRPP can support the budget.

Some of Fiamē’s ministers who have been behaving like autocrats are going to find adjusting to the new order difficult, but they will just stomach it as they cannot resign and return to FAST.