We are not surprised the Opposition Leader jumped at the opportunity to put Samoa Airways and its cancelled Boeing 737-800 lease back in the headlines, after reports emerged last week of Samoan passengers returning to Australia sleeping on the floor of a shut Auckland International Airport transit lounge.

To keep the Government of the day accountable, Samoa needs a proactive Opposition and Tuilaepa Dr. Sa'ilele Malielegaoi has been on the ball, since his political fortunes changed after last year’s general election to become the alternate government sitting in the Opposition bench of our Legislative Assembly.

In his latest criticism of the Government’s decision-making, the former prime minister, again, questioned the rationale of cancelling the Samoa Airways’ lease of a Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

He claimed that the 100-plus Samoan passengers who were returning to Australia two weeks via Auckland, wouldn’t have to go through the ordeal of lying on the cold floor of a shut Auckland International Airport transit lounge if the country had its own aircraft.

"But this is what happened when we don't have our own aircraft," said Tuilaepa. "We cannot control the time of these flights and how the international airlines adjust their schedules and trips. 

"They can increase the fares as they please because there is no competition with us so they are milking money out of us because we don't have a plane to service these routes. 

"I am told that Nauru, which is a much smaller country than Samoa, have expressed interest in flying to Samoa which is something we should be ashamed of because Samoa is more developed than Nauru."

Tuilaepa then blamed the "advisors" of the current Government who had recently finalised the decision to cancel the lease with FLY Aircraft Holdings Eighteen Ltd for the "unwanted aircraft" Boeing 737-800.

While every democracy needs a proactive Opposition, we must mention that a democratic nation like Samoa also needs an Opposition that makes constructive criticism. Constructive criticism by a proactive Opposition offers options and choices to enable the citizens to evaluate the performance of the Government of the day.

Bringing back the leased Boeing 737-800 to enable Samoa Airways to resume jet services, overlooking the dangers of the national airline’s mounting debts and its cost on the nation’s finances, is not constructive criticism.

Don’t get us wrong – we sympathise with the plight of those 100-plus Samoan passengers – who were travelling back to Australia via Auckland, and arrived in New Zealand at 2am only to find access to the airport’s transit lounge shut, and subsequently slept on the floor at the terminal.

And thanks to media coverage by the New Zealand Herald, Auckland Airport later apologised to the transit passengers and have now partitioned an existing area within the terminal for passengers arriving on overnight flights to use, until the departure lounge opens at 5am.

But going back to Tuilaepa, we expect Samoa’s leaders to think outside the box and to analyse the issues objectively while putting their emotions aside. Unfortunately, when it comes to Samoa Airways and its turbulence-filled journey, it has been a one-way street for the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) Administration. During the former ruling party’s term in government, critical press coverage of the airline’s operations as well as financial performance over the years was scoffed at by Tuilaepa and the responsible media personnel ridiculed.

It is time for the former prime minister to accept responsibility for the airline’s financial crisis (prior to last year's general election and before the COVID-19 pandemic), and to appreciate the intervention by the current Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) Government, which led to the cancellation of the Boeing 737-800 lease and at the outset saved the country from a $160 million loss.

Tuilaepa might also want to be reminded of the Samoa Government’s current debts – which based on data released last month by the Samoa Bureau of Statistics stands at $948.4 million – most if not all of these debts were incurred during the veteran politician’s 23-year tenure in office as prime minister. This national debt as it stands is a legacy of the former Administration.

With Samoa’s economy currently in recession and the outlook for a swift post-COVID recovery not looking good, the current Government has a huge task on their hands managing the country’s affairs by keeping a balance book, while trying to meet the expectations of their voters following last year’s polls.

There is no denying that the nation needs a vibrant Opposition, but our leaders in the alternative government should not turn a blind eye to the legacy issues, which they’ve passed on to their friends on the other side of Samoa’s political spectrum.