It has been a crazy week and it will get even crazier as Samoa rewrites the history pages.

In 2016, a small island nation on the basis of talent and guidance rocked the world when they went to win the Olympic gold medal in sevens rugby.

Now it is Samoa’s chance to pull off something amazing at the Rugby League World Cup. There is belief in the islands that they can win this.

It is also what everyone is talking about. Parades are on, villages are rooting for the players who have links to them, celebrations have been organised and people have already planned their Sunday morning.

Churches will have depleted flocks in the normal Sunday service. Apia is a sea of blue and red.

But what has the government said about all of this? Nothing at all apart from the cabinet minister who has been posting videos from London and now Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa will do the jersey handover before the grand final.

She will be flying all the way from Egypt and landing in Heathrow to do this. However, there has not been one official word from the government on what this achievement means for the people of Samoa or what will be done to honour the players who have been putting Samoa out there.

The thousands of Samoans at home are watching their players on television and reading about them on social media and new sites. What the people want is to bring these players home and honour them the Samoan way.

Wouldn’t that be nice! A day to honour the players and as the former prime minister suggested perhaps a public holiday on this day so all Samoans can unite and celebrate as one and for the same cause.

It would definitely be a shame if the Toa Samoa players are not brought to the nation they are representing. It would be very un-Samoan if that happens.

At this point in time, even if the team does not win the final, the people of Samoa want to see their heroes at home.

This situation shows the very little being done by the government’s communication arm to pass an important message down to its people.

Is this the way the government intends to operate by keeping its people in the dark? This surely is not a message you want to give to the people.

Similarly, there needs to be greater transparency in whatever the government is doing. The prime minister was in Egypt where she made a bold statement about Samoa, climate action and climate funds.

This message only came to the people of Samoa because regional bodies were doing their work and made it possible for people to know what their leader was talking about.

Media is the facility through which the government can show how transparent and accountable they are. The public needs this important information because this is the type of information that will allow voters to make an informed decision.

Speaking of information, the National University of Samoa and the Australian National University launched the Pacific Attitudes Survey. Samoa has become the first nation in the Pacific where such a survey took place and showed what Samoans think about when it comes to politics.

The survey presents very important data which can be used for policy and development purposes. The government should be happy that a large number of people still believe that this government will bring economic changes and improve their health system.

Samoa is the first large-scale popular political attitudes survey conducted in the Pacific region. Comprising 181 questions, the survey set out in 26 thematic modules, covers a broad range of topics including attitudes to democracy, national identity, tradition, leadership, governance, development and international relations.

The survey took place in late December 2020 and January 2021, and was conducted in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the lead up to what would prove an historic election.

If data is needed to make decisions, then this is the way forward. Another step would be to find out if the education system is working or not, what is the extent of poverty in the country and what can be done to create more employment.

With all things Toa-crazy, there are a lot of things to witness in Samoa. One of them is primary school aged children selling things on the streets and in front of supermarkets. They should be in school but are selling things because that money is the deciding factor on what is going to be on the dinner table.

Each constituency has been given grants, that money, even a portion can be set aside to pay school fees and provide bus fares to and from school for these children.

But for now, the Toa Samoa is what people are seeing and hopefully we get a chance to see our boys at home celebrating what they have achieved. So please dear prime minister, will you be asking them to come home?

Go Toa Samoa, ono valu lima.