After dominating politics for nearly four uninterrupted decades, the transition away from a Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P.) Government was never going to be an easy one for the public service.

But it was also a test; one of the independence of our nation’s public servants and their ability to complete their mission of providing the best advice when called upon without fear or favour. 

Recently on these pages we hoped that Samoa could avoid developing the culture that has taken root in the world’s other democracies where every change of Government results in a total clean out at the top of the public service, to install people connected to the incoming Government whose loyalty could be depended on. 

With the public service representing such a large proportion of employment in Samoa it would be a shame to see it take the same path as countries such as Australia and America where top public servants fall like ninepins after elections. The ideal public service, of course, is of apolitical and professional organisations that are guided only by the best interests of the nation, not political loyalties. 

But in the short time since the Fa'atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (F.A.S.T.) Governmet nhas moved into the Government building it is clear that we have failed that test. 

The new Government is already facing resistance over the most seemingly trivial matters from Ministries that exist to serve them and provide advice - not undermine them.

Examples abound. 

The battle over M.P.s’ pay featured on the front page of Monday’s edition (“Members query unpaid salaries: Minister: Mulipola”), was a perfect example of how Ministries, through passive and active resistance, can subvert Governments’ goals. 

The Finance Minister, Mulipola Anarosa Ale-Molio'o, told the Samoa Observer that colleagues had contacted her asking why they had not been paid more than 120 days after winning the April election. 

What makes the failure to provide these M.P.s and Ministers salaries doubly curious is that when the Court of Appeal ruled that F.A.S.T. was this country’s legitimate Government found it had been so since a swearing in ceremony on 24 May. 

It was revealed that only members of the previous caretaker Cabinet, led by former Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Dr. Sa'ilele Malielegaoi, and the Parliament’s previous Parliament’s Speaker and Deputy Speaker had received salaries during this political crisis. 

The logic behind the decision by the Ministry of Finance on this decision is truly boggling.

To take but one example - why are Samoan taxpayers continuing to pay the former Speaker of the Legislative Assembly? The XVI Parliament was dissolved in March. He retired from politics. At that point he stopped playing any active role in politics. 

For what reason did the Finance Ministry decide he was worthy of four months’ of salary? We would love to see the rationale. 

Whatever the justification the Ministry gins up it is clearly locked in an ongoing negotiation between its Chief Executive Officer, Leasiosiofaasisina Oscar Malielegaoi, and the Finance Minister. 

Minister Mulipola Anarosa Ale-Molio'o, said the Ministry had breached usual conventions for her office to work closely with the Ministry to make all the necessary arrangements for a smooth transition to a new Government.

And she has a point. They have completely failed in their duties in this respect. Two weeks since the Court of Appeal decision which found that the Government had effectively been in power for three months, F.A.S.T. M.P.s are yet to receive any payment.

Why the Ministry would have allowed for the previous “caretaker” Government to receive its salaries but not the 26 elected F.A.S.T. Members of Parliament, is a decision that would require serious gymnastics to make a case for. 

"This is concerning for me as the new Minister of Finance and I am committed to working with my Ministry to ensure this apparent difference in treatment and the nature and quality of the advice I have received to date, is immediately addressed and corrected,” Mulipola said.  

"The proper and transparent use of public funds is a priority for this Government and where the public and private sectors of Government are entitled to be paid, then we will seek to identify ways in which the new administration can do so, in a fair and timely manner.”

Leasiosio denied that his Ministry had made an ambit claim in negotiating with the Minister that M.P.s would not see their pay cheques until after a new budget was passed into law; a process that could take up to two months. 

But cabinet sources have also told this paper that the Government has been forced to seek its own legal advice in dealing with its own Ministry which allegedly made a separate offer for paying the H.R.P.P. members who have not yet been sworn into Government start alongside the F.A.S.T. M.P.s who have. The offer was rejected. 

The issue of M.P. 's remuneration is not high on the agenda of this newspaper’s list of priorities for the nation. But that this minor human resources matter cannot be settled quickly and efficiently speaks to a broader truth about the way the incoming Government is being sabotaged by the Ministries who are supposed to serve it. 

The nation’s top law officer, Attorney-General Savalenoa Mareva Betham Annandale was recently put on notice by the Prime Minister to outline the ways in which she had taken on her role of standing up for the judiciary at a time when it has come under increasing attack. 

We have no copy of Savalenoa’s reply to Fiame’s letter but there is no record of her calling for the public to respect the judicial branch of Government since F.A.S.T. took over, compared to her often vocal contributions made under the previous administration.

And in the Sunday Samoan it was revealed that the Revenue Commissioner, Matafeo Avalisa Viali-Fautuaali'i, had begun unilaterally imposing a capital gains tax on property transactions without informing her Minister or Cabinet.

A flat tax of 10 per cent on the sale of land, while legal, will have a significant effect on the nation’s economy. 

For the Minister of Customs and Revenue and Deputy Prime Minister, Tuala Iosefo Ponifasio, to have only found out about the imposition of the new taxes a week after they started to be imposed is extraordinary. 

A transition to a new party after nearly four decades of uninterrupted rule by the H.R.P.P. was always going to be a fraught process. 

But the situation is more serious than expected; things are being done in the name of the new Government that they have not co-signed and which are not part of their policy platform. 

Against the backdrop of a former Prime Minister who is doing his damnedest to undermine the legitimacy of the Government, the last thing the Government needs is civil wars with their own public service.

But it is evident that after 22 years in power several senior Ministry figures remain loyal to Tuilaepa and are seeking to stymie the progress of an elected F.A.S.T. Government.

It shouldn’t be this way. Chief Executive Officers and other senior civil servants should be apolitical; they should be briefing new Ministers on the pressing issues in their portfolio and providing advice on how to best navigate them.

After all, those who run Ministries only serve at the pleasure and service of Samoan taxpayers.

Those who mistakenly believe themselves to be active political player should start looking for a new job - fast.