Cabinet invoked a Proclamation of Emergency (POE) only for the island of Upolu effective for 30 days in response to the power crisis in its special meeting on Friday afternoon. This could lead to restricted use of power.

The Samoa Observer received confirmation from the cabinet on the latest action. A State of Emergency Orders (SOE)  will follow and is effective from Monday 31 March for 30 days.

In doing so the orders for Upolu will have minimal impact on Savaii.

Once the SOE orders are in place it would trigger provisions to allow development partners to assist the country in addressing the electricity shortfall. 

The Head of State Tuimalealiifano Sualauvi Va'aletoa II has to be consulted by the cabinet to issue a Proclamation of Emergency (POE). 

It is unclear what the SOE orders would entail however the last time the country was under SOE was in March 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic with restrictions in place for two years.  

Earlier this week, the Minister of Finance, Lautimuia Uelese Vaai said he was in favour of declaring an SOE. 

Lautimuia spoke about clear signs of the power outage and rationing impacting the money flow in the economy. 

“Rationing of power is a clear sign of impact on business income with scheduling of opening hours,” he said. 

“That is a great impact on the economy, especially the private sector and these are indicators…” 

Currently, issues with the main generators powering Upolu have resulted in a 10 Megawatts reduction of electricity supply to the island and as a consequence power rationing is in place. 

The immediate response taken by the government is to obtain rental generators (5 Megawatts) from New Zealand and large businesses and government entities have been asked to utilise their standby generators in the meantime. 

In Samoa, a Proclamation of Emergency can be declared by the Head of State under Article 105 of the Constitution when a grave emergency exists, threatening the security or economic life of the country. Article 105 of the Constitution empowers the Head of State to declare a state of emergency when they are satisfied that a grave emergency exists. The purpose is to address situations where security, health, or economic life of Samoa is threatened by a catastrophe. A P.O.E. remains in force for 30 days unless revoked. Disaster and Emergency Management Act 2007 (18) also noted the power of the Head of State to make proclamations of emergency under Article 105 of the Constitution or Emergency Orders under Article 106 of the Constitution in the event of any disaster or emergency.