I’m tired this week — weather, Chik virus recovery going on, and just a bit disconnected with life here in American Samoa. More meandering than anything else to the tune of “Mambo No. 5” — more for the catchy tune than the lyrics… so...

I was in Samoa last weekend, with some of the Samoa News people for the opening of the Whitesands Casino in Mulifanua. I stayed at the Orator Hotel in town, as Sheraton Samoa — Aggie Grey’s Resort (adjacent to the casino) was sold out, as were most of the hotels in Samoa, hence the Orator — which we barely caught in time for reservations.

I totally enjoyed my stay — weather, accommodations, business meetings, food, a little gambling and Samoa’s hospitality. The taxi drivers were even gracious.

And I might add — the good times started from the time I walked though Immigration here in Pago to the duty free shop that now has ‘duty free’ prices, to my arrival at the Faleolo airport.  

(BY THE WAY: They have posters warning of the Chik virus over there — I didn’t see a single one here at our airport, arrival or departure.)

There is so much happening in Samoa — we even got to meet our territory’s soccer team that represented us in the Oceania soccer tourney that took place in Samoa this week. Samoa has definitely moved themselves into a ‘go to’ position with their stadiums, hotels, convention venues, canneries and other business opportunities. And the “hospitality”!!

In fact the worst experience I had in Samoa was with a person from Pago, who was rude and arrogant.

I think I reacted the way I did — oso la’u igoigo — to the incident with this person from Pago because I believe, when traveling, especially to foreign countries, we, Pago people, are basically ambassadors for American Samoa.

Whether on business or just to enjoy ourselves — or both, we promote who we are and where we are from by just being good stewards of our community through acts of respect, kindness and honesty — not only to each other — but also to our hosts, the residents or natives of the country we are visiting. 

It’s good business, and it certainly makes for a great vacation; and, I think that’s what the Inter Samoa talks are all about… so — that’s my ‘private sector’ spiel in support of the talks. Rudeness and arrogance just don’t cut it… at any level of living… GONG!

What I did realize from my Samoa trip is that they, the government and the people, are all on the same page — going in the same direction. They may not all agree with the way it is being done but they all speak the same language for a healthy economy — it has to grow in revenue to feed its people into the future. Which brings me to our economy.

I think we should be worried… very worried… because there is a disconnect going on between job creation and economic opportunities.

We just seem to keep dividing up the same size pie — instead of trying to make the pie bigger. I would say at this point, the government is eating more than its fair share of the pie (it’s the territory’s biggest employer), and plans through its bond issue bill to become a pig about it.

The Fono was of course concerned that they were being cut out of the process — ”checks & balances” you know — but were reassured by the governor’s mouthpieces that there’s no problem because the constitution says they (the administration) have to come through the Fono when spending the People’s money.

Assuming there will be no court case in the future between the Executive and Legislative branches of the government to make this a legal fact, it’s a nice answer. But in the end, passage of the bill seems to be about trust — between these two branches of government.

Does anyone else feel the disconnect here? I mean, right now, through both their acts, all we can trust both of these branches to do so far is raise their own pay and give themselves more perks.

And, what about the People? It’s our money… and do we trust our government to commit our revenues to more debt for the next umpteen years? For projects that repair our infrastructure to support a 55,000 population? To refinance debt that we don’t have the money to pay off in the first place?

I say, let’s bring the bond issue to the voters in a referendum. See if it’s what we want. After all — the money belongs to us; we are not talking about federal money. Now that’s a real check and balance! If in doubt — ask the ”People First”… GONG!

Here’s another GONG! for the People.

The Senate and the Treasurer are against government payroll being transferred over to the Dept. of Human Resources.

The senators are saying the problem is with the system, so it needs to be fixed by making the directors do their jobs — the problem is non compliance with overtime procedures — it requires prior approval by directors and then the governor. The senators are concerned about the lack of “checks and balances” in the new system with everything being prepared at HR and then the Treasurer signs payroll checks without knowing details of what he is signing or paying to the employee.

Hate to tell you this ‘tama o le atunu’u’  — but the Treasurer doesn’t know what he’s signing to begin with, because according to him, the overtime information is recorded on the employee’s time card, which is scanned into the government’s computer system, and his office does not have the manpower to individually check every time card for overtime that is not authorized to be paid. That’s what he told you guys during the hearing.

Now there’s Overtime made in heaven — as a director, Mr. Treasurer, you could have asked the governor for the OT to check for illegal OT…maybe that’s what the HR director is going to do… GONG!

My final GONG! for this week is directed at the Veto Override Referendum Committee Show that’s going around the island promoting a “yes” vote. Now they may claim to be unbiased, but the ad says, “A “yes” vote amends the veto override process. It gives the legislators WE HAVE CHOSEN IN THE FONO (my emphasis), full law-making authority.” Can you tell me since when HAVE WE CHOSEN the senators?

 I will say it again: Government represents the people, as a democracy, those in government are morally obligated to present both the pros & cons of the issue, and to present them truthfully.

And yet again, I reiterate: The Veto Override Referendum if passed, is just too much power delivered to a body of people that are not voted in by the People. AGAIN: Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely! “PEOPLE FIRST!” … GONG!