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Savali: The House of Representatives are not judges

House Speaker Savali Talavou Ale
ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Vice Speaker of the House, Fetui Fetu Jr did not mince words during a House Session this week when he informed faipule about the decision by the Territorial Bank of American Samoa (TBAS) to terminate three employees. One of the three employees, according to Fetui is his eldest daughter — and all of the three employees have submitted letters to the Speaker of the House, Savali Talavou Ale.

Fetui told Savali that this isn’t the first time he’s requested a committee hearing with the TBAS CEO so that faipule can get the chance to question him about the bank’s operations and other issues pertaining to the TBAS.

Fetui said that this is not the first time his children have been affected by the CEO’s decisions. According to him, the first incident involved his younger daughter and now it’s his eldest daughter.

The Manu’a #1 faipule did not mention the reason why the three employees, which includes his daughter, were terminated by the bank. However, he asked Savali to set a hearing with the TBAS CEO to discuss this problem.

“As I told you before, this man (TBAS CEO) has a rude attitude towards our people and I can’t handle this anymore,” Fetui said.

Savali interrupted and told the vice speaker to take it easy and let the committee handle the issue. He also stated that the committee would deal with the TBAS Board of Directors to address this problem and to see whether the allegations against the CEO are true.

The House speaker said, “As leaders, we must go through the proper protocol when dealing with sensitive issues like this to make sure that we’re doing our job.”

Fetui was not satisfied. He stood up again and told Savali that he also wants the Attorney General to be present during the hearing.

“I want these people to know that we are in America and everyone has the right to speak and the rights to due process,” Fetui said.

Savali fired back and told Fetui that he must understand that the House of Representatives are not judges.