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Alipay – American Samoa
Actively participate in EOB rehabilitation and provide consultation services
The testimony of the Minister of Public Works (DPW), Faleosina Voigt, confirmed that the DPW has hired Mr. Mark Lively, the CM (Construction Manager) and architect for the new Parliament Building. Expected to be completed in November, the consultant will oversee the restoration of the EOB in Utuure.
Last Wednesday, the Minister of Public Property and Assets, Mr. Afalava Eliki Afalava, was reported to have testified before lawmakers working with Lively and Government Engineers on the EOB renewal project.
Afarawa testified that Lively had sent drawings, documents and bills for his work valued at nearly $1 million.
But when Afarawa was asked whether Lively had a contract with the government and whether it had provided a complete plan for the project, including the entire project and the timeline starting from the four years, Afarawa replied that it had not.
Afarawa’s testimony also mentioned that they had not paid Lively’s bills because they were waiting for funding from ARPA.
The Honorable Senator Togiola TA Tlawano reiterated the matter in front of Voigt mentioned by the female director during last Thursday’s hearing, that they negotiated the EOB for the cost of the work while they were corresponding with Lively on other government contract work.
Togiola asked if the DPW did not have a “civil engineer” to monitor this important government project because there was no contract, no plan with an overview of the work and a timeline for its start and completion, but now Lively’s bill is here, for nearly $1 million for work that was done.
Togiola disclosed that Lively lacked an action plan (Plan of Action) to prepare government offices so that they can initiate the process of updating the EOB on time.
The Senator wanted to know the reason for this situation, but DPW is the main department in the government overseeing the restoration project and this is the first time such a situation has occurred.
But Voight responded that they were trying to find some money to pay Lively’s expenses.
Togiola said the biggest issue is how the DPW has allowed a person to do the job, but they are well aware that no funds have been released for the job. Togiola said going back to the Samoan proverb, “Strike first, then forgive”.
(Samoans also want to point out another major government project, which Lively is also painting, the new building for the Office of Education. As he testified to the Senate at the beginning of the year, the building will include a classroom for prison students, offices and a new warehouse for school lunches.)
As reported in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, the total amount of funds allocated for these projects is $86.5 million.
Togiola also requested additional funding for the contract works, which was $450,000 in fiscal 2024 compared to the previous fiscal year, but now $700,000 in fiscal 2025.
(The amount written in the budget document is $500,000 for FY2024, not $450,000. The budget document states that $700,000 is for government-owned space (local fleet) fuel. The amount is $34,038 in FY2023, and then increases to $500,000 in FY2024.)
The DPW director general said the increase to $500,000 was because the government’s fuel arm (ASG Fuel) was originally under the Governor’s Office but has now been transferred to the DPW. The director did not clarify the reason for this new change.
(This oil is used in government vehicles and is located on DPW land in Tafuna.)
The 2019 Dual Bill was not passed
In 2019, the Honourable Senator Tuaolo Manaia Fruean introduced a bill, which was reviewed two weeks later and was reintroduced by three senators from Manu’a, but it did not pass in its second review before the Samoan Affairs Committee.
The resolution, re-introduced by Senators Malaepule Saite Moliga, Ma’o Fa’auma Gogo and Poumele Pete Galea’i, “replaces the closure of the Grand Master title and allows a temporary period of three months for families to register for the Matai title and allows multiple people to register for the same title.”
The bill, which was not passed by the Samoan Affairs Committee in 2019, states in its introduction that “55 years have passed since the registration of matai land titles in 1969. The first law was enacted to legalise matai title” to establish new matai titles and assert matai authority in the family.
The resolution also states that “while the law has protected the culture for years, it has also hindered the ability of families to legalize mathai titles for family use.”
“It’s very important to pass this bill to allow families to register their matai titles with the Territorial Registry, but it still protects the original law by providing time limits and additional conditions.”
The current law provides that any registration of a matai, before January 1, 1969… and any matai title that was not registered on that date, will not be registered.”
The resolution also states that this restriction can be “temporarily relaxed within three months from the month the law is recognized.”
“After three months, registration will close again.”
Current law prohibits more than one person from registering a title. But the reintroduced resolution seeks to amend this law so that more than one person can register a title if:
• The family is issued a family title certificate, which allows multiple people to register a single title. If the correct certificate is not available, the family elders bring the certificate.
The Territorial Registry allows this procedure, subject to the above-mentioned temporary authorization.
Malaepule clarified that the spirit of the law was to give an opportunity within three months to register the name in the village register and the name used by the village… As of 1969, the village was no longer inhabited.”
As Malaepule said, the title of chief is Ta’ita’i, a noble title in the Fale’sho district where Honourable Mao Zedong resides, located in Fa’alue, Fale’sho village. Malaepule said the last chief died in 1960 and the title is no longer occupied. He also mentioned that there were others who occupied the title of Tai after 1950.
The senator from Manu’a also mentioned that he wants to make some changes that could allow families to register for Matai titles and allow multiple people to register for only one title.
Malapula made it clear that there were some villages and families that were “dual,” holding Matai titles but with different identities.
The Honourable Senate President asked if the Chieftainship title was included in the list of registered titles because he believed that if the Chieftainship title was registered, then those residing in Taitai Chieftainship could register.
Tuolo explained, “The issue was stopped because there has been an ongoing dispute among the Matai people who have taken away land that directly refers to the family Sao. If there was a title in 1950, it could be sealed. But these things will not stop if new names are introduced instead of the original names under which the community was established.”
At the conclusion of this review, the Senate President moved a motion to postpone the matter while it was further considered, but no decision was made.
This idea was supported by the Chairman of the Committee, Honourable Senator Muagututi’a Tauoa, to further examine the issue in another review in the future.
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