Media Releases
A Virtuous Man the Tui Nayau, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara
By Misa Telefoni
Apr 25, 2004

A VIRTUOUS MAN THE TUI NAYAU, RATU SIR KAMISESE MARA

The day before he passed away, the Tui Nayau, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, got up from his hospital bed.  He wanted to see for himself the flood damage his people had suffered.  Three hours into his inspection he felt tired, and asked to be taken back to his hospital bed.

"The virtuous man, though he die before his time, will find rest
Length of days is not what makes man honourable" - (Wisdom 4:7)

These words are from the first reading at the late Tui Nayau's State Funeral.  It was a privilege to represent Samoa on this occasion.

Together with His Highness Malietoa Tanumafili II's son, Papalii Faamausili Moli Malietoa, Leota Ituau Ale and my wife, we presented his widow Adi Lady Lala Mara, with a 200 year old fine mat provided by His Highness the Head of State.

Tears swelled in Lady Lala Mara's eyes when I told her that in 1830, when Malietoa Vainuupo accepted Christianity from Rev John Williams, this fine mat was already in existence.  The Mara family responded with the traditional Fijian tabua, or whale's tooth.  The Fijian tulafale sit up kneeling from the traditional position when they formally present or receive a tabua, the highest honour in the Fijian culture.

April saw the passing of one of the Pacific's great statesmen.  Although no longer in office, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara's funeral was attended by royalty (Tongan and Maori Queens), Heads of State (Governor General of Aotearoa), Prime Ministers (PNG, Solomons, Tuvalu) Presidents (Tahiti and Nauru) Deputy Prime Ministers (Vanuatu, Samoa) and Ministers (Australia and New Zealand).

It will be a long time before the Pacific sees such a funeral again.  It was a celebration of a great life, serving the people of Fiji, right up until the day before his passing.  Ratu Mara also founded the South Pacific Forum, and was a man of the people.  A Fijian Minister, on meeting me, remarked it was strange that such a great man as Ratu Mara counted Samoa's Falo Keil among his intimate circle of close friends.  "Falo was therapy for Ratu Mara" he said.  "Falo did not care who was present, he talked to Ratu like an old school mate, and he got away with it."

The Tui Nayau, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara (13 May 1920 - 18 April 2004) - May He Rest In Peace.

FIRST ANNIVERSARY - SCB

I was tempted to dedicate all my April Report to the Life of the late Tui Nayau.  April also saw the celebration in a very low profile way, of the first year's operation of the Samoa Commercial Bank.  The SCB now offers a full array of banking services, and is making a contribution to the Samoan economy, and particularly the banking sector.

SPBD'S GREGORY CASAGRANDE HONOURED

The SPBD Bank celebrated its second Woman of the Year Awards, and it was an honour to be their guest speaker.  A great honour was recently bestowed on SPBD President Greg Casagrande.  He has been appointed by Ambassador Chowdhury to the prestigious 15 member UN Advisory Group of the UN International Year of Microcredit-2005.  It was a privilege for me and Samoa as well, for I had the honour of supporting Greg Casagrande's nomination to this important position.  Ambassador Anwarul K Chowdhury is the Under Secretary General and High Representative for LDCs, SIDS, and land locked DCs, of the United Nations.

With all this, I am still urging SPBD Bank, to expand their operations to Savaii.  We shall keep on trying in these efforts.  The Bank now have over $4 million's worth of small loans lent out to women.  There are 4559 loans distributed and 3302 new businesses have started.  Only 0.7% of the loan portfolio are in arrears.  All these small loans begin from $750 and have added dignity and economic self sufficiency to many women's lives.

YAZAKI AND SAMOA'S LIMITED AVAILABLE HOTEL ACCOMODATION

April saw Yazaki's charter 747 bring in two plane loads of Japanese business people to Samoa.  Congratulations to Yazaki for this very successful promotion.  The Samoa Visitors' Bureau did an exceptional job in promoting Samoa and supporting this effort.  The fact Yazaki had to divide their guests into two separate trips is an indication of the fact Samoa still struggles to accommodate a full 747 plane load of visitors.

AGGIE GREY'S RESORT AND OTHER HOTEL DEVELOPMENTS

This situation should be completely changed in the next 24 months with the opening of Aggie Grey's Resort, and all the other major hotel developments in the pipeline.

Warwick Hotels' Richard Chiu is sending his people down in late May for another exploratory mission, but he has determined there is tremendous potential in the visitor industry in Samoa.  My delegation were graciously hosted to dinner in Fiji last week by Richard and Anne Chiu.  They now own both the Naviti Resort and the Warwick in the Sigatoka area.

KIDNEY DIALYSIS IN SAMOA

A Singapore group has made a first favourable preliminary report.  The idea is to establish such a unit as an independent body, operating outside the Health Department, and hopefully requiring a maximum $500,000 government support annually.  Currently, our kidney patients in New Zealand cost government over $1.2 million a year.

The time frame, as announced by the Prime Minister, is for such a unit to be operational by July 2005.  The Health Minister and his Ministry are to be congratulated for this initiative.  However, there is a lot of hard work to be done yet.

WORLD BANK HEALTH PROJECT

While on the Ministry of Health, the $6.5 million Health Project has been finalised.  The tender was awarded to the only tenderer - GM Meredith and Associates, and the Consultants are Kramer and Kramer.  This Project will see major improvements to our hospital and health facilities, and hopefully the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) will be reopened again shortly.  This Unit saves lives.

KAVA INITIATIVES

The Prime Minister pushed this issue aggressively during his State Visit to Germany last year, and Eddie Wilson's recent efforts are also to be commended.  This type of initiative, is a real challenge to Greg Urwin and the Forum Secretariat, as it affects all Forum States.  The kava growers of Samoa need to be advised that they have not been forgotten.  The Agriculture Ministry is also still aggressively pursuing this unfair "ban" on kava products in certain European countries.

PROFESSOR DUNCAN AND THE SAMOAN ECONOMY

We reluctantly rubbished a presentation by Professor Duncan at the FEMM Meeting in Palau last year.  We were supported by most countries, especially Hon Marion Hobbs of New Zealand.

Professor Duncan was espousing the "trickle down" theory of economics, and making negative remarks about Pacific economies and the distribution of wealth, without any substantial data to support his conclusions.

Perhaps the Professor is still smarting from this experience?  If so, this is unfortunate, as there was nothing personal in our criticisms of his Paper presented to FEMM.  The Governor of the Central Bank has already responded to his recent quite erroneous observations about the Samoan economy, and it is appropriate to deal with his comments, at that level.  Samoa is perceived as the star performer, but we must always work to improve our economy.  We must ensure that we take all and any constructive criticism into account, however Professor Duncan's recent remarks are biased and based on quite serious errors of fact.  Perhaps he might do us the courtesy of allowing us to comment on such observations on the Samoan economy, before going public with them again.

HONOURED AND HUMBLED BY PRESS FREEDOM AWARDS

The Prime Minister and I were honoured by JAWS and the local media by both of us receiving these prestigious Press Freedom Awards.  It is with great humility that these awards are accepted, and the fervent hope is that Samoa becomes a better place for our children to grow up in, in the future.  The vital role of the third estate (the "media") is readily acknowledged, and we thank JAWS for this honour.  These plaques are being displayed in places of honour in our offices.

This new month of May will culminate in our Budget being presented, now on Monday 31 May 2004.  The ADB Governor's Meeting is in Jeju Korea (10 - 17 May).  The Budget will not hold many surprises, but I am please I have met with both the Manufacturers' Association, and the Chamber of Commerce.  Their submissions will be taken into consideration.  It will be a private sector friendly budget that will allow our economy to continue to expand at a steady pace, without undue inflationary pressures.

We thank all our Stakeholders, and the Government Ministries and Corporations, who have contributed to this year's budget.

Have a Peaceful Sunday

God Bless