State of Territory Address outlines Lemanu Admin’s “path forward”

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Among the Lemanu-Talauega Administration’s priorities in “Our Path Forward” in 2023, is working with the Legislature in “enacting legislation to address issues with federal grant fund awards, minimize hazards that threaten our environment, amend our tax code to better serve the needs of our hard-working people and approve a supplemental budget for Fiscal Year 2023.”

This is according to Gov. Lemanu P. S Mauga’s State of the Territory Comprehensive Report distributed Monday to lawmakers during the official opening of the 38th Legislature, where the governor delivered his State of the Territory Address.

According to the governor, the supplemental budget bill will further drive efforts to address infrastructure deficiencies and improve projects and programs that serve the needs of the territory’s growing population.

“Improving our roads, fortifying our seawall, erecting buildings that will provide essential services are among the projects we plan to see through,” he said. 

“The road ahead may have its hurdles but we remain firm in the belief that our collaborative efforts will meet those hurdles with solutions to successfully achieve infrastructure plans set in place,” the governor points out.

In his Samoan address to lawmakers, the governor announced the specific proposed bills that the Administration plans to submit to the Fono and these include the supplemental budget, as well as a move to establish a U.S National Guard in American Samoa.

Lemanu offered to the Fono to be a witness to testify on the proposal before lawmakers saying that individuals summoned to testify in the past on a previous identical bill, were probably not convincing enough.

Governor is a military retiree who says he can testify to the importance of a local National Guard. (Samoa News notes that such a bill was submitted a few years ago by the previous Administration.)

At the outset of the governor’s “Our Path Forward” statement in the Comprehensive Report, Lemanu noted the Administration will “continue building on infrastructure plans and implementing policies that will preserve our way of life in our Territory.”

He claimed that the Administration has been fortunate to have a Cabinet who “share our goals and who continuously support the directives aimed at improving our way of life”.

“It is the strong resolve of our people that fuels our efforts. Our infrastructure plans, while ambitious, are furthered by the support of our Cabinet and focused on addressing critical needs of our people,” he said.

He also touched on the Constitutional Referendum saying that voters have spoken and “we have delivered their voice to the Secretary of the Interior”. (See separate story for details in today’s edition.)

“Amending our constitution to reflect the growing and changing demands of our people is the very essence of democracy,” he said.

Of COVID- 19, it is one of the major challenges faced by American Samoa in 2022 and at the start of 2023, the governor said that “while the threat of COVID is now at bay, we continue to work with LBJ and DoH to improve our capacity to respond to any impending health crises,”

At the forefront of capacity building are the plans for a new and improved medical facility, he pointed out.

 “Our growing population demands urgent action to address gaps in our current medical and health facilities. It is our responsibility as leaders to ensure our people have access to adequate health care services,” Lemanu said and noted that action plans are in process to begin construction (of the new hospital) in the coming year.

“We are optimistic that we will see this critical infrastructure plan to fruition,” he said and declared that the Lemanu-Talauega Administration “will forge ahead with reforms that we fervently believe are necessary for us to move forward as a US Territory, a Pacific Island nation, and as a people.”

“We have not lost sight of our shared conviction in improving government services, fortifying our community, and empowering our people. Together we secure the best future for American Samoa,” the governor concluded.