Mauga calls for villages to bring back traditional daily curfews

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — There is a concern over the growing number of illegal activities in the villages. This according to Secretary for the Samoan Affairs Mauga Tasi Asuega during a meeting of village mayors this week.

He said there have been numerous reports of suspected illegal dealings in the villages and that village curfews should be implemented throughout the territory.

Adding that villages should do the same as Fagaitua, which is currently reviving its traditional daily curfews.

Fagaitua Village Mayor Agaolei’a Manumalo Pauesi, in an interview with Samoa News supports the move for all the villages to have mandatory curfews.

“In our village the bell rings three times, 6p.m. for evening services, 9p.m. for children who are not allowed to roam the village and that is applicable to adults by 10p.m. 

“Even the only store in the village closes during curfews, otherwise it would attract shoppers during curfew.”

The Samoan Affairs Secretary queried the village reps about what actions should be taken when they encounter issues.

“You need to act and be responsible. Your role is to lead in the village and on top of that you must not shy away from your responsibility as village mayors. It is hard, but you must take appropriate actions to protect the people in your village.

“If you see something that is out of place, take action, address it right then and there,” said Mauga.

Mauga reminded that only emergency vehicles are allowed to enter and exit villages during curfews.

“On Sunday, there would be no swimming or fishing at sea. Also, try to implement as part of the curfew that cooking should be done by 6a.m.”

He said the village is also enforcing the protection of its marine environment like coral, reefs and fish by banning fishermen from outside of the village.

Village Mayor Agaolei’a says they’ve experienced from the past, where outside fishermen were suspected of allegedly using poison to catch fish at night causing a sad amount of dead fish on the beach and some were still floating in the lagoon the next day.

Mauga urged the meeting with close to 50 village mayors in attendance — to be bold, and not to be afraid to take actions that they see necessary.

The people of the village of Fagaitua appear to follow their curfew rules, according to Mayor Agaolei’a, who also expressed concerns about the presence of drugs, which he suspected to be from overseas people using young locals as runners.

However he said, stay away and let police handle it, like they did in Fagaalu recently.

The mayor is referring to the police raid of 2 residences in Fagaalu Village, on Monday, June 5th, where 5 individuals were arrested for drugs — amphetamine and marijuana.

Sustaining local food supplies for the villagers is also one of his responsibilities where his main concern is getting rid of wild pigs, adding “it’s impossible to keep a taro plantation, due to the excessive population of wild pigs.”

The best option, according to Mayor Agaolei’a, is to plant alternative food sources, in this case — planting more breadfruit trees and bananas — the fai paka species especially, as they grow well in his village. He said, the Department of Agriculture sometimes when they have seminars provides planting materials.

Village leaders meeting at the office of Samoan Affairs thIs week Tuesday . [photo: AT]