ASG lease of land in Samoa alleged as ‘fake news’ by PM Fiame

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — It seems that senators' skepticism with regard to the ASG's so-called 400-acre land in the Independent State of Samoa, allegedly acquired through Atoa-O-Samoa Talks negotiations and is to be used for a cattle farm, was well founded.

This is after reports from Apia quoted Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa as saying that she “doesn't know anything about it,” during Parliament session on Wednesday, March  13, 2024 (Tuesday March 12, in the Territory).

The issue was raised by Opposition leader and former prime minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi during discussions of select committee reports.

Before he drew attention to the issue, Tuilaepa spoke in support of the current administration's efforts to further boost the country's tourism industry, touching on the utilization of large areas of government land for long-term projects aimed at attracting more tourists, like the proposed 20-acre botanical garden at A’ele.

The veteran politician with 43 years of experience under his belt, 23 of them as prime minister making him the country’s longest-serving PM, skillfully diverted his commentary to international negotiations between governments involving real estate.

He referred to the mutual agreement between the Australian and Samoan governments where each provided the other with land for lease to build their embassies, then played his trump card.

“Which brings me to the issue of the 400 acres of prime government land at Togitogiga which has allegedly been made available to the American Samoa government,” Tuilaepa let out. “I first became aware of this on social media where I witnessed discussions on the matter in the American Samoa Senate.

“No one here knows anything about this! Can someone please give us an explanation if such an arrangement has been done, so that our people can be clear about what transpired? The government and people of American Samoa also need to be clear on this matter, and especially the people of Falealili because the 400 acres in question is in their backyard!”

Tuilaepa stated that land issues are very delicate matters and he knows this very well because he had dealt with it before during his time as prime minister, where he had been threatened with firearms as a result.

“Matters involving ancestral land pertaining to villages are not easy,” he reiterated. “Especially a case involving 400 acres of land considered by a village to be part of its backyard, allegedly given to another foreign government to develop, without a word of explanation from our government.

“Our country must be fully informed about this matter. Where exactly is this 400 acres and if any terms and conditions have been agreed on by the two governments.

“The American Samoa government and people must also not be left in the dark with regard to this matter. They are our brothers and sisters. There’s too much shady dealings going on. We need transparency!”

In her response, Prime Minister Fiame Naomi stated that Parliament was discussing select committee reports, therefore, discussion should focus on matters in the reports.

However, she noticed that attention has been diverted to matters not included in the reports like the issue that the Opposition leader had raised.

“Mr. Speaker, as the Economic Development Committee chairman has pointed out, the issue is not in the report,” the PM said. “So I’ll quickly add my response to the Opposition leader’s enquiry, I don’t know anything about the issue.”

Fiame brought up the matter again as discussion continued.

“Mr. Speaker, I just want to further clarify that the issue raised by the Opposition leader regarding the land for American Samoa, may be a case of fake news,” the PM stated.

She continued that the only land dealings she knows were agreed upon by both governments, involved the piece of land in Tafuna made available for the construction of the Samoa Consulate Office in the Territory, in exchange with the piece of land at Moata’a where a similar office for a resident ASG representative in Samoa.

Fiame also revealed that Samoa has submitted a request for land to build a warehouse close to the inter-island wharf area in Fagatogo to help with cargo storage.

She explained that the size of the land that ASG approves for this purpose will also be added to the land at Moata’a.

Opposition leader Tuilaepa responded to PM Fiame’s explanation by clarifying that the issue he had raised about the 400 acres of land was not fake news.

“Mr. Speaker, I just want to clarify for the record that the issue I raised is not fake news,” Tuilaepa stated. “I learned about it from a recording of discussion by members of the American Samoa Senate.

“So if it is actually fake news, then the American Samoa Senate must have been discussing fake news. But it wasn’t from me.”

As reported by Samoa News last week, Director of Agriculture Solia Mutini told a hearing of the Senate Agriculture Committee that 400 acres of prime land in Togitogiga, Falealili had been gifted by the Samoa government to ASG and it will be used to start a cattle farm, to be funded by federal grant funds.

Mutini elaborated that the proposed project had been approved by USDA because it was part of its Food Security initiative.

The DOA director also revealed that federal money had already been spent to fund a fence surrounding the area and that it currently holds 11 cows. Six had been gifted by the Samoa government and five were gifted by the Deputy Prime Minister.

He said that currently, they are working on putting together the agreement terms and conditions of the lease taking into account ASG’s long-term plans for the project, before it is signed by the governor and Samoa prime minister in May.

After that, the Attorney General’s Office will work on finalizing the lease terms and conditions before it is presented to the Fono for review and approval.

However, senators were unconvinced and deeply skeptical about the whole affair.

So much so, that two of them said out loud, “I smell a rat!”