This Press Release is in response to the Editorial in the Samoa Observer Newspaper edition
of Friday 22nd January 2021 (page 14) by the Editorial Board entitled “A bureaucrat with
absolute power?”
The said article is erroneous in a number of aspects which I will address in this Press Release.
Firstly, the contention by Samoa Observer “that constitutional responsibility of assent now
rests with a bureaucrat who heads the Prime Minister’s Ministry in the absence of the Head of
State” (underlined emphasis mine) is INCORRECT.
Under the Constitution, only the Head of State can assent an Act of Parliament. Article 60 of
the Constitution provides that the “Head of State shall acting on the advice of the Prime
Minister declare that he assents to the Bill or that he refuses his assent to the Bill.”
Statements therefore by Samoa observer and such as:
“the fact that …constitutional responsibility of assent now rests with a bureaucrat
who heads the Prime Minister’s Ministry, in the absence of the Head of State…”
and
“…removing a bureaucrat from the legislative process and maintaining its sanctity,
while ensuring the C.E.O. of the Ministry of the Prime Minister and Cabinet sticks
to policy implementation of the Government of the day”,
is without basis. The C.E.O. of the Ministry of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (MPMC) does
not assent an Act of Parliament to bring it into force, nor does he have the power to do so
under the Constitution.
Secondly, the reporting by Samoa Observer that this is a new amendment quoting a Member
of Parliament as saying “It was only approved [into law] in 2016” is also INCORRECT.
Article “60. Bills assented to become Acts of Parliament” has always been part of the
Constitution of Samoa when the Constitution was passed in 1960.
Thirdly, the report of the Samoa Observer implying that the C.E.O. of MPMC can carry out
a duty of the Head of State in the absence of the Head of State when it reported “giving a
bureaucrat who works for the Prime Minister’s Ministry authority to assent to legislation – in
the absence of a Head of State and overlooking the Council of Deputies – makes a mockery
of Samoa’s systems of checks and balances…” is also incorrect.

The only authority permitted by the Constitution to act in the Head of State’s absence is the
Council of Deputies. Article 23 provides that the Council of Deputies performs the functions
of the Head of State in the absence of the Head of State. One such function includes the
function to assent an Act of Parliament as provided for under Article 60 of the Constitution.
Therefore, if the Head of State is absent, then the Council of Deputies may assent the Act,
not the CEO of MPMC.