KEY POINTS:
Economic reforms, regional agreements and national developments were dubbed detached from villagers in the rural areas of Samoa during a seminar last week.
According to Professor Asofou So'o, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the National University of Samoa and a leading local researcher said the Samoans out in rural
villages feel the reforms or "what's happening in town" do not have a direct impact on their lives.
"My sense from talking to the people is, from them, they don't really care about what is happening in town, if they are getting what they want, today, tomorrow, next year that satisfies them, that's my sense of the village psyche," he said.
In recent years Samoa has gone through Institutional Strengthening Programmes which resulted in restructuring of local Ministries.
Dr Asofou presented findings of a mini survey he conducted alongside Rob Laking a Senior Lecturer for the School of Government on the village perception of public reforms in recent years.
According to him, "as long as the villagers daily lives continue uninterrupted they are satisfied, and unaffected by the reforms."
Dr Asofou is adamant that those in the rural areas should be involved and made aware of the developments within Ministries due to the reform processes.
"But how we will do this is another question," he said.
The challenge according to Dr Asofou is relating concepts to the reality in the villages.
"We have blended nicely, modernity and our traditional Samoan sector and I think that we have and are continuously taking that modernization to our villages through us, but at some stage with all these reforms and changes we need to clarify how it is impacting on the villages and traditions," he said.
Speaking of villages, coconuts collected by many a villagers out in the rural areas have contributed to the decrease in national deficit according to the latest report by the Central Bank of Samoa.
The report stated: "The merchandise trade deficit contracted significantly by 9.8 million tala (22 per cent) to 36.0 million tala in April 2007."
The reduction according to the report was due to a substantial decline in imports coupled with an improvement in export earnings.
"The improvement in total export earnings was mainly due to the strong growth in revenues from nonu juice and increases in earnings from fresh fish, coconuts and Samoan cocoa," the report states.
The report notes that when compared with the same month of 2006, the merchandise trade deficit in April 2007 was 5.5 million tala higher.
The report indicates that the total value of exports (including re-exports) increased by 2 million tala, (16 per cent) to 1.9 million tala in April 2007. And, at this level, it was also 3 per cent (61 thousand tala) above the level in April 2006.
The report notes that despite the fall in imports in April the total value of imports in the ten months to April 2007 (at 506.2 million tala) was 14 per cent (63.0 million tala) higher than the level in the same period in the last fiscal year.
CBS owes this change to the stronger domestic demand associated with the growing economy, driven particularly by buoyant activities in the telecommunication, construction, commerce and transport sectors.
Speaking of transport, the expansion of the two main bridges leading to the town were officially opened last week, much to the delight of local drivers.
The rush in road expansions and bridge strengthening are all part of Samoas preparations for the South Pacific Games which start this August.
On that front, the Chief Executive Officer of the South Pacific Games Authority, Fonoti Manoniamanu Etuale Ioane, broke his silence over faulty SPG facilities last week.
According to the CEO who is also a qualified architect, some of the facilities were not built with "torrential rain" in mind.
The squash courts were flooded during its first month due to leaks in the roof and the players complained of slipping in the courts during games.
On the more humorous front, the difference between a Press Release and Press Conference has yet to be established by some Press Officers of Government.
Last week I received call from one Press Officer who said: "We will be holding a Press Release tomorrow, can you send someone to attend."
I am still uncertain as to how one attends a Press Release.
Manuia le Aso.
