Last night, Campbell Live carried an investigation (full video here) into the fate of aid money given in response to the September 2009 tsunami. According to the Samoan government's accounts, they received over 160 million Tala (NZ$86 million ) in aid. But according to its Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, they received only 35 million Tala. The difference - over 120 million Tala - appears to have vanished. Meanwhile, people in the disaster zone are still suffering, their villages in ruins.
In New Zealand, this would result in the government being roasted in the media. Its Ministers would be forced to front up and explain the discrepancy. In Samoa, not so much. Their Prime Minister feels no obligation to answer questions on the issue, pulling out of an interview with Campbell Live at the last minute. Ministers remain silent. The culture of deference towards traditional leaders - and every MP in Samoa is a matai, because only matai are allowed to stand - is exploited to silence criticism and protect those in power from scrutiny. Attempts to demand accountability are met with bluster and insults.
This is what happens when government is not accountable to its people: they get away with corruption on a vast scale, while leaving those in need to suffer. But the most appalling thing is that the Samoans Campbell interviews don't seem to expect any better. They don't expect the government to be honest with its money. They don't expect the government to help when there is a disaster. Rather than being outraged, they're just... resigned.
Samoa is holding elections next March. But as a one-party state, nothing will change; the opposition will be punished, sidelined, co-opted or bribed with a Ministerial position (and every government MP is also an associate Minister, for the perks). And so the people of Samoa will continue to have a government which isn't accountable to them. Its long past time they did something about that.
