Samoan Fiame Naomi Mata’afa an inspiration to Pacific women

Samoan trailblazer Fiame Elame Naomi Mata’afa is an inspiration not only to women in her country but also to women in all island nations of the Pacific.

In a country where men still dominate many affairs of the nation, Fiame has shown that women can reach the top in national politics.

Soon we will hear whether she has ascended to the country’s top job. She could be the first woman in the region, bar New Zealand and Australia, to become Prime Minister, if Independent Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio decides to coalesce with Fiame’s Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party. Australia first and only female PM was Julia Gillard of the Labor Party. New Zealand has had three female prime ministers, Jennifer Shipley (National) followed by Helen Clark (Labour) and now Jacinda Ardern (Labour).

Across the region the focus is on Samoa which is on knife edge as FAST and the ruling Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) of Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi are tied with 25 seats each in the 51-seat Parliament after the general election there. Lawyer Tuala has become the power broker. There is speculation that he is leaning towards Fiame.

But with Tuilepa, you can’t completely rule him out. He has been leading Samoa for 22 years, the world’s second longest serving PM after Cambodian PM Hun Sen with 36 years under his belt.

Whether Fiame becomes PM or not, she will be the poster figure in the campaign to encourage more women to enter politics.

She is one of the five women, the most in an election, to have won seats in Parliament.

Under her leadership, the nine-month-old Opposition party, formed after she left the ruling Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) Government last year, has achieved unprecedented gains. Twenty-five seats are an incredible achievement after decades of domination by HRPP.

Fiame was deputy PM in HRPP when she quit the party over disagreement on three laws that fundamentally altered the country’s constitution and judicial system.

The changes were widely condemned by lawyers and judges. Some MPs - including then deputy PM Fiame – left the party.

The new laws mean that the Land and Titles Court which deals with customary land and matai disputes - becomes a stand-alone judiciary equal in standing to the Supreme Court. They removed the High Court as an avenue of appeal.

Fiame is a symbol of the women’s struggle to break the seemingly formidable structural barriers between them and decision making at national level in Samoa.

While it will take time to dismantle these barriers, she has given women a big morale boost.

NEMANI DELAIBATIKI

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