The full verdict
What has reached families is cash for older people and for people with disabilities. The senior benefit went to SAT$300 a month from November 2025 for about 13,000 people aged 65 and over, to SAT$500 from July 2026 for those aged 70 and over, and the disability benefit to SAT$300 for 2,875 people 81. A SAT$20 million child benefit is funded, but it pays nothing until January 2027 1. A one-off SAT$150 back-to-school payment had reached 105,669 people by 8 April 2026, taken from SAT$32 million of district money rather than new funding, and paid per person to all citizens, adults and newborns included 910. Children are the poorest group, 17.6% below the line in 2023 against 11.4% of people aged 65 and over, so the child benefit is aimed where need is, while the SAT$150 and the flat pension reach rich and poor alike 11.
Most of the rest has not moved. The tax-free threshold is still SAT$15,000, the top and company rates 27% and VAGST 15% on food; the May 2026 budget kept every rate unchanged 121. Hospital care is not free: the surveyed charge is SAT$22.50 a night, unchanged, and in July 2026 the health minister said 104 medicines had run short in nine months 1314. Free schooling still rests on the SAT$18 million grant that existed before the promise, and schools were in Term 2 of 2026 without their full grant 115. No SAT$50 million has gone to EPC, water, renewables, export farmers or manufacturers and no SAT$100 million hotel fund exists; the money went instead to a SAT$100 million fuel provision and a SAT$15 million lending facility shared across three sectors 1. The Salelologa hospital promise became a 20-year lease of 10 acres of public land to a private operator, paused a week after breaking ground 1617. The one promise the government dated itself, an airline flying by the end of 2026, was withdrawn by the finance minister within eleven weeks 18.
The biggest line is the district programme: SAT$102 million a year, about 8% of receipts 1. It is Fiamē's SAT$1 million grant doubled; by 15 October 2026 no district had been paid at the new rate, and the IMF told the government in July to improve execution, transparency and accountability before expanding it 1920. Cabinet appoints the council chairs, and HRPP's claim that only FAST members were chosen is denied by the government; a former MP found by the Supreme Court to have used district-fund cheques to induce voters was made a chair in January 2026, and a SAT$750,000 cash withdrawal in Safata has no published records 4212223. The court challenge to the chair appointments is before the Supreme Court and undecided, and the withdrawal reports are unreconciled accounts, not findings of theft 2123. Money that flows only through chairs picked by Cabinet follows a familiar pattern of patronage.
Much of what the government presents as delivery was inherited. The pension scheme and its SAT$200 base rate date from Fiamē's 2021 budget, and the disability benefit began under Fiamē in 2021 at SAT$100; this government added the last SAT$100 and SAT$200 2358. The minimum wage has risen SAT$2.24 since July 2024, SAT$1.84 of it under the previous government's policy; this Cabinet's own step, reported on 13 May 2026, was 40 sene, with SAT$6.05 not due until July 2028 2425. The district grant and its councils were set up under Fiamē, with SAT$51 million first budgeted in 2022/23; this government's own marks on it are the higher rate, the Act and the chairs 264.
The books are tighter than the promises assumed. Real GDP fell 1.6% in the year to June 2026, the first fall since 2020 3. The 2026/27 budget plans SAT$1,500.6 million of spending against SAT$1,284.7 million of receipts, a stated cash deficit of SAT$215.9 million, and counts on tax revenue rising 17% with no rate change 1. Prices were 5.8% higher in June 2026 than a year before, driven by fuel, and 3.4% higher in September 2013. Debt is low at 19.4% of GDP, so there is room to pay for what is promised, but the IMF asked that support be temporary and targeted and that fuel subsidies be a last resort; the government chose a SAT$100 million fuel provision for every electricity user and flat payments 27201. The year's costs fell on families who buy food, fuel and bus fares, which rose 30% in July 2026, and on the quarter of workers in informal work outside the wage floor, 25.3% in the 2022 labour force survey; the gains went to pensioners and to households with someone working overseas, as remittances rose SAT$50 million to SAT$952.8 million 342836.
On accountability the record cuts against the government. The Prime Minister was acquitted of every charge on 27 March 2026, the state did not appeal, and on 9 September 2026 the Supreme Court dismissed an opposition MP's bid to force an appeal, while finding that as a minister he had instructed a senior officer to investigate a rival and concealed it from the Police Commissioner, which it called "foolhardy and unconstitutional" but short of criminal 29. He holds the Police and Attorney-General portfolios, which the Law Society called a significant potential conflict while he was a defendant 30. Three opposition leaders were referred to a parliamentary inquiry over criticism he called "treasonous", and the opposition leader Tuilaepa was arrested on 13 August 2026 over press-conference comments about the Prime Minister and faces charges of criminal defamation and electronic harassment; his claim that this is an attempt to shut him up is an allegation, not a finding 3132. The Samoa Observer has been barred from the Prime Minister's press conferences since November 2025 and Samoa's press-freedom rank fell from 44th to 59th 57. A bill to change the Central Bank's governance passed its second reading in August 2026 after the IMF warned an earlier draft could weaken the bank's autonomy 633. Judged on who gains and who pays, this year paid older people and people with disabilities, left workers and the poor waiting on the tax, hospital and school promises, and moved money and decisions closer to the governing party.
20 October 2026
- Minister of Finance Hon Mulipola Anarosa Budget Address 2026/2027
- Budget Address 2021/2022
- Gross Domestic Product – June 2026 Quarter
- What Samoa’s District Development Act 2026 means for district funding?
- Samoa Observer ban remains, Government says
- Central Bank Amendment Bill 2026 passes 2nd reading and moves for Committee review
- Samoa – RSF World Press Freedom Index
- Minister of Finance Tables $1.24bn Talā Peoples Budget
- More than $15M paid out in $150 school support
- PM Clarifies $32M Funding for Back-to-School Scheme
- Samoa Monetary Poverty Assessment 2023
- Rates – Ministry of Revenue
- Consumer Price Index, September 2026: CPI tables (Table 3, average retail prices of selected commodities)
- Samoa health system grapples with medicine supply
- Schools to receive funds soon: PM
- Sāmoa hospital land deal raises questions over family and government links
- PSH pauses Savaii Hospital project for governance restructure
- Planes cost $30M to operate, none expected this year
- Vaimauga 4 to receive $2 Million for District Development Projects
- 2026 Article IV Consultation for Samoa: IMF Staff Concluding Statement
- HRPP Claims DDC Appointments Were Politically Driven as Government Defends Selection Process
- Magele Sekati Found Guilty of Bribery Using Fono Faavae Funds
- Government confirms $750,000 Safata withdrawal but spending records remain unpublished
- Minimum wage increases by 40 cents
- Minimum Wage is $5.84 and does not move to $6.05 until July 2028
- Minister of Finance Budget Address 2022/23: “Inspiring Growth through an Inclusive and Resilient Recovery for Samoa”
- Government Finance Statistics – June 2026 Quarter
- 2022 Samoa Labour Force and Child Labour Survey
- Court Upholds AG Decision, Rebukes Political Interference, Recognises Harm to Lealailepule
- Law Society Raises Conflict Concerns Over PM's Portfolios
- 3 Senior Opposition MPs to be investigated for treason
- "An attempt to shut me up" Tuilaepa speaks out after arrest
- IMF warns Samoa reforms could undermine Central Bank independence
- Asian Development Outlook September 2026: The Pacific
- Beijing +30 Samoa National Report: Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) 2024
- Visitor Earnings & Remittances Report June 2026
The ones that matter
Promises that are good for families and are kept or under way.
- Under way
Act on drugs, domestic violence and online abuse
Drug campaign, raids and a prevention programme have started; nothing yet on online abuse and no outcome figures.
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- Promised
- Treat illegal drugs, domestic violence, abuse of women and girls and abusive language on social media as family problems, to be tackled through family-focused prevention and stronger law enforcement. No programme, budget or date was given at the 12 July 2025 launch. 1
- What happened
- **Drugs.** On 8 October 2025 police launched a 12-month 'Say No to Illegal Drugs' campaign with Australian Federal Police support; no funding amount was reported. 2 Police reported 20 raids, 55 people charged and 100.98 grams of methamphetamine seized between 29 January and 26 May 2026. 3 Police confirmed 14- and 15-year-olds among more than 100 drug arrests from January to 21 April 2026. 8 By September 2026 police reported 228 people arrested for drug offences since December 2025, across all eight urban districts of Upolu, with Vaimauga 4 the highest. 7 Police began testing their own staff: three employees were dismissed after positive drug tests, reported 8 September 2026. 4 In June 2026 Parliament debated mandatory drug tests for MPs; the Prime Minister said he had been tested first and that Cabinet would consider a separate law for testing MPs. 6 **Violence and abuse.** The Police, Justice and Family and Social Affairs ministries held the first meeting of a national taskforce on drugs and violence (PACT Samoa) on 17 August 2026 and agreed to develop a phased prevention programme. 9 On 9 September 2026 the Samoa Observer reported the launch of Lalaga Le Vā, a programme bringing ministries, families, villages, churches and schools together on drug and violence prevention. 5 **Online abuse.** No measure aimed at abusive language on social media was found in the research.
- Impact on families
- Charges and seizures measure police activity, not whether drug use, violence or abuse fell. 3 No published figures yet show a change in domestic violence reports, drug prevalence or the number of families made safer; police and court statistics for 2025/26 against 2024/25 would show it. 5
- Cost
- Not costed; the drugs campaign is Australian-supported with no amount reported, and police services spending was SAT$19.7m in 2025 (SBS).
- Verdict for families
- Good for aiga
- Can it be done?
- Doable
- Long term
- Mixed long term
- Who deserves the credit
-
Shared credit
The raids, charges and staff drug tests are police and customs work that was already building before this government: in June 2025 the caretaker police minister announced stronger sea monitoring, detection dogs from New Zealand and a US Coast Guard partnership, and Customs seized 1,835 grams of methamphetamine on 4 September 2025, before Laʻauli took office. 1213 The 'Say No to Illegal Drugs' campaign is Australian-supported; what this government added is the drugs-and-violence taskforce (PACT Samoa) and the Lalaga Le Vā programme, which bring existing programmes, data and referral pathways under one umbrella. 295
- Who gains
- Families in the eight urban districts where arrests are concentrated, and any village reached by Lalaga Le Vā, gain safer streets if the campaign cuts supply; no count of families reached exists. 75
- Who pays
- Taxpayers fund more policing and an overcrowded prison system; families of those charged, including a 14-year-old, pay the cost of an enforcement-first approach. 108
- Assessment
- Raids, drug tests and a prevention programme run inside existing police and ministry budgets with donor help, so the action is affordable and has started. 2911 Drugs and family violence fall hardest on low-income families, women and children, so action aimed at them is well targeted; but charges and seizures measure police work, not fewer harmed families, and arrests already reach 14-year-olds. 38 A January 2026 report put more than 100 people in a remand area built for 60, so enforcement without treatment and prevention stores up prison costs; nothing at all has been done on online abuse. 10 Most of the measured activity is routine police and customs enforcement with Australian support rather than a new government scheme; the taskforce and Lalaga Le Vā are this government's own, and neither has outcome figures yet. 1229
Sources (13)
- FAST Party Manifesto Centres on the Family Unit
- Australia supports the “Say No to Illegal Drugs Campaign” as foremost priority
- 20 raids, 55 charged
- Three police employees terminated after positive drug tests
- New multi-ministry programme launched
- Mandatory drug tests for MPs sparks heated debate in Parliament
- Vaimauga 4 Tops Arrests as Drugs Recorded in all Eight Urban Districts of Upolu
- 14 year old amongst drug-related arrests from January to April 2026
- POLICE, JUSTICE AND FAMILY AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS UNITE TO ADDRESS DRUGS AND VIOLENCE
- Overcrowded and inhumane, things need to change at Tanumalala
- Statistical Abstract 2025
- Crime drops but drug crisis worsens
- Samoa Customs Intercepts Nearly 2 Kilograms of Methamphetamine in Targeted Operation
- Under way
Minimum wage of SAT$6 an hour
SAT$5.24 an hour since 1 July 2026; SAT$6.05 is not due until 1 July 2028.
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- Promised
- Raise the national minimum wage to SAT$6 an hour. No date was given when the manifesto was launched in Salelologa in July 2025; the pledge sits under the party's 2025 to 2030 policies. 1
- What happened
- Cabinet approved a rise from SAT$4.84 to SAT$5.24 an hour, reported 13 May 2026, taking effect in July 2026. 2 MCIL's employment guidance lists SAT$5.24 as the current rate from 1 July 2026 and the next steps as SAT$5.65 from 1 July 2027 and SAT$6.05 from 1 July 2028, set under Cabinet Directive FK(24)25 and section 32 of the Labour and Employment Relations Amendment Act 2023. 3 The rate covers private-sector and state-owned-enterprise workers; workers under the Public Service Act 2004 are not covered. 3 The Samoa Chamber of Commerce and Industry had warned against a rapid increase and recommended a phased three-year pathway, reported 16 May 2026. 4 The 2027 and 2028 rates are scheduled, not yet paid. 3
- Impact on families
- A worker on the old minimum is entitled to 40 sene more an hour, about SAT$16 more for a 40-hour week. 2 No official count of workers on the minimum wage, of employer compliance after 1 July 2026, or of jobs gained or lost has been published; an MCIL or SBS count of minimum-wage earners would show it. 35 The ILO's 2025 review of Pacific minimum wages reports an IMF finding that in 2016 one in five private-sector employees in Samoa earned the minimum wage, mainly in retail, and says the number of labour inspectors is not sufficient to enforce compliance fully. 6 SBS's June 2026 quarter employment report, released 21 August 2026, recorded 28,455 employees, up 8.2% on June 2025, and quarterly wages and salaries of SAT$350.1 million, up 24.6%; those are totals across all formal employers for a period before the rise took effect. 5
- Cost
- No direct budget cost: the floor binds private and state-owned employers, who have published no estimate of what it adds to their wage bills. Not costed by government.
- Verdict for families
- Good for aiga
- Can it be done?
- Doable
- Long term
- Mixed long term
- Who deserves the credit
-
Shared credit
Most of the rise so far was set under Fiamē: a multi-stage rollout that began in July 2024 took the floor from SAT$3.00 to SAT$4.00 on 1 July 2024 and, as a scheduled step, to SAT$4.84 in July 2025, and the former Finance Minister said the budget this government tabled in October 2025 was the same one he had prepared. 91110 This Cabinet's own addition is the May 2026 decision: a 40 sene step to SAT$5.24, chosen as a mid-point to safeguard local businesses, and the scheduled SAT$5.65 and SAT$6.05 steps. 29 The Prime Minister presented the SAT$6 wage as a FAST election promise in February 2026; the two earlier steps, which account for SAT$1.84 of the SAT$2.24 rise since 2024, were his predecessor's. 119
- Who gains
- Workers paid at the floor in the private sector and state-owned enterprises: 40 sene an hour more from 1 July 2026, about SAT$16 a week, rising to SAT$6.05 an hour by July 2028. 23
- Who pays
- Employers carry the cost, and the quarter of workers in informal employment and all public servants are outside the floor and get nothing from it. 312
- Assessment
- The floor has risen from SAT$3.00 to SAT$5.24 since July 2024, SAT$1.84 of it under the previous government's 2024 policy and 40 sene under this one, and the path to SAT$6.05 needs only the Cabinet directive already issued, so delivery is within reach. 239 It reaches only covered formal workers paid at the floor: MCIL excludes Public Service Act workers, and SBS's 2022 labour-force survey counted 13,447 of 53,135 employed people, 25.3%, in informal employment outside any wage floor. 312 The ILO's 2025 review says Samoa's minimum wage reviews had been infrequent and the rate had lagged prices and earnings, that both the private and public-sector minimums were below the official poverty income level for a household, and that inspectors are too few to enforce compliance fully; the Chamber of Commerce asked for the phase-in Cabinet adopted, and private-sector participants at a July 2026 consultation named imported materials, electricity, fuel, freight and skill shortages as pressures. 468 The rise moves money from employers to the lowest-paid workers at no cost to the budget, which is why it lands well; whether firms shed staff, raise prices or move work off the books is unmeasured, and real GDP fell 1.6% in FY2025/26, so the five-year picture is mixed. 7
Sources (12)
- FAST Party Manifesto Centres on the Family Unit
- Minimum wage increases by 40 cents
- Employment services | Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour
- Chamber opposed immediate $6.51 wage jump
- Employment Report, June 2026 Quarter
- Minimum wage systems and wage-setting practices in the Pacific Island Countries
- Gross Domestic Product, June 2026 Quarter
- Private Sector Highlights Key Constraints and Opportunities for Sustainable Economic Development in Samoa
- Minimum Wage is $5.84 and does not move to $6.05 until July 2028
- FAST Government Adopts Key Policies from Previous Budget
- $6 minimum wage, pay rise for civil servants
- 2022 Samoa Labour Force and Child Labour Survey
- Kept
Senior benefit SAT$300 a month from age 65
Paid from November 2025; government reports 13,000 pensioners.
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- Promised
- Raise the Senior Citizens Benefit to SAT$300 a month from age 65, paid in fortnightly instalments 1. Campaign reports disagree on the unit: the Samoa Observer comparison printed "pensions at $300–500 fortnightly" 2, while Samoa Global News reported SAT$300 a month from 65 and SAT$500 a month from 70, paid fortnightly 1. No start date was given 1.
- What happened
- The 2025/26 budget, tabled 6 October 2025, raised monthly pension and disability payments to SAT$300 from November 2025, for 15,099 people together 3. The 2026/27 budget address of May 2026 said all pensioners receive SAT$300 a month and that the increased pension had reached 13,000 pensioners 4. The SNPF, which administers the scheme, lists SAT$300 a month from age 65, with free consultations at government hospitals and free medical supplies at government pharmacies 5. The 2026/27 budget appropriated SAT$54,084,867 for the senior and disability schemes together 4.
- Impact on families
- About 13,000 people aged 65 and over receive SAT$300 a month 45. The 13,000 figure is a government programme figure from the budget address, not an audited count of payments 4. No measured effect on household poverty has been published since the rise; the 2023 household survey, taken before it, put poverty among people aged 65 and over at 11.4% 7, and a later survey would show whether that has changed.
- Cost
- About SAT$46.8m a year for 13,000 people at SAT$300 (our arithmetic), about 3.6% of budget receipts of SAT$1,284.7m; the budget's joint senior-and-disability line is SAT$54.1m 4.
- Verdict for families
- Good for aiga
- Can it be done?
- Doable
- Long term
- Mixed long term
- Who deserves the credit
-
Shared credit
The scheme, run by the SNPF, and the SAT$200 base rate are inherited: Fiamē's 14 September 2021 budget raised the pension from SAT$160 to SAT$200 a month 105. What this government added is the SAT$100 rise in its 6 October 2025 budget, which it presents as its own relief measure 3.
- Who gains
- About 13,000 people over 65 get SAT$100 a month more than the SAT$200 rate paid since 2021, SAT$1,200 a year each 4.
- Who pays
- Taxpayers, about SAT$15.6m a year more than the old rate (our arithmetic), in a budget with a SAT$215.9m cash deficit and no new tax to fund it 4.
- Assessment
- The pension goes to nearly every person over 65 whatever their income; the Statistical Abstract puts old-age pension receipt at 98.5% of older people 6. People aged 65 and over had a poverty rate of 11.4% in 2023, below the national 15.2%, so a flat rate also reaches households that are not poor, though most pensioners live in extended families where the money is shared 7. At about 3.6% of receipts, with debt at 19.4% of GDP, it can be kept up 48. The cost rises as the population ages and the IMF asked that support be targeted, so the rate is affordable but the design is not targeted 9. Of the SAT$300 now paid, SAT$200 was already in place under the previous government, so the new decision is the last third of the rate 10.
Sources (10)
- Laaulialemalietoa Secures his Seat with Ease as FAST Numbers Start to Stack Up
- What the three major parties are promising Samoa
- Minister of Finance Tables $1.24bn Talā Peoples Budget
- Minister of Finance Hon Mulipola Anarosa Budget Address 2026/2027
- Senior Citizens Benefit Fund
- Statistical Abstract 2025
- Samoa monetary poverty assessment 2023
- Government Finance Statistics, June 2026 Quarter
- 2026 Article IV Consultation for Samoa: IMF Staff Concluding Statement
- Budget Address 2021/2022
- Kept
Senior benefit SAT$500 a month from age 70
In force from 1 July 2026 as SAT$250 a fortnight; budget expected 7,285 people.
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- Promised
- Raise the senior benefit to SAT$500 a month for people aged 70 and over 1. No start date was given 1.
- What happened
- The 2026/27 budget address of May 2026 set the increase from SAT$300 to SAT$500 a month for people aged 70 and over from 1 July 2026, with 7,285 people expected to benefit 2. A government statement on 3 July 2026 said the new rate was being paid as SAT$250 a fortnight 4. A 12 August 2026 government statement said more than 7,000 senior citizens were receiving the higher benefit 5. People aged 65 to 69 stay on SAT$300 a month 2.
- Impact on families
- SAT$200 a month more for each eligible person, or about SAT$17.5 million a year if all 7,285 expected recipients are paid 2. The 7,285 figure is the budget's estimate and the "more than 7,000" figure is a government claim; no reconciliation of payments to named recipients has been published 25. No measured effect on hardship has been published. The World Bank's October 2024 brief gave the last national basic-needs poverty rate as 21.9% in 2018 and said estimates from the 2023 survey were not yet available 3; the Samoa Bureau of Statistics has since published the 2023 rate, 15.2% nationally and 11.4% for people aged 65 and over, measured before the rise 6.
- Cost
- About SAT$43.7m a year for 7,285 people at SAT$500, of which SAT$17.5m is the increase (our arithmetic), about 3.4% of budget receipts of SAT$1,284.7m 2.
- Verdict for families
- Good for aiga
- Can it be done?
- Doable
- Long term
- Mixed long term
- Who deserves the credit
-
This government's decision
The SAT$500 rate at 70 is this government's own step: flagged in its October 2025 budget and set in the May 2026 budget address, with no earlier government or partner behind it 102. It sits on an inherited scheme whose SAT$200 base was set under Fiamē in 2021 and which the SNPF administers as routine work 1112.
- Who gains
- More than 7,000 people aged 70 and over receive SAT$200 a month more, SAT$2,400 a year each 25.
- Who pays
- The budget, about SAT$17.5m a year (our arithmetic) in a year with a SAT$215.9m cash deficit; people aged 65 to 69 get no rise 2.
- Assessment
- Starting the higher rate at 70 puts the money with people least able to work, and people over 65 had a poverty rate of 11.4% in 2023, so the payment reaches need but is not tested for it 6. Seniors and disability together cost about SAT$75m a year by our arithmetic, above the SAT$54.1m appropriated for both, in a year when real GDP fell 1.6% and the budget planned a SAT$215.9m cash deficit 27. Debt at 19.4% of GDP leaves room to pay it 8. The IMF asked that support be temporary and targeted; this is permanent and flat, so the long-term cost grows with the number of people over 70 9.
Sources (12)
- Laaulialemalietoa Secures his Seat with Ease as FAST Numbers Start to Stack Up
- Minister of Finance Hon Mulipola Anarosa Budget Address 2026/2027
- Poverty & Equity Brief: Samoa, October 2024
- Government Delivers on Key Social Commitments from 1 July 2026
- District Development Funds — Facts, Accountability and Support for Samoan Families
- Samoa monetary poverty assessment 2023
- Gross Domestic Product, June 2026 Quarter
- Government Finance Statistics, June 2026 Quarter
- 2026 Article IV Consultation for Samoa: IMF Staff Concluding Statement
- Minister of Finance Tables $1.24bn Talā Peoples Budget
- Budget Address 2021/2022
- Senior Citizens Benefit Fund
- Kept
Disability benefit SAT$300
SAT$300 a month from November 2025; 2,875 recipients reported.
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- Promised
- Raise the disability allowance to SAT$300 1. The election comparison did not say whether that was a monthly rate 1. The benefit was SAT$100 a month when the scheme began in 2021 10.
- What happened
- The 2025/26 budget, tabled 6 October 2025, raised the disability benefit to SAT$300 a month from November 2025 2. The 2026/27 budget address of May 2026 said targeted social protection was reaching 2,875 people with disabilities 3. A 12 August 2026 government statement listed the disability benefit as increased to SAT$300 a month 4. The scheme began in 2021 at SAT$100 a month; the SNPF's Disability Benefit Fund pays it, and Parliament passed the National Provident Fund Amendment Act 2023 to move payment into the SNPF system 510. No separate amending Act for the new rate was found; the change was made through the budget 2.
- Impact on families
- 2,875 people receive SAT$200 a month more than the SAT$100 rate the scheme started with in 2021 310. The recipient count is a government figure, not an audited one 3. No measured effect on the living standards of people with disabilities has been published; the number registered (2,556 by March 2024 10) against the disability count in the 2021 census would show coverage.
- Cost
- About SAT$10.4m a year for 2,875 people at SAT$300 (our arithmetic), under 1% of budget receipts of SAT$1,284.7m 3.
- Verdict for families
- Good for aiga
- Can it be done?
- Doable
- Long term
- Good long term
- Who deserves the credit
-
Shared credit
The benefit itself is inherited: the Fiamē government set up the scheme in 2021 at SAT$100 a month from government funds, the 2023/24 budget provided SAT$2 million for 1,820 recipients, and 2,556 people were registered by March 2024 7610. This government's part is the rise to SAT$300 from November 2025 2; its August 2026 statement lists the increase, not the scheme, among its deliveries 4.
- Who gains
- 2,875 people with disabilities get SAT$200 a month more, SAT$2,400 a year each 3.
- Who pays
- Taxpayers, roughly SAT$7m a year more than the SAT$100 rate (our arithmetic); people with disabilities not registered with the fund are left out 35.
- Assessment
- The benefit is targeted: it goes only to people with disabilities, who a 2023 human-rights report found still faced unequal access to schooling, health care, buildings and transport 7. An evaluation recorded the 2023/24 budget paying SAT$100 a month to 1,820 people; the government reported 2,875 on SAT$300 in May 2026, so both coverage and the rate have risen 63. At about SAT$10m a year the cost is small against receipts of SAT$1,284.7m and fits the IMF's call for targeted support 38. The open question is coverage: people with disabilities who are not registered with the SNPF fund get nothing 5. The scheme and most of its register pre-date this government; the rate is what changed 59.
Sources (10)
- What the three major parties are promising Samoa
- Minister of Finance Tables $1.24bn Talā Peoples Budget
- Minister of Finance Hon Mulipola Anarosa Budget Address 2026/2027
- District Development Funds — Facts, Accountability and Support for Samoan Families
- Disability Benefit Fund
- Samoa Disability Partnership Program (SDPP) End of Investment Evaluation
- 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Samoa
- 2026 Article IV Consultation for Samoa: IMF Staff Concluding Statement
- 2023/2024 Budget Address: “Advancing growth through sustainable pathways conducive to socio-economic welfare and building resilience”
- Beijing +30 Samoa National Report: Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) 2024
- Under way
Child benefit: SAT$100 a month under three, SAT$3,800 package
Funded at SAT$20 million and registering families; first payments January 2027.
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- Promised
- A SAT$3,800 family-support package from pregnancy through a child's first 1,000 days, over three years 1. The Samoa Observer's election comparison reported SAT$100 a month for each child under three 2. The sources do not explain how the two figures relate 12. No start date was given 1.
- What happened
- The 2026/27 budget address of May 2026 allocated SAT$20 million for a Child Wellbeing Benefit: a monthly SAT$100 for children aged 0 to 35 months plus a one-off SAT$200 baby bonus, taking effect from 1 July 2026 with first disbursements scheduled for January 2027 so that the SNPF and the Ministry of Family and Social Affairs can complete legislative amendments, system upgrades and registration 3. A 3 July 2026 government statement described the SAT$200 as paid on birth 11. The Prime Minister launched the programme on 31 July 2026; registration runs from 21 September to 30 November 2026, children born from 1 July 2026 are eligible, and children registered by 30 November are to be paid back to 1 July 2026 4. The launch tied the SAT$100 payments to immunisation checks at 1, 9, 20 and 30 months, and children who have not completed their immunisations do not receive them 4. In the 20 districts the ministry visited on Savai'i from 14 to 19 September 2026, 1,102 children were registered, about 30% of an estimated 3,458 eligible; Upolu registration runs from 21 September to 30 October 5. A birth certificate, immunisation certificate, bank statement and the parents' identification are required to register 5. First payments are not due until January 2027 310.
- Impact on families
- A family receiving every payment gets up to SAT$3,700 per child over 35 months, below the SAT$3,800 campaign figure 31. Nothing has been paid yet, so there is no measured impact; the 1,102 Savai'i registrations are registrations, not payments 5. The number of children paid from January 2027, and whether payments reach the estimated eligible population, would show delivery.
- Cost
- SAT$20m a year budgeted for 2026/27, about 1.6% of budget receipts of SAT$1,284.7m 3.
- Verdict for families
- Good for aiga
- Can it be done?
- Doable
- Long term
- Good long term
- Who deserves the credit
-
This government's decision
The SAT$20 million line, the SAT$200 plus SAT$100-a-month design and the January 2027 start are this government's decisions in the May 2026 budget address; the sources reviewed show no partner money behind it 3. The earlier FAST government approved a National Social Protection Policy Framework by 2023 to coordinate such benefits, registration is being done by the ministry's staff, and the SNPF is to pay it 95.
- Who gains
- Families with children under three, up to SAT$1,200 a year per child plus SAT$200 at birth; Savai'i alone had an estimated 3,458 eligible children 35.
- Who pays
- The budget, SAT$20m a year; families who cannot produce immunisation records or documents by the registration deadline are left out 35.
- Assessment
- Children are the poorest group in Samoa: 17.6% of children aged 0 to 14 were below the basic-needs line in 2023 against 15.2% of all people, so a payment for every child under three reaches need without a means test 6. Tying payments to immunisation checks gives families a reason to vaccinate on time, where UNICEF reported second-dose measles coverage of 60% in 2024 74. The cost is funded and small, and it fits the IMF's call for targeted help 38. The risk is at the edges: families who cannot produce documents by the registration deadline miss out, and nothing is paid until January 2027 53.
Sources (11)
- FAST Party Manifesto Centres on the Family Unit
- What the three major parties are promising Samoa
- Minister of Finance Hon Mulipola Anarosa Budget Address 2026/2027
- GOVT LAUNCHES Child Wellbeing Benefits Program
- Registrations Underway for Child Wellbeing Beneficiaries
- Samoa monetary poverty assessment 2023
- The Situation of Children in Samoa
- 2026 Article IV Consultation for Samoa: IMF Staff Concluding Statement
- 2023/2024 Budget Address: “Advancing growth through sustainable pathways conducive to socio-economic welfare and building resilience”
- District Development Funds — Facts, Accountability and Support for Samoan Families
- Government Delivers on Key Social Commitments from 1 July 2026
- Under way
SAT$1 million each for care NGOs
NGO grants rose from SAT$2.6m to SAT$10.9m, but the four SAT$1m awards are not shown.
Good for aigaRead more
- Promised
- SAT$1 million each for the Samoa Victim Support Group, ADRA, health-care NGOs collectively, and a group of care institutions including Mapuifagalele, Mapuipulotu in Savai'i, NOLA and Goshen Trust 1. No start date was given 1.
- What happened
- The 2025/26 budget, tabled 6 October 2025, raised support for NGOs from SAT$2.6 million to SAT$8.97 million, with annual assistance of SAT$100,000 each for the Mapuifagalele and Mapuipulotu aged-care homes 2. The 2026/27 budget address of May 2026 raised the NGO allocation to SAT$10.9 million, giving the previous year's figure as SAT$7.7 million; the grants it lists do not show four separate SAT$1 million awards 3.
- Impact on families
- The government reported that basic shelters built under a programme implemented by ADRA Samoa had reached 306 families in 141 villages by October 2025 2, and that the shelter initiative had reached 342 families by May 2026 3. These are cumulative programme claims, not an independent evaluation. The grant list by organisation in the budget estimates would show whether the named groups got SAT$1 million each. The 306-family figure was reported on 6 October 2025, three weeks after the government took office, so it reflects work funded before it 2.
- Cost
- SAT$4m a year if the four SAT$1m awards were paid (our arithmetic); total NGO support is SAT$10.9m in 2026/27, under 1% of budget receipts 3.
- Verdict for families
- Good for aiga
- Can it be done?
- Doable
- Long term
- Good long term
- Who deserves the credit
-
Shared credit
The rise in NGO grants from SAT$2.6 million to SAT$8.97 million, then to SAT$10.9 million (the 2026/27 address puts the prior year at SAT$7.7 million), is this government's budget decision; the SAT$2.6 million base was already paid under the previous government 23. The ADRA shelter count of 306 families was reported in a budget tabled three weeks after this government took office, so most of those shelters were built under the earlier government and the new money cannot have paid for them 2.
- Who gains
- Victims of violence, residents of aged-care homes and people with disabilities served by the named groups; the two aged-care homes got SAT$100,000 a year each 2.
- Who pays
- The budget, a small sum; the four groups were promised SAT$1m each and the grants listed are smaller 3.
- Assessment
- The named groups run shelters, aged care and disability services that the state does not, so grants to them buy services for vulnerable people cheaply 1. The cost is small: total NGO support rose from SAT$2.6m to SAT$10.9m, and the SAT$4m promised is a fraction of receipts 23. The shelter programme reached 342 families by May 2026, a government claim rather than an evaluation 3. The risk is not cost but accountability: without a published grant list by organisation, nobody can see whether the promised SAT$1m each was paid or what it bought.
Sources (3)
- Laaulialemalietoa Secures his Seat with Ease as FAST Numbers Start to Stack Up
- Minister of Finance Tables $1.24bn Talā Peoples Budget
- Minister of Finance Hon Mulipola Anarosa Budget Address 2026/2027
- Under way
SAT$50 million for new ferry services
One SAT$16.8 million cargo and vehicle vessel in service from September 2026, about a third of the promised sum; no SAT$50 million appropriation and no fare change.
Good for aigaRead more
- Promised
- Put SAT$50 million towards new ferry services between Upolu and Savaiʻi and between Upolu and American Samoa, including travel options for emergencies; the Samoa Observer reported the plan as including new vessels 12. No deadline was given 1.
- What happened
- Samoa Shipping Corporation commissioned MV Fotu o Samoa III at Salelologa on 14 September 2026; it is a 45.5 metre landing craft for cargo and vehicles with accommodation for 12 passengers, bought through a SAT$16.8 million financing arrangement with UTOS and Bank South Pacific, and sailing schedules were still to be announced 38. Talamua's headline says SAT$16.8 million but its text says SAT$16.2 million; the price is reported two ways in the same report 3. Talamua says the vessel can be chartered to neighbouring islands such as American Samoa, Tokelau and Tonga; Samoa Global News says it is intended for regional services to the Cook Islands, Manuʻa, Tutuila and Tokelau; no regular American Samoa schedule has been confirmed 38. Neither the report of the October 2025 budget nor the May 2026 budget address mentions a SAT$50 million ferry appropriation 45. Separately, on 10 April 2026 the prime minister said the inherited Aurora V ferry was not suitable for Samoa and would be finished for lease or sale, putting money spent at about SAT$20 million 6; in June 2026 former minister Loau Keneti Sio called in Parliament for a commission of inquiry into it 9.
- Impact on families
- A vessel is in service, but passenger numbers and any household saving are unreported 3. The operator's published Mulifanua to Salelologa fare is SAT$10 one way per adult and SAT$5 per child aged 2 to 12, with vehicles from SAT$80; the publication does not show a fare cut caused by the new vessel 7. SSC's fleet page lists five vessels and does not yet include Fotu o Samoa III 10. What would show delivery: a second vessel or an American Samoa schedule, and SSC passenger and cancellation figures.
- Cost
- SAT$50 million one-off, the party's figure, about 4% of 2026/27 budgeted receipts; the one vessel delivered is reported at SAT$16.8 million (SAT$16.2 million in the same report's text), financed through UTOS and Bank South Pacific rather than appropriated 358.
- Verdict for families
- Good for aiga
- Can it be done?
- Doable
- Long term
- Good long term
- Who deserves the credit
-
Shared credit
In November 2024, under the Fiamē government, the shipping minister led the heads of Samoa Shipping Corporation, Samoa Shipping Services and the ports authority on a scoping mission to Australia to buy a ferry to replace MV Lady Samoa on the Mulifanua to Salelologa route, and the vessel delivered was financed through UTOS and BSP, not by this government's budget 1238. This government's part is the commissioning in September 2026 and the decision to drop the inherited Aurora V 36.
- Who gains
- Savaiʻi households, farmers and traders moving goods and vehicles across the strait, on a route where the adult fare is SAT$10 and a car from SAT$80 7.
- Who pays
- Samoa Shipping Corporation and its financiers UTOS and BSP carry the SAT$16.8 million, and the public has already spent about SAT$20 million on the Aurora V 368.
- Assessment
- The promise is affordable: SAT$50 million is a one-off sum of about 4% of a year's receipts, and the first vessel was financed through UTOS and BSP without a budget line 358. The Savaiʻi crossing is everyday transport for rural families and their goods, and in early 2025 the existing fleet needed emergency engine repairs, had weather cancellations and a temporary cut in passenger capacity on MV Lady Samoa IV, so added capacity is a lasting gain if the vessel is maintained 711. The risk is in procurement, not purpose: about SAT$20 million went on the Aurora V, which never sailed for Samoa, and the new vessel's price is reported two ways in one article 36. A cargo and vehicle vessel helps Savaiʻi freight and farmers more than foot passengers, whose fare is unchanged.
Sources (12)
- Laaulialemalietoa Secures his Seat with Ease as FAST Numbers Start to Stack Up
- What the three major parties are promising Samoa
- $16.8 Million Fotu o Samoa III Ferry launched
- Minister of Finance Tables $1.24bn Talā Peoples Budget
- Minister of Finance Hon Mulipola Anarosa Budget Address 2026/2027
- PM says Government will move to Lease or Sell the $20 million Failed Ferry Purchase
- Timetable & Fares DOMESTIC
- MV Fotu-o-Samoa III Blessed and Commissioned Into Service
- Former Minister calls for Commissions of Inquiry into EPC & $20M Catamaran Boat
- Our Vessels
- Public Bodies Performance Report, January to March 2025
- Scoping Mission for New Inter-Island ferry for Savaii
- Under way
Restart domestic flights between Upolu and Savaiʻi
Maota reopened 8 October 2026 with daily flights; Asau is still to come; runway and lighting upgrades pending.
Good for aigaRead more
- Promised
- Restart domestic flights linking Fagaliʻi, Faleolo and Savaiʻi; Maota and Asau were the presumed Savaiʻi airfields 1. No amount or date was given 1.
- What happened
- Maota airport reopened on 8 October 2026 after scheduled flights ended in 2000, and Samoa Airways began Fagaliʻi to Maota flights 2. The prime minister described Maota as the first step and Asau as next 3. Tar-sealing of the runway and lighting for 24-hour access were still planned 2. Talamua reported the airline had two aircraft in service, one on the Tutuila route and one for Savaiʻi, with a third Twin Otter in Canada for repair after an accident in American Samoa 2. On 9 October 2026 Talamua reported an emergency patient transfer from Savaiʻi delayed for several hours when an aircraft did not arrive; the prime minister intervened and the transfer happened late that morning 4.
- Impact on families
- At reopening Talamua reported two flights daily Monday to Saturday and one on Sunday, with a promotional fare of SAT$120 one way and SAT$240 return 2. A 23 September 2026 announcement had quoted SAT$200 one way and SAT$400 return on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday schedule; the two reports disagree and the later one describes launch-day terms 5. Passenger numbers and reliability are unreported; the delayed medical transfer qualifies the access claim 4. What would show delivery: monthly passenger counts and on-time figures, and Asau flights.
- Cost
- Not costed; the Maota upgrade cost and any subsidy to the route are unpublished. The launch fare was SAT$120 one way 2.
- Verdict for families
- Good for aiga
- Can it be done?
- Doable
- Long term
- Mixed long term
- Who deserves the credit
-
Shared credit
Reopening Maota was this government's decision, but the flights use Twin Otters the airline already owned and overhauled with its own revenues in 2025 and 2026, and who paid for the terminal and runway work has not been published 26.
- Who gains
- Savaiʻi families needing urgent travel to Apia, and travellers who can pay SAT$120 one way against a SAT$10 ferry fare 29.
- Who pays
- Samoa Airways, which is government-owned, carries any losses on the route, and no cost of the Maota upgrade has been published 28.
- Assessment
- This was deliverable with what the airline already had: Samoa Airways took back its second overhauled Twin Otter in July 2026, with the two overhauls costing about SAT$22 million from the airline's own revenues, and it flew 12,700 passengers in the July to September 2025 quarter, so the route needed a usable runway more than new aircraft 67. The long-term question is whether a SAT$120 fare covers a Twin Otter route to a small island market without a subsidy, and no cost or subsidy figure has been published; the airline's 2024/25 profit followed a SAT$55 million government write-off 8. A flight of 10 to 15 minutes matters most for medical transfers and older or sick travellers who cannot manage the hour-long ferry, so even a thin route is a public good, but the 9 October delayed transfer shows the service is not yet reliable 24.
Sources (9)
- Laaulialemalietoa Secures his Seat with Ease as FAST Numbers Start to Stack Up
- Maota Airport Reopens After 26 Years
- “Maota Is the First Step, Asau Is Next”: PM Reopens Savai‘i Air Link
- Patient emergency transfer from Savaii delayed due to administrative setback
- Samoa Airways to Resume Flights between Upolu and Savai’i
- Samoa Airways completes second Twin Otter overhaul
- Public Bodies Performance Report, July to September 2025
- Samoa Airways Reports FY2025 Profit, Plans Another Aircraft Overhaul
- Timetable & Fares DOMESTIC
- Under way
Support to study through university
Government scholarship budget rose from SAT$10 million to SAT$13 million; recipient numbers not published.
Good for aigaRead more
- Promised
- Assistance when a child reaches university, from the 14 July 2025 manifesto account, which lists support from pre-school through university; no amount or date 1.
- What happened
- The 2025/26 budget, tabled 7 October 2025, allocated SAT$10 million for government scholarships 2. The 27 May 2026 budget address raised this to SAT$13 million for local and overseas undergraduate study, and added SAT$1.5 million for post-school education and training providers, SAT$250,000 for apprenticeships and SAT$200,000 for professional bodies 3. The previous FAST government budgeted SAT$6.3 million for scholarships in 2024/25 4.
- Impact on families
- Budget allocations have roughly doubled since 2024/25, but no count of scholarship holders, amount per student or graduation figures for the new allocations has been published 34. NUS continues to invoice semester fees, so students without a scholarship still pay 5. What would show impact: the number of awards made each year and completion rates.
- Cost
- SAT$13 million a year for scholarships in 2026/27, about 1% of receipts of SAT$1,284.7 million, plus SAT$1.95 million for training providers, apprenticeships and professional bodies 3.
- Verdict for families
- Good for aiga
- Can it be done?
- Doable
- Long term
- Good long term
- Who deserves the credit
-
Shared credit
The Government Scholarship Scheme is inherited: the previous FAST government funded it at SAT$6.3 million in 2024/25 alongside a SAT$1.5 million teachers' higher-education scheme 4. This government raised the line to SAT$10 million and then SAT$13 million, and its October 2025 budget says the new awards complement existing scholarships from development partners, so partner-funded places carry part of tertiary study 23.
- Who gains
- Students who win one of the awards funded by the SAT$13 million line gain fees and living costs paid; how many and who is not published 3.
- Who pays
- Taxpayers pay about 1% of receipts, and families whose children do not qualify still pay NUS fees themselves 35.
- Assessment
- The amounts are small against the budget and already appropriated, so this is affordable and can be kept up 3. Scholarships go to students who qualify, not to the poorest families, and the government has not published who received them 3. Trained graduates have long-term value, but the IMF notes labour shortages from continued outward migration, and scholarship holders who leave take the return with them 6. Bonding or service conditions and a published recipient list would show whether the money stays in Samoa. The new money is an increase to a scheme that already existed, and the October 2025 budget itself credits development partners with the existing overseas scholarships 42.
Sources (6)
- FAST Party Manifesto Centres on the Family Unit
- Minister of Finance Tables $1.24bn Talā Peoples Budget
- Minister of Finance Hon Mulipola Anarosa Budget Address 2026/2027
- Budget Address 2024/2025
- Financial Services – National University of Samoa
- IMF Executive Board Concludes 2026 Article IV Consultation with Samoa
All 54 promises
Each line opens the promise on its area page. 39 projects are tracked separately →
Cost of living and tax
- No sign yet No income tax on the first SAT$20,000 a year Good for aiga
- No sign yet Cut the top PAYE rate from 27% to 23% Costs aiga
- No sign yet Cut company tax from 27% to 23% Costs aiga
- No sign yet Remove VAGST and import duties on essential goods Cuts both ways
Pay and jobs
- Under way Minimum wage of SAT$6 an hour Good for aiga
- No sign yet Pay rise for all government employees Cuts both ways
Pensions and benefits
- Kept Senior benefit SAT$300 a month from age 65 Good for aiga
- Kept Senior benefit SAT$500 a month from age 70 Good for aiga
- Kept Disability benefit SAT$300 Good for aiga
- Under way Child benefit: SAT$100 a month under three, SAT$3,800 package Good for aiga
- No sign yet Monthly allowance for pregnant women Good for aiga
- No sign yet Cash top-ups for families earning under SAT$20,000 Good for aiga
- No sign yet SNPF members able to borrow up to 75% of savings Cuts both ways
- No sign yet Return 30% of ACC contributions Cuts both ways
- No sign yet Raise the retirement age from 55 to 65 Cuts both ways
- Under way SAT$1 million each for care NGOs Good for aiga
Districts and villages
- Under way SAT$2 million a year for every district Cuts both ways
- Under way Districts choose their own projects through Fono Faavae Cuts both ways
Health
- No sign yet Free public hospital services for everyone Good for aiga
- No sign yet Free visits and medicines for pregnant women, children, older people and people with disabilities Good for aiga
- No sign yet Health insurance for all Cuts both ways
- No sign yet New hospital at Salelologa Costs aiga
- No sign yet New hospital at Tuana'imato Cuts both ways
- No sign yet Healthy living and eating to fight NCDs Good for aiga
School
- No sign yet Free schooling through college Good for aiga
- No sign yet Free school lunches Good for aiga
- No sign yet Government to pay pre-school teachers Good for aiga
- No sign yet Government to pay church school teachers Cuts both ways
- No sign yet More than SAT$50 million for school facilities Good for aiga
- Under way Support to study through university Good for aiga
Power, water and fares
- No sign yet SAT$50 million for EPC to keep the power on Good for aiga
- No sign yet SAT$50 million for SWA water systems Good for aiga
- No sign yet SAT$50 million for solar and other renewables Good for aiga
Transport and infrastructure
- No sign yet SAT$300 million to restart Samoa Airways international flights Cuts both ways
- Broken New aircraft company flying by the end of 2026 Cuts both ways
- Under way SAT$50 million for new ferry services Good for aiga
- Under way Restart domestic flights between Upolu and Savaiʻi Good for aiga
- No sign yet SAT$100 million hotel redevelopment fund Cuts both ways
- No sign yet SAT$30 million to upgrade sports facilities Good for aiga
Land and custom
- No sign yet Return unused government land to communities Good for aiga
Farming and fishing
- No sign yet SAT$50 million for commercial farmers producing for export Cuts both ways
- No sign yet SAT$50 million for manufacturing to replace imports Cuts both ways
- Under way SAT$50 million more Development Bank lending, with loans repaid after harvest Cuts both ways
- No sign yet A poultry farm to cut imported chicken Cuts both ways
Family abroad
- No sign yet A diaspora office inside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Cuts both ways
- No sign yet More overseas consulates Cuts both ways
- No sign yet Negotiate better visas for Samoans Cuts both ways
- No sign yet Let Samoans overseas vote Good for aiga
Clean government
- No sign yet Review the laws on separation of powers Doesn't reach aiga
- Kept A Ministry of Family Affairs Doesn't reach aiga
- Under way Act on drugs, domestic violence and online abuse Good for aiga
- No sign yet A national stock exchange Doesn't reach aiga
- No sign yet Economic zones and digital finance markets Doesn't reach aiga
- No sign yet Revenue from carbon credits Doesn't reach aiga
What FAST did in 2021 to 2025
Show the record (45 items)
- 1 November 2021Kept
The 2021/22 budget, delivered 14 September 2021, cut selected fees and charges on specific government services by 20% to assist the country during COVID-19, alongside a 20% cut in electricity and water prices from 1 November 2021 1. Passport fees and charges were on the list of cut items; RSE workers still travelling despite border closures were reported as the first to benefit 13. The address presented these as new policies prioritised 'in line with its manifesto commitments', so this delivered part of FAST's 2021 promise of 20% reductions in specified service charges 1. The government's passport page now lists a standard adult passport at SAT$200 and a standard child passport at SAT$100, with no date for when those fees took effect 2.
Sources (3)
- Budget Address 2021/2022
- Passport – The Government of Samoa
- Public Response to 20% Slash in Government Service Fees
- 2024Not kept
FAST promised overseas voting in 2021 2. The Electoral Amendment Bill 2024, passed on 8 March 2024, let eligible citizens abroad apply online for registration but required biometrics to be completed in Samoa and did not allow a ballot to be cast overseas 1. The Electoral Commissioner confirmed in June 2025 that the bill that would have enabled overseas voting was not passed before Parliament was dissolved on 3 June 2025, so the Electoral Act 2019 stayed in force and votes had to be cast in Samoa 3. Overseas voters still had to return to Samoa to vote on 29 August 2025 2.
Sources (3)
- Samoa legislators pass electoral amendments despite concerns
- The Absent Voters of the Pacific Islands: Challenges and Prospects for the Enfranchisement of Migrants
- July 4 deadline for voters to enrol for Samoa election
- June 2025Unclear
Private remittances reached SAT$902.77 million in the year to June 2025, per the Central Bank's June 2026 report, which gives the previous year for comparison 1. World Bank data cited by the Samoa Chamber put personal remittances at 24.0% of GDP in 2024 2. The average cost of sending NZD$200 to Samoa was 8.62% in June 2025 and AUD$200 was 7.81% 1. These are observed outcomes across many senders, not the result of a FAST promise; no 2021 FAST promise on remittance costs was found 12.
Sources (2)
- Visitor Earnings & Remittances Report June 2026
- SCCI-MDF Labour Migration Survey Report 2025-2026
- 1 November 2021Kept
The 2021/22 budget address of 14 September 2021 promised 20% cuts to electricity and water prices from 1 November 2021 and to selected government fees: private vehicle registration, business licences, national examination fees, Lands and Titles Court fees, National Hospital consultation fees, alia licences, passport fees and building permits 1. Vehicle registration fees fell 20% on 1 November 2021 2. EPC cut its domestic prepaid tariff from 1 November 2021, replacing SAT$0.65 and SAT$0.79 per unit with a flat SAT$0.73; its notice named domestic prepaid consumers only, though its general manager said every customer would benefit 3. The Regulator's order recording the Cabinet directive for a 20% cut took effect on 1 December 2021, so the sources differ on the electricity date 4. Water tariffs for all customers fell 20% from November 2021 5. Upolu to Savai‘i passenger ferry fares fell 20% from 15 November 2021, vehicles excluded 6.
Sources (6)
- Budget Address 2021/2022
- Cost of Vehicle Registrations Decrease by 20% Effective 01 November 2021
- All consumers to benefit from tariff cut, says E.P.C. chief
- Change in Tariffs Associated with Energy Charge Review
- Water Accounts Samoa, 2021-22
- Samoa Shipping Corporation Announces 20% Drop in Passenger Fares
- 12 November 2021Kept
Income tax on church ministers, introduced by the previous government in 2018, was removed as FAST's election promise 2. The Income Tax Amendment Bill 2021 was tabled in December 2021 3; the Income Tax Amendment Act 2022, No. 5, repealed the minister-of-religion provisions, with commencement recorded as 12 November 2021 in the revised Act 1.
Sources (3)
- Income Tax Act 2012
- Samoa govt keen to repeal controversial law taxing church ministers
- Speaker swears in seven new Members of Parliament
- 2021 to 2025Unclear
Prices and poverty over the term: SBS reported 2.2% average inflation for the year ending December 2024 1; the IMF put 2024/25 average inflation at 1.8% and real GDP growth at 4.2% 2. The SBS 2023 survey found 15.2% of people below the basic-needs poverty line and 4.4% below the food-poverty line, but changed methods limit comparison with the 21.9% estimate for 2018 3. The published income-tax and VAGST rates date from 2018 and earlier; neither changed in the term 4.
Sources (4)
- Consumer Price Index December 2024
- 2026 Article IV Consultation for Samoa: IMF Staff Concluding Statement
- Samoa Monetary Poverty Assessment 2023
- Rates – Ministry of Revenue
- 2021 to 2025Not kept
FAST's 2021 manifesto promised to repeal the three 2020 Land and Titles laws. In office it amended the Land and Titles Act in 2022; in January 2023 the justice minister said the government would amend rather than repeal, and a further amendment followed in 2025. 12
Sources (2)
- The L.T.C. Acts: Did the F.A.S.T. Government betray its voters?
- Bills, Acts and Regulations – Parliament of Samoa
- 2021/22 budgetUnclear
FAST's first budget raised the Audit Office allocation by 6% and the Public Service Commission's by 71%, while the Ombudsman's fell in real terms; the 2022/23 budget cut the Audit Office and PSC allocations in inflation-adjusted terms and proposed an Ombudsman increase. 1
Sources (1)
- FAST or slow? Integrity and anti-corruption in Samoa
- October 2022Unclear
FAST's majority suspended HRPP leader Tuilaʻepa and secretary Lealailepule from Parliament for two years without pay. The Supreme Court ruled the suspensions unconstitutional and void on 4 July 2023; the Speaker said he would appeal. 12
Sources (2)
- Samoa supreme court overturns suspension of opposition leaders, citing constitutional breach
- Speaker to appeal decision that suspension of 2 Opposition MPs was unconstitutional
- 13 June 2024Unclear
Launched Samoa's first National Anti-Corruption Policy, for 2024/25 to 2028/29. 15 It proposes a National Anti-Corruption Agency, with the Ombudsman's office taking the role until a standalone body is set up, and lists the agency as up and running among its targets; its SAT$70,000 establishment estimate excludes operating costs. 2 The 2026/27 budget address says the government will advance the policy with Public Service Commission guidance; no Act creating the agency appears in Parliament's listing as at 19 October 2026. 34
Sources (5)
- Samoa marks anti-corruption milestone with launch of first Policy
- National Anti-Corruption Policy 2024/25–2028/29
- Minister of Finance Hon Mulipola Anarosa Budget Address 2026/2027
- Bills, Acts and Regulations – Parliament of Samoa
- “The vision is simple – a Corrupt Free Samoa”
- 7 April 2025Unclear
The Constitution Amendment Act 2025 took effect on 7 April 2025, removing the 2020 exclusions of Supreme Court jurisdiction from Article 70, creating a Land and Titles Court of Appeal and placing Supreme Court judges nominated by the Chief Justice on it; the separate Land and Titles Courts stayed. 12 HRPP challenged the Speaker's right to vote in the 36 to 16 passage; the Supreme Court upheld it on 9 May 2025 and the Justice Ministry began implementation in May. 32 The ministry said about 100 appeals filed since 2021 were waiting; it did not say how many had been resolved. 2
Sources (3)
- Constitution Amendment Act 2025
- Ministry of Justice implements 2025 Constitutional Amendments
- Samoa Supreme Court says Speaker could cast deliberative vote
- 17 February 2026Unclear
Fiamē's government commissioned a forensic audit of HRPP-era projects in 2021; the contract went to BDO New Zealand and work started in 2023. 2 On 17 February 2026 the Revenue Minister said BDO had covered 13 of 30 listed projects, citing missing receipts and Cabinet records, and that a Cabinet select committee had referred the report to the Attorney-General and police. 12 The minister said about SAT$1 million was passed by Parliament for the audit; the Prime Minister had said in January that over SAT$1.5 million was approved. The two figures disagree. Missing records and a referral are not findings that anyone committed a crime. 12
Sources (2)
- Forensic Audit has major issues says Minister of Revenue
- Forensic Audit Report under Police and Attorney General's investigation
- 2021 to 2025Unclear
The 2024/25 budget address of 28 May 2024, under the previous FAST government, put the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries at SAT$20,434,017, the District Development Program at SAT$51 million with agriculture and fisheries initiatives making up 53.4% of the programme since 2022/23, and SAT$8 million of concessional Development Bank lending reaching 80 medium-sized businesses across sectors 1.
Sources (1)
- Budget Address 2024/2025
- 30 June 2025Unclear
SAFPROM closed with 9,130 direct beneficiaries, including 3,423 women, 965 individual grants averaging US$4,981, 27 grants to small and medium enterprises or producer associations and 41 to common-interest groups in Savai'i 1. Beneficiary taro yields reached 7.47 tonnes an acre, but average annual sales were US$3,404 against a US$4,800 target, 210 cattle went to hygienic slaughter against a revised 500 target, 63 fishers got individual support, 11 fish-aggregating devices were deployed and 35 more were still waiting at closure 1. The World Bank rated it moderately satisfactory and said the grant payment system was significantly delayed 1.
Sources (1)
- Implementation Completion and Results Report: Samoa Agriculture & Fisheries Productivity and Marketing Project (SAFPROM)
- 2024 to 2025Unclear
Taro exports fell from almost 3,000 tonnes in 2017 to about 796 tonnes in 2024; PHAMA Plus's 2024 nursery programme supplied more than 700,000 planting materials to more than 200 supplier farmers 1. Samoa's 7 July 2026 report to the tuna commission recorded 82 domestic vessel licences in 2025, up from 74, but longline catch of primary species fell from 585.4 to 280.9 tonnes and commercial tuna exports were zero in 2025 against 783 tonnes in 2024, with fish sold locally instead 2. The statistics office still recorded SAT$236,000 of fish exports in 2025 3.
Sources (3)
- Samoan Taro: PHAMA Plus Performance Story
- Samoa 2025 Annual Report to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, Part 1: Information on Fisheries, Research and Statistics
- Statistical Abstract 2025
- September 2021Unclear
FAST's 2021 manifesto promised SAT$20 million a year for five years for primary health care, specialist training, meals for inpatients, a new central hospital for Savai'i at Salelologa and a medical insurance scheme 1. The 2021/22 budget provided SAT$126,715,844 for health, including SAT$2 million for inpatient food, SAT$3 million for district hospital and doctors' residence refurbishment and SAT$6 million for pharmaceuticals 2. The same budget cut selected government fees, including consultation fees at the National Hospital, by 20% from 1 November 2021 2. A dedicated SAT$20 million a year primary care line was not identified.
Sources (2)
- FAST Party Pre-Election Manifesto (2021)
- Budget Address 2021/2022
- 2023 to 2024Unclear
A 2023 vaccination catch-up campaign lifted reported measles vaccine coverage to 87% for the first dose and 74% for the second 1. The 2024/25 budget put the health ministry at SAT$156,664,219 and said seven of nine district hospitals had multidisciplinary teams by 2023 2. The World Bank's February 2026 report counts four of eight rural district hospitals with full teams at November 2025; the definitions differ, so the two figures do not match 3.
Sources (3)
- Samoa strengthens its vaccination programme
- Budget Address 2024/2025
- Samoa Health System Strengthening Program (P164382): Implementation Status & Results Report, Seq No 11
- 2021 to 2025Not kept
FAST's 2021 manifesto promised a central hospital for Savai'i at Salelologa and a medical insurance scheme 1. In June 2023 the health minister said 20 acres had been reserved and funds were being sought from development partners 2; in August 2024 the site was moved after the first was found waterlogged 3; no hospital was built by the end of the term. A health-care scheme law was signed on 22 April 2022, but the SNPF chairman said in December 2024 it had never been implemented 4. The Ministry of Health's 2023/24 annual report counted 1,466 staff, including 143 doctors, 475 registered nurses and 94 midwives, with 130 recruits and 119 departures that year 5. Its workforce plan had identified gaps of 100 doctors and 226 registered nurses and midwives 6.
Sources (6)
- FAST Party Pre-Election Manifesto (2021)
- Government eyes Salelologa hospital proposal
- New land for Salelologa hospital
- The SNPF Healthcare Scheme to Benefit All
- Annual Report of the Ministry of Health for the Financial Year ending June 2024
- Samoa Health Workforce Development Plan 2020-2026
- August 2022Kept
FAST's 2020 platform and its 2021 campaign promised to end the income tax on church ministers 21. The government stopped enforcing the tax after taking office in 2021 3. The Income Tax Amendment Bill 2021 was tabled on 14 December 2021 5, went to a parliamentary committee in February 2022 6, and Parliament enacted it in August 2022 3. The Income Tax Amendment Act 2022 repealed the ministers' tax provisions and exempted a minister's congregational contributions, backdated to 12 November 2021 4. The Revenue minister said in February 2022 that SAT$476,000 had been collected in the four years since 2018; no figure for tax forgone since the repeal has been published 6.
Sources (6)
- Samoa govt keen to repeal controversial law taxing church ministers
- FAST – A Political Party of National Unity
- 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Samoa
- Income Tax Act 2012
- Speaker swears in seven new Members of Parliament
- HRPP MPs Support Removal of Church Minister's Tax
- January 2023Unclear
FAST's 2020 platform said it would review the three 2020 court Bills, and in January 2021 its leaders vowed to revisit and challenge them 78; the Samoa Observer's editorial board wrote that the party campaigned against the laws before the 2021 election 1. In government the Ministry of Justice halted work on the Land and Titles Acts on 17 January 2022 until drafting anomalies were resolved 5, and all Land and Titles Court cases were suspended on 18 February 2022, with at least four versions of the Act in circulation 4. A Supreme Court judgment later recorded that cases set for February and March 2022 were adjourned because the Ministry withdrew support staff, and that the court had ordered the Ministry to resume that support 6. Parliament amended rather than repealed: the Land and Titles Amendment Act 2022, backdated to 15 March 2021, inserted Part 5A and changed how judges are appointed, and the 2020 Act was re-assented on 14 October 2022 3. In January 2023 the justice minister said the government would fix gaps by amendment, not repeal 1. Parliament also lists a Land and Titles Amendment Act 2025; the 2020 Act remains in force as amended 23. The verified promise wording is review and challenge, not repeal, so no term-end measure applies.
Sources (8)
- The L.T.C. Acts: Did the F.A.S.T. Government betray its voters?
- Bills, Acts and Regulations
- Land and Titles Act 2020
- Land & Titles Court cases suspended indefinitely
- Justice Ministry halts all work connected to L.T.C. Acts
- Ropati v Attorney General (CP103/22), Supreme Court of Samoa
- FAST – A Political Party of National Unity
- Making history: Fiame Naomi Mata'afa
- 7 April 2025Unclear
The Constitution Amendment Act 2025, assented on 28 February 2025 and commenced on 7 April 2025, reworked the Land and Titles Courts: it removed the Article 4 exclusion of judicial review arising from Land and Titles proceedings, kept the separate Land and Titles First Court, High Court and Court of Appeal, and put one or more Supreme Court judges on the Court of Appeal 13. Parliament passed it 36 votes to 16 on 26 February 2025 2. HRPP challenged the Speaker's vote; the Supreme Court dismissed the challenge on 9 May 2025 3. The Justice Ministry began implementing the changes in May 2025, with about 100 appeals filed since 2021 waiting for a working appeal court 4. The Court of Appeal gave its first decision in the week before 5 October 2026, quashing a First Court ruling the High Court had upheld 5. This was a reform of the 2020 laws, not a repeal.
Sources (5)
- Constitution Amendment Act 2025 (2025, No. 1)
- Parliament passes Constitutional Amendment by 36-16 votes
- Supreme Court upholds Speakers right to vote on Constitutional Amendment
- Ministry of Justice implements 2025 Constitutional Amendments
- The Lands & Titles Court is of Fundamental Importance to Samoa – Tuilaepa
- 2021 to 2025Unclear
The Samoa Observer reported in November 2021 that FAST's manifesto had highlighted reviewing land legislation, including the Land Titles Registration Act 2008 1. Article 102 of the Constitution bars sale or mortgage of customary land but lets an Act authorise leases or licences of it 2. The 2008 Act sets up a register of title and ownership of interests in land by registration; a 2019 amendment removed customary land from it, and the ministry said customary leases and licences are now registered under the Alienation of Customary Land Act 1965 instead 36. The only later change listed is the Land Titles Registration Amendment Act 2021, which commenced on 3 March 2021, before FAST took office 34. The Samoa Solidarity International Group told the UN in March 2021 that leases made between matai and outsiders without villagers' knowledge could keep customary owners off their land for longer than a lifetime; this is an allegation, not a measured count 51.
Sources (6)
- S.S.I.G. takes customary land fight to UN
- Samoa's Constitution of 1962 with Amendments through 2025
- Land Titles Registration Act 2008
- Bills, Acts and Regulations
- Submissions to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of Samoa
- Amendments of Samoa land lease laws clear uncertainty
- 2021 to 2025Unclear
A pamphlet handed out at a FAST campaign rally in January 2021 promised to grow the economy by 20% and create 20,000 new jobs in five years. 1 No term-end count was published. SBS's 2022 survey found 53,135 employed against 41,142 in 2017, a span covering both governments and the pandemic. 2 MCIL's 2024/25 report gives 117 new apprentices, 61 newly registered foreign-investment enterprises expected to create 512 jobs, and no confirmed placements through its Jobseeker Service despite 73 new registrants. 3
Sources (3)
- Constituents Voice their Opinions and Concerns during Campaign Rally
- 2022 Samoa Labour Force and Child Labour Survey
- MCIL Annual Report 2024/25
- 8 July 2023Unclear
A two-year public-service cost-of-living adjustment announced in the 2023/24 budget address: 10% for principal officers and below, 5% for those above them to below CEO, and 3% for CEOs and above, spread across 2023/24 and 2024/25. 12 Not a 2021 manifesto line.
Sources (2)
- 2023/2024 Budget Address: “Advancing growth through sustainable pathways conducive to socio-economic welfare and building resilience”
- Public Servants Welcome Salary Increase
- 1 July 2024Kept
At a January 2021 campaign rally Laʻauli said FAST would set a minimum wage of SAT$3.50 an hour if it came to power. 1 Cabinet's Minimum Wage Policy 2024 raised the rate, unchanged at SAT$3 since 1 January 2020, to SAT$4 an hour on 1 July 2024, with the remaining 84 sene scheduled for 1 July 2025. 23 MCIL also reported 117 new apprentices in 2024/25 and no confirmed placements through its Jobseeker Service despite 73 new registrants. 2
Sources (3)
- Constituents Voice their Opinions and Concerns during Campaign Rally
- MCIL Annual Report 2024/25
- Samoa minimum wage increases to $4 per hour
- 14 September 2021Unclear
FAST's first budget, delivered 14 September 2021, raised the Senior Citizens Benefit from SAT$160 to SAT$200 a month and allocated SAT$33,388,308 to the scheme 12.
Sources (2)
- Budget Address 2021/2022
- Samoa Government Budget Address 2021/2022
- 2021 to 2024Unclear
The 2021/22 budget provided SAT$3 million for a new Disability Benefit Scheme 1. The scheme began in 2021 at SAT$100 a month for registered people with disabilities; the SNPF's Disability Benefit Fund pays it, and the National Provident Fund Amendment Act 2023 moved payment into the SNPF system 23. The 2023/24 budget address said the benefit had reached 1,820 people 4, and 2,556 people were registered by March 2024 3.
Sources (4)
- Budget Address 2021/2022
- Disability Benefit Fund
- Beijing +30 Samoa National Report: Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) 2024
- 2023/2024 Budget Address: “Advancing growth through sustainable pathways conducive to socio-economic welfare and building resilience”
- 2022/23Unclear
One-off top-ups of SAT$150 to the pension and SAT$100 to the disability benefit were paid in the last quarter of 2022/23 under the first supplementary budget, as reported in the 2023/24 budget address 1. That supplementary budget was presented on 20 December 2022 2.
Sources (2)
- 2023/2024 Budget Address: “Advancing growth through sustainable pathways conducive to socio-economic welfare and building resilience”
- Finance Minister Presents $13.9 Million Tala First Supplementary Budget for 2022/2023
- 2021 to 2025Unclear
A 20% cut in Upolu to Savai'i passenger ferry fares, announced in the 2021/22 budget, took effect on 15 November 2021; it did not apply to vehicles or to the Pago Pago route 1. The government's 2024 Beijing+30 report said free ferry travel between the two main islands for people with disabilities was "envisaged to come into effect by December 2024"; no confirmation that it started was found 2.
Sources (2)
- Samoa Shipping Corporation Announces 20% Drop in Passenger Fares
- Beijing +30 Samoa National Report: Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) 2024
- 15 November 2021Kept
A 20% cut in Upolu to Savaiʻi passenger ferry fares took effect, which Samoa Shipping Corporation said was announced in the government budget; it applied to passengers only, not vehicles 1. The 2021/22 budget address cut electricity and water prices and selected government fees by 20% to help the country through COVID-19 2.
Sources (2)
- Samoa Shipping Corporation Announces 20% Drop in Passenger Fares
- Budget Address 2021/2022
- 2021 to 2023Unclear
Not a promise, but a decision: the government cancelled the inherited Samoa Airways Boeing 737-800 lease, which never flew because the aircraft failed to get a licence over safety issues. The minister reported a US$5.3 million, about SAT$14.6 million, termination payment 1; a 2022 report gave SAT$16 million (US$5.9 million) 2. The figures conflict and neither is an audited total 12.
Sources (2)
- Minister explains Samoa Airways $104m losses and $85m debts
- Samoan gov't to pay $5.9mn for nixed B737 lease
- July 2024Kept
Upgrades to 11.20 km of the West Coast Road were completed in July 2024 under the World Bank-funded Samoa Climate Resilient Transport Project 3. By December 2025 the project recorded 2,095 metres of coastal revetment and 12 drainage outfalls completed, with the Afega and Lano crossings contracted and under construction 1. Lano was reported near completion on 17 September 2026 2.
Sources (3)
- Samoa Climate Resilient Transport Project (P165782): Implementation Status & Results Report, Seq No 16
- Lano crossing project nears completion in Savai’i
- Samoa Climate Resilient Transport Project (P165782): Combined Project Information Documents / Integrated Safeguards Datasheet, Appraisal Stage
- August to October 2024Kept
Faleolo's VIP lounge, about SAT$11.2 million and funded by the Samoa Airports Authority, was built by Zheng Construction from November 2023 to August 2024 and opened in October 2024 1; the authority's accounts record substantial completion in September 2024 3. The regional terminal and apron, about SAT$25 million, reached practical completion in October 2024 and were opened by the prime minister on 17 October 2024 234.
Sources (4)
- $11M Faleolo airport VIP lounge opens
- Faleolo Regional Terminal
- Samoa Airport Authority Financial Statements for the Year Ended 30 June 2025
- Pacific news in brief for 21 October
- January to June 2026Unclear
On the ADB grant-funded Central Cross Island Road upgrade, contracted to CCECC, a chip-seal flushing defect on a 4.2 km section remained unremedied; the supervisor required removal and replacement, the contractor's proposed remedy was found non-compliant, and claims over delay damages were unresolved 1.
Sources (1)
- Central Cross Island Road Upgrading Project: Semiannual Safeguards Monitoring Report, 1 January to 30 June 2026
- November 2025 to April 2026Not kept
The Aurora V ferry, procured under the Fiamē government and scheduled to arrive in November 2025, never entered service. The purchase of the vessel, reported at SAT$13 million, was cancelled in January 2026 on safety grounds the designer disputed 1. On 10 April 2026 the prime minister said it would be finished for lease or sale, with about SAT$20 million already spent; the designer said about 80% of the contract price had been paid 23. In July 2026 the prime minister inspected repair work in Australia; Talamua reported more than SAT$20 million paid and a plan to complete the upgrades and sell the vessel 4.
Sources (4)
- Govt cancels ferry purchase, safety claims disputed
- PM says Government will move to Lease or Sell the $20 million Failed Ferry Purchase
- Aurora V for lease once its finished with renovations
- Prime Minister Inspects Aurora V Ferry Repair Works
- 3 February 2025Unclear
The World Bank's Digitally Connected and Resilient Samoa project became effective on 3 February 2025, with a 35,000 new-broadband-user target by October 2029 1. Its December 2025 results recorded zero new broadband users and US$1.34 million disbursed, and the January 2026 report called implementation slower than expected 1.
Sources (1)
- Digitally Connected and Resilient Samoa Project (P180807): Implementation Status & Results Report
- 2021 to 2025Not kept
The 2021/22 budget, the new FAST government's first, kept the school grant at its stimulus level and said it would be restructured to cover teacher salaries while agencies worked out how to bring all the country's teachers onto the government payroll 1. In April 2022 the grant was released on condition that 60% assisted the salaries of mission and private school teachers, a subsidy rather than a government payroll 2. No source reviewed shows teachers were moved onto the payroll; by 2025 government payment of pre-school teachers was back on the manifesto 3.
Sources (3)
- BUDGET ADDRESS 2021/2022
- ONE GOVERNMENT GRANT 2022
- FAST Party Manifesto Centres on the Family Unit
- 2021 to 2025Unclear
The school grant continued at SAT$18 million a year under the 2024/25 budget; MEC paid 98% of it, SAT$17,895,407, to 335 schools in March 2025 and completed six school building projects, two buildings and four halls 12. The 2024/25 budget also funded SAT$6.3 million in scholarships, SAT$1.5 million for teacher higher education and SAT$880,000 for school connectivity, of which SAT$166,419 was spent, with 29 schools connected by Starlink or fibre 12.
Sources (2)
- Budget Address 2024/2025
- Annual Report of the Ministry of Education and Culture for the financial year ended June 30, 2025
- 2021 to 2025Not kept
In 2021 the government announced it was considering abolishing tuition fees at NUS; it did not happen. NUS reduced enrolment fees in 2023 and still invoices semester fees, and in August 2026 the prime minister told NUS students that their families, villages and district councils were paying their tuition 123.
Sources (3)
- Samoa | Financing for equity in higher education | Education Profiles
- Financial Services – National University of Samoa
- PM address recent violence and drugs with NUS Students & Staff
- 2021 to 2025Unclear
The 2024/25 budget address said primary teachers with higher education qualifications rose from 44% in 2021 to 50% in 2023, and secondary from 63% to 68% 1; MEC's statistical digests give different figures for degree holders, 51% of primary and 76% of secondary teachers in June 2021 and 71% of secondary teachers in 2023, so the sources disagree 45. Teacher numbers fell from 2,569 in 2024 to 2,533 in 2025 2, and the 2025 to 2030 education plan says Year 4 and Year 6 literacy and numeracy remain below expected standards 3. Which policy caused the changes is not established 1.
Sources (5)
- Budget Address 2024/2025
- Annual Report of the Ministry of Education and Culture for the financial year ended June 30, 2025
- Education Sector Plan 2025–2030
- Education Statistical Digest 2021
- Education Statistical Digest 2023
- 1 November 2021Kept
Promised 20% cut in utility charges delivered: the 2021/22 budget cut electricity and water prices by 20% from 1 November 2021 1, and Upolu to Savai'i passenger ferry fares fell 20% from 15 November 2021, excluding vehicles and the Pago Pago route 2. SBS measured average household spending on piped water at SAT$498 in 2020/21 and SAT$463.20 in 2021/22 and named the tariff cut as a contributor, though use also changed 3. The Regulator's letter of 19 November 2021 records Cabinet Directive FK (21)43 cutting electricity tariffs by 20% from that month and held EPC's requested energy-charge rise 5. EPC's 1 November 2023 order revoked the 20% cut for non-domestic customers but kept it for households 4.
Sources (5)
- Budget Address 2021/2022
- Samoa Shipping Corporation Announces 20% Drop in Passenger Fares
- Water Accounts Samoa, 2021-22
- Electricity Rates
- Change in Tariffs Associated with Energy Charge Review (Order of the Regulator No 2021/E83)
- 31 March 2025Unclear
Not a promise, but the term's outcome: renewables fell from 34.3% of generation in 2023 to 29.3% in 2024 1, and after weeks of outages and rationing the government proclaimed a 30-day energy emergency on 31 March 2025 and set up a damage-claims process 23. By 26 March 2026 officials said 227 people could be compensated, with the final number not yet settled 4. Government had announced SAT$1.9 million for approved applicants, but on 26 May 2026 two approved applicants, for SAT$3,400 and SAT$4,000, said the money had not arrived 5.
Sources (5)
- 2024 Samoa Energy Review Report, 14th Edition
- Hon. Prime Minister of Samoa Press Statement: Proclamation of Emergency Energy Crisis [31st March 2025]
- National Emergency Operation Centre
- More 200 to be compensated for power outages
- Deputy PM says power outage payout ongoing
- December 2021Unclear
The Fiamē government equalised village representatives' pay: a sui o le nu'u had received SAT$250 and a sui tamaita'i SAT$150 a fortnight; both went to SAT$300, announced on 4 December 2021. 1 A Samoa Observer editorial of 24 February 2021 had put both at SAT$250 a fortnight, which disagrees with the SAT$150 figure for women's representatives. 2 Neither party made a 2025 promise on these allowances.
Sources (2)
- Government Ensures Equal Pay for Men and Women Village Representatives
- Village rights must include opinions
- 2022 to December 2024Kept
FAST's 2021 campaign pledge of SAT$1 million a year for every constituency was budgeted at SAT$51 million in 2022/23 and again in 2023/24. 6172 The ministry's 2022/23 report shows SAT$24,861,239 used that year, with SAT$26,138,761 unspent; by June 2023, 69% of districts had received their first tranche and 8% had acquitted it. 3 By December 2024 payments were SAT$50,294,611 against 2022/23 projects (SAT$705,388 withheld for ineligible spending) and SAT$37,500,288 against 2023/24, with SAT$13,499,712 remaining. 4 A 2024 government report estimated 53,918 households reached. 5 Budgeted each year, but not all annual rounds were paid before the 2025 election. 4
Sources (7)
- Minister of Finance Budget Address 2022/23: “Inspiring Growth through an Inclusive and Resilient Recovery for Samoa”
- Two remaining Districts sign Funding Agreement for $1million Project
- Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development Annual Report FY2022/23
- World Bank Impressed with $1m District Development Project
- Beijing +30 Samoa National Report: Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) 2024
- Hundreds Attend FAST Faleata II Election Campaign Rally
- 2023/2024 Budget Address: “Advancing growth through sustainable pathways conducive to socio-economic welfare and building resilience”
- June 2025Unclear
In the last months of the Fiamē term some districts were still waiting for tranches of an earlier year's grant; Fa'asaleleaga No. 3's chair said in a report of 11 June 2025 that the district had signed on 20 May 2025 but not received its first SAT$700,000. 1 After Parliament was dissolved the caretaker government withheld already appropriated 2024/25 district funds on 10 June 2025, since MP chairs could no longer sign for them, then reversed the hold within 24 hours under pressure from district councils. 21
Sources (2)
- Government Bends Under Pressure to Release $1M Development Funds
- Caretaker government withholds $1M District Development Funds