Nothing Is “Beyond Our Control’

Written by Pio Sioa
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Not so long ago, whenever the price of fuel goes up in Samoa, the murmurs of communal protest shifts into high gear. Petrol station attendants suddenly find themselves in the media limelight as the impact of new prices in the country is brought to the attention of the public, as if they do not know already. The continuing surge has become virtually unstoppable these past few weeks the ‘beyond our control’ disclaimer is absolutely pointless. Our Electric Power Corporation resorted to the disclaimer just a week or so ago, with new adjustment to the surcharges. This was something they tried to hold off for as long as possible until it was ‘beyond their control.’ But there was really no need for the disclaimer. Surely we should all know by now that world market prices are indeed beyond our control. We have to be people with ’Beautiful Minds’ not to know that already. But does that mean we are totally helpless to do anything about it? Take the EPC for example! CEO Muaausa Joseph Walters and his people are required to respond to the demands from the public for power. When the price of diesel to run their generators jump, all they could do, and have done so, is to try and hold off as long as they could, before passing the costs along to the consumers. They have to because there are no other choices. If the demands were to keep pace with the continuing hike in world market prices for diesel, the situation then becomes ‘ beyond our control,’ and rightly so. That should not be hard for the public to accept. What if public demands for power were reduced? Is that something ‘within our control”. Of course it is but….yeah …there is always the BUT. Human nature. Let someone else suffer the burden not me. Is that a fair assumption? Will CEO Muaausa be able to sleep well for a change if he knows that measures are in place to reduce public consumption by a certain percentage to help cut down on their diesel bill? Is that possible? Absolutely. But will Government be prepared to make the hard decisions? Stui did not waver when it came to the RHD, so why not a roll over power cut across the country if we are truly hurting? How much will the EPC save on diesel if power supply from Falefa to Leulumoega is cut off for half a day? When that area powers back on the switch is flicked off from Faleasi’u up to Safata and Lefaga for the remainder of the day and continues on around the island. The roll over could be going on simultaneously in Savaii as well. Will doing this once a week be enough for the EPC to keep its surcharges down to a level where we can all have some breathing space and overcome the frustrations of this ‘beyond our control’ nonsense? If we are really honest about it, this is a cop out. As they say in the world of dog eat dog, there are no free lunches. When it comes to the world of big powers that influence international market prices, Samoa is just a Chihuahua amongst frothing Rotweilers. We should also know that by now.. We have to survive as best as we can, and there is no reason why we can not look after ourselves better. Maybe we are in Chihuahua land but we can be Rotweilers in our own backyard where things “beyond our control” can be brought ‘within our control.” The rallying cry by the late PM Tofilau when he first brought the Human Rights Protection Party to the ‘Promised Land’ was to call on the people for self sacrifice. It was a brave call to make and he had to endure a lot of public condemnations and ridicule for it. But it laid the foundation for all the praises that are being sung today about Samoa’s economic success and more importantly, political stability. The Arabs are not going to drop their oil prices for Samoa or our other island neighbours. World inflation is not going to have a conscience attack and stop when it comes across poor economies like Samoa. But just because we are a Chihuahua economy does not mean we cannot bark like a Rotweiler….with teeth. Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Title Comment
Last Updated ( Monday, 23 June 2008 )

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