Page 33 - IB August 2021
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Samoa Samoa
On July 26, after winning the Samoa General Election nearly four months earlier, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, a seasoned politician and leader of the Fa’atuatua I le Atua ua Tasi
(FAST) Party officially took her seat as the Prime Minister of the Independent State of Samoa. Despite the significance of the moment she entered her new office as the new
leader of the country, the change was marred by persistent attempts by the former Government to deny Fiame her rightful place at the helm. She wa s sworn in on May 24
under a tent after being locked out of Parliament House, her swearing in, done as the sun went down on Tiafau, the hallowed grounds where her late father, the late Mata’afa
Faumuina Mulinu’u II once stood as the first Prime Minister of Samoa. This photo of Fiame was taken the same week she took office, in the Government Building also named
after her father. After months of the political crisis, she finally took her seat.
Photo: Rudy Bartley
Islands Business, August 2021 33
