Apia, Samoa – 19 August 2025 – The FAST Party has accused the Caretaker Government of breaching the Caretaker Conventions when it made crucial Chief Executive Officer appointments announced in the weekend.

In a Press Statement, the FAST Party said that the public were informed in the weekend that the Caretaker Government had made certain Chief Executive Officer appointments, including one post particularly critical to Samoa’s relationship with other countries and its liaison with international and regional organizations.

“This post is the CEO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade which appears to have been decided by the Caretaker Cabinet in the last few weeks.

“The appointment (or reappointment) of any and every CEO or appointment to an important public post or position, such as a Director of a government company, or as a head of a government agency, during Caretaker mode, is in total breach of the Constitutional Conventions, which are rules by which Westminster forms of democratic governments (like us) abide by, and adhere to, whilst waiting for the swearing in of a new Government.

“The Caretaker Conventions are rules which apply to make sure that a Caretaker Government does not make important decisions by signing contracts or changing policies or appointing people which the new government administration does not have confidence in and may be subject to legal exposure if they are forced to deal with those contracts, policies and appointments.

“The Government is in ‘Caretaker’ mode, i.e. looking after the government as a ‘Caretaker’ waiting for the election of a new government, because of the present Prime Minister and her Cabinet’s failure to pass the First Reading of the 2025 Budget Bill in Parliament, and that vote meant that they also no longer had the confidence Parliament, and the majority of people represented by the Members of Parliament.

The limitations on a Caretaker Government which no longer has the confidence of the people are the following:

• NO appointments (or reappointments) to important public positions;
• NO new policies (or changes to existing policies) that might interfere with the new government’s right to govern the country as the duly elected government;
• NO award of any major contracts, agreements, treaties or the taking up of any new loans or financial obligations, which must be left to the new Government to decide, and might interfere with their power to govern and expose them to legal risk.

“The Caretaker Government is now deliberately breaching these long-held and respected democratic conventions, either to benefit the appointees who might claim 3 years’ salary to leave; or simply make things difficult for a new government.

“Either way it is an attack on our democracy and should be seen for what it is….an attempt by the Caretaker Cabinet to undermine the ability of the new Government to govern according to its policies and manifesto as voted upon by a majority of our citizens in a General Election,” said the statement.