Less than fifty years after Independence the Human Rights Protection Party is seeking to seize control of all Samoan land, tax it and extinguish the ancestral title known as Customary land.
No piece of legislation is more indicative of political corruption in modern Samoa than the Land Titles Registration Act 2008.
Samoans settled Samoa thousands of years ago. Modern Samoans claim ownership of Samoa’s land and traditional resources through what is known as ancestral ownership. In International Law this birthright is accepted and respected as a lawful claim because those who occupy the land have inherited their rights. This is the highest form of ownership and brings with it complete authority or sovereignty over land and traditional resources. Sovereign owners do not have to fill out forms or please anybody else to control their land for their right is based on their bloodline.
In International Law this ancestral right of inheritance can only be set aside deliberately. In Samoa, we, as Samoans, have never given up our traditional rights of ownership over any of our lands and resources. There has never been a meeting with any government or any foreign government with our traditional matai in which our people have been consulted and said to our leaders that we give up the land or any traditional resources given to us by our ancestors.
Each family member of the Aiga has rights to customary land ownership and resources which cannot be taken away without their consent. No government has the right to transfer or extinguish the ancestral rights of any Aiga member without their consent gained by a national referendum. It is forbidden to give those rights to any one person by law and end the rights of all Aiga members. No matter that foreigners see this ownership by members of the Aiga as a bar to progress. They must realize that in our land of Samoa we are sovereign.
Any plan for progress in Samoa which does not acknowledge the Matai and Aiga as sovereign and return the majority of profit to Aiga and preserve Samoan resources for future Aiga members is unacceptable to the majority of Samoans. We and our resources do not exist to please and profit foreigners. Our duty is to steward our lands and resources for our Aiga and to preserve all of our resources for future Aiga generations. Any plan to profit others by taking land and resources from the Aiga owners is nothing more than theft. All Samoan Customary land is owned by certain Aiga and other Samoans and foreigners have no right to plunder the resources of those Aiga.
The Land Titles Registration Act 2008 is unfair and unlawful because it bundles up the rights of individual family members to land and takes them away and gives them to a single person. It destroys the Samoan Aiga concept of land ownership by a family with the Matai as a guardian protecting and preserving the Aiga rights for current and future Aiga members and replaces it with a foreign European concept of complete ownership by an individual in spite of the actual ownership of the land by all Aiga members.
This is contrary to our traditional land ownership system where ownership lies with all family members. Matai do not have the authority to permanently take away the family land rights of their Aiga to profit themselves. Matai are guardians for their entire Aiga.
The Constitution in Article 102 states No alienation of customary land – It shall not be lawful or competent for any person to make any alienation or disposition of customary land or of any interest in customary land, whether by way of sale , mortgage or otherwise howsoever, nor shall customary land or any interest therein be capable of being taken in execution or be assets for the payment of the debts of any person on his decease or insolvency: provided that an Act of Parliament may authorize- the granting of a lease or licence of any customary land or of any interest therein; the taking of any customary land or any interest therein for public purposes. No lease or licence may alienate the customary land interest of any Aiga member.
Section 9 directs the Registrar after 1 March 2009 to register public land, freehold land or customary land leased or licenced or customary land where judgment has been made in the Land and Titles Court in the Register.
In spite of this direction subsection 4 of Section 9 states that no provision of the Act may be construed or applied to permit or imply the alienation of customary land in a way prohibited by Article 102 of the Constitution; or permit or deem ownership in any customary land to vest in a person otherwise than as determined under any law dealing with the determination of title to customary land.
This combination is nonsensical as the registration of any customary land under the Land Titles Registration Act 2008 is not permitted by the Constitution without a referendum because it alienates customary land firstly by destroying the lands customary status and creating a lesser estate or right in law called a freehold title with state sovereignty which is subject to tax and seizure by the State and secondly it takes away all rights of Aiga to the registered land by operation of law which is not permitted by Article 14 of the Constitution because it is a device to alienate customary land rights. Further the registered ex-customary land can be mortgaged and sold if debts secured against it are not paid.
Section 20 of the Act permits the disposition or transfer of land by operation of law. This breaches Article 14 of the Constitution which forbids the compulsory taking of property by operation of law so as to infringe Article 102 of the Constitution.. All those Aiga with an interest in any piece of customary land lose out when it is registered under the Act.. This secretive alienation of the customary land rights of thousands or millions of Samoans is completely unlawful.
Samoans living overseas, who have been sending hundreds of millions of tala for fifty years, lose their customary land rights because only Samoans who are resident continuously in Samoa for not less than 2½ years during the period of three (3) years immediately preceding the date of presentation of an instrument for registration can claim title to land whether it be freehold or customary.
Even though foreigners can form companies and buy Samoan land, with the consent of the Head of State, overseas Samoans cannot form a company and buy Samoan land if their shareholding or voting power is more than 25% within a company.
Article 15 of the Constitution headed– Freedom from discriminatory legislation states that all persons are equal before the law and entitled to equal protection under the law. No law and no executive or administrative action of the State shall either expressly or in its practical application, subject any person or persons to any disability or restriction or confer on any person or persons any privilege or advantage on grounds only of descent, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, social origin, place of birth, family status, or any of them. The State is directed to progressively remove any disability or restriction imposed on any of the above grounds.
Under Section 31 registration under the Land Titles Registration Act 2008 permits the land to be used to secure debt:. This is in direct disobedience to Article 102 of the Constitution.
Under Section 32 of the Land Titles Registration Act 2008 even though there may be superior estates or interests in land to that of the person who registers title, such as Aiga rights, the registered title holder can deal with the land as his or her own.
The State may under Section 32 of the Land Titles Registration Act 2008:
Where any land is registered under the Act:
(i) enter, go across or do things on land for the purpose specified in the Act,
(ii) recover taxes, duties, charges, rates or assessments by proceedings in respect of land;
(iii) expropriate land (take from its owner for public use or benefit); or
(iv) restrict the use of land;
Under Section 44 land registered under the Land Titles Registration Act 2008 may be mortgaged in spite of the prohibition of mortgages against customary land contained in article 102 of the Constitution.
Under S.47 the mortgagor of land is to be recorded as the owner of the land.
Sections 59, 60 and 70of the Land Titles Registration Act 2008 enable land under the Act to be taken to satisfy debt or transferred upon the death of the owner. It has no protected status as customary land.
In order to protect our Aiga from attack by non family members and thieving Aiga members and to secure our Aiga against the bribery of our leaders, we must ensure that every Aiga member –male, female, adult or child is respected and their rights are never traded away. Surely our leaders should be loved for the good they do and not for the profit they make by not sharing with the whole Aiga.
Hear me Samoa wherever you live or work on this planet. If you are our family you have rights and you must speak up because if you do not then others, who do not love you will try to steal your birthright.
Why should foreigners make money from our lands and resources while the true owners struggle every day to live. Our ancestors intended us to be the masters in our own land. Foreigners may advise but sovereignty is ours and we must profit above all others.
The years of political selfishness are coming to an end. A new political era is coming in which Aiga are put first and Samoans are respected and all profit is shared!
Customary land is tax free and the State has few rights in relation to it but if you register any of your customary land as a lease or licence it out or register it in your name as Sa’o then the State can:
(i) enter, go across or do things on land for the purpose specified in the Act( or any other Act),
(ii) recover taxes, duties, charges, rates or assessments by proceedings in respect of land;
(iii) expropriate land (take from its owner for public use or benefit); or
(iv) restrict the use of land;
Did our ancestors protect and keep our lands so we could slave to pay taxes to other Samoans just to live?
No Samoan can trespass on another Samoan’s land but if we do not set aside this unlawful Land Titles Registration Act 2008 then the servants of the State can enter, cross, tax and take the land or even tell us what we can and cannot do on our own land!
Perhaps as Aiga, we have been taught a valuable lesson about leadership by the HRPP. It does not matter what is said but what is done. Lies, propaganda and theft from the people have taught us that if someone buys your vote they will happily sell everything they can to the highest bidder.
In 2011 we must remove the HRPP for if we do not then they will destroy us in order to profit themselves and their foreign masters. They have taught us as Samoans to feel inferior in our own land.
In Samoa Samoans must come first. In order to preserve our sovereignty in our own land we must encourage critical thinking. For it is only when all members of the Aiga are alert to threats to our culture and our traditions especially from foreign sources that the future of our Aiga will be secure.
The State in Samoa has become a problem. It sees itself as separate from the people and more important than the people. This is a lie. The government takes its money from the people yet it continues to act against the interests of the people. How many times must it cheat and deceive the people before they realize that none of those now in authority should ever be trusted again?
We, as Samoans, have supreme power over our lives, our land and our traditional resources. We are our future. Our sovereignty is guaranteed by our Constitution. Our land and our people are not for sale. If foreigners think they can buy our leaders, they are wrong for we know that traitors are not fit to lead us. Those who make private fortunes by plundering the peoples’ money are now struggling for they are no longer respected and their theft and lies are well known and their day of reckoning is fast approaching.
Less than fifty years after Independence the Human Rights Protection Party is seeking to seize control of all Samoan land, tax it and extinguish the ancestral title known as Customary land.
No piece of legislation is more indicative of political corruption in modern Samoa than the Land Titles Registration Act 2008.
Samoans settled Samoa thousands of years ago. Modern Samoans claim ownership of Samoa’s land and traditional resources through what is known as ancestral ownership. In International Law this birthright is accepted and respected as a lawful claim because those who occupy the land have inherited their rights. This is the highest form of ownership and brings with it complete authority or sovereignty over land and traditional resources. Sovereign owners do not have to fill out forms or please anybody else to control their land for their right is based on their bloodline.
In International Law this ancestral right of inheritance can only be set aside deliberately. In Samoa, we, as Samoans, have never given up our traditional rights of ownership over any of our lands and resources. There has never been a meeting with any government or any foreign government with our traditional matai in which our people have been consulted and said to our leaders that we give up the land or any traditional resources given to us by our ancestors.
Each family member of the Aiga has rights to customary land ownership and resources which cannot be taken away without their consent. No government has the right to transfer or extinguish the ancestral rights of any Aiga member without their consent gained by a national referendum. It is forbidden to give those rights to any one person by law and end the rights of all Aiga members. No matter that foreigners see this ownership by members of the Aiga as a bar to progress. They must realize that in our land of Samoa we are sovereign.
Any plan for progress in Samoa which does not acknowledge the Matai and Aiga as sovereign and return the majority of profit to Aiga and preserve Samoan resources for future Aiga members is unacceptable to the majority of Samoans. We and our resources do not exist to please and profit foreigners. Our duty is to steward our lands and resources for our Aiga and to preserve all of our resources for future Aiga generations. Any plan to profit others by taking land and resources from the Aiga owners is nothing more than theft. All Samoan Customary land is owned by certain Aiga and other Samoans and foreigners have no right to plunder the resources of those Aiga.
The Land Titles Registration Act 2008 is unfair and unlawful because it bundles up the rights of individual family members to land and takes them away and gives them to a single person. It destroys the Samoan Aiga concept of land ownership by a family with the Matai as a guardian protecting and preserving the Aiga rights for current and future Aiga members and replaces it with a foreign European concept of complete ownership by an individual in spite of the actual ownership of the land by all Aiga members.
This is contrary to our traditional land ownership system where ownership lies with all family members. Matai do not have the authority to permanently take away the family land rights of their Aiga to profit themselves. Matai are guardians for their entire Aiga.
The Constitution in Article 102 states No alienation of customary land – It shall not be lawful or competent for any person to make any alienation or disposition of customary land or of any interest in customary land, whether by way of sale , mortgage or otherwise howsoever, nor shall customary land or any interest therein be capable of being taken in execution or be assets for the payment of the debts of any person on his decease or insolvency: provided that an Act of Parliament may authorize- the granting of a lease or licence of any customary land or of any interest therein; the taking of any customary land or any interest therein for public purposes. No lease or licence may alienate the customary land interest of any Aiga member.
Section 9 directs the Registrar after 1 March 2009 to register public land, freehold land or customary land leased or licenced or customary land where judgment has been made in the Land and Titles Court in the Register.
In spite of this direction subsection 4 of Section 9 states that no provision of the Act may be construed or applied to permit or imply the alienation of customary land in a way prohibited by Article 102 of the Constitution; or permit or deem ownership in any customary land to vest in a person otherwise than as determined under any law dealing with the determination of title to customary land.
This combination is nonsensical as the registration of any customary land under the Land Titles Registration Act 2008 is not permitted by the Constitution without a referendum because it alienates customary land firstly by destroying the lands customary status and creating a lesser estate or right in law called a freehold title with state sovereignty which is subject to tax and seizure by the State and secondly it takes away all rights of Aiga to the registered land by operation of law which is not permitted by Article 14 of the Constitution because it is a device to alienate customary land rights. Further the registered ex-customary land can be mortgaged and sold if debts secured against it are not paid.
Section 20 of the Act permits the disposition or transfer of land by operation of law. This breaches Article 14 of the Constitution which forbids the compulsory taking of property by operation of law so as to infringe Article 102 of the Constitution.. All those Aiga with an interest in any piece of customary land lose out when it is registered under the Act.. This secretive alienation of the customary land rights of thousands or millions of Samoans is completely unlawful.
Samoans living overseas, who have been sending hundreds of millions of tala for fifty years, lose their customary land rights because only Samoans who are resident continuously in Samoa for not less than 2½ years during the period of three (3) years immediately preceding the date of presentation of an instrument for registration can claim title to land whether it be freehold or customary.
Even though foreigners can form companies and buy Samoan land, with the consent of the Head of State, overseas Samoans cannot form a company and buy Samoan land if their shareholding or voting power is more than 25% within a company.
Article 15 of the Constitution headed– Freedom from discriminatory legislation states that all persons are equal before the law and entitled to equal protection under the law. No law and no executive or administrative action of the State shall either expressly or in its practical application, subject any person or persons to any disability or restriction or confer on any person or persons any privilege or advantage on grounds only of descent, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, social origin, place of birth, family status, or any of them. The State is directed to progressively remove any disability or restriction imposed on any of the above grounds.
Under Section 31 registration under the Land Titles Registration Act 2008 permits the land to be used to secure debt:. This is in direct disobedience to Article 102 of the Constitution.
Under Section 32 of the Land Titles Registration Act 2008 even though there may be superior estates or interests in land to that of the person who registers title, such as Aiga rights, the registered title holder can deal with the land as his or her own.
The State may under Section 32 of the Land Titles Registration Act 2008:
Where any land is registered under the Act:
(i) enter, go across or do things on land for the purpose specified in the Act,
(ii) recover taxes, duties, charges, rates or assessments by proceedings in respect of land;
(iii) expropriate land (take from its owner for public use or benefit); or
(iv) restrict the use of land;
Under Section 44 land registered under the Land Titles Registration Act 2008 may be mortgaged in spite of the prohibition of mortgages against customary land contained in article 102 of the Constitution.
Under S.47 the mortgagor of land is to be recorded as the owner of the land.
Sections 59, 60 and 70of the Land Titles Registration Act 2008 enable land under the Act to be taken to satisfy debt or transferred upon the death of the owner. It has no protected status as customary land.
In order to protect our Aiga from attack by non family members and thieving Aiga members and to secure our Aiga against the bribery of our leaders, we must ensure that every Aiga member –male, female, adult or child is respected and their rights are never traded away. Surely our leaders should be loved for the good they do and not for the profit they make by not sharing with the whole Aiga.
Hear me Samoa wherever you live or work on this planet. If you are our family you have rights and you must speak up because if you do not then others, who do not love you will try to steal your birthright.
Why should foreigners make money from our lands and resources while the true owners struggle every day to live. Our ancestors intended us to be the masters in our own land. Foreigners may advise but sovereignty is ours and we must profit above all others.
The years of political selfishness are coming to an end. A new political era is coming in which Aiga are put first and Samoans are respected and all profit is shared!
Customary land is tax free and the State has few rights in relation to it but if you register any of your customary land as a lease or licence it out or register it in your name as Sa’o then the State can:
(i) enter, go across or do things on land for the purpose specified in the Act( or any other Act),
(ii) recover taxes, duties, charges, rates or assessments by proceedings in respect of land;
(iii) expropriate land (take from its owner for public use or benefit); or
(iv) restrict the use of land;
Did our ancestors protect and keep our lands so we could slave to pay taxes to other Samoans just to live?
No Samoan can trespass on another Samoan’s land but if we do not set aside this unlawful Land Titles Registration Act 2008 then the servants of the State can enter, cross, tax and take the land or even tell us what we can and cannot do on our own land!
Perhaps as Aiga, we have been taught a valuable lesson about leadership by the HRPP. It does not matter what is said but what is done. Lies, propaganda and theft from the people have taught us that if someone buys your vote they will happily sell everything they can to the highest bidder.
In 2011 we must remove the HRPP for if we do not then they will destroy us in order to profit themselves and their foreign masters. They have taught us as Samoans to feel inferior in our own land.
In Samoa Samoans must come first. In order to preserve our sovereignty in our own land we must encourage critical thinking. For it is only when all members of the Aiga are alert to threats to our culture and our traditions especially from foreign sources that the future of our Aiga will be secure.
The State in Samoa has become a problem. It sees itself as separate from the people and more important than the people. This is a lie. The government takes its money from the people yet it continues to act against the interests of the people. How many times must it cheat and deceive the people before they realize that none of those now in authority should ever be trusted again?
We, as Samoans, have supreme power over our lives, our land and our traditional resources. We are our future. Our sovereignty is guaranteed by our Constitution. Our land and our people are not for sale. If foreigners think they can buy our leaders, they are wrong for we know that traitors are not fit to lead us. Those who make private fortunes by plundering the peoples’ money are now struggling for they are no longer respected and their theft and lies are well known and their day of reckoning is fast approaching.
FSM Taua
Thanks FSM Taua. But there are some stupid Samoa out there giving out their Matai Title to some palagi from Overseas?? Dont you think they should stop this kind of attitude???? Its really dump to see them exchaning money with Matai Title. Any palagi that came to help, the govt and the villiage gave award and bistow them with a matai title, I think this is so wrong and should be STOP! Solomua mai le Government of Samoa, fai le faataitaiga sese i tagata o Samoa, ma ua valea uma ai lava. This is not how we should say thank you. And im sure not all of this Palagi want to have this Title. WHere the RESPECT! There are some other better ways to say thanks. Like the ava ceremony to welcome guests and fa'aaloalo faa-samoa. Anyways i had enough already....sick already lol got the flu
VERY GOOD REPORT FSM. I CANT BELIEVE IM AGREE WTH YOU LOL
GOVT SUKS SOMETIMES....MAYBE THEY WANT TO GET MONEY AND MORE MONEY, MORE POWER AND EVEN MORE CONTROL OF OUR LANDS ETC ETC ETC WHO KNOWS WHAT ANY MAN INTENTION BEHIND ALL THESE ????? QUITE SAD! :( ...
