A lawyer for Samoa's ruling FAST party says New Zealand judges have been appointed to assist the bench due to all of Samoa's Supreme Court judges being the targets in.
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July 26, 2021 12:59:55 am
The Court of Appeal of Samoa on Friday ruled that the Faatuatua ile Atua ua Tasi (FAST) (‘Samoa United in Faith’) political party was the official winner of April’s national election, thus confirming the party’s leader, Fiame (honorary title) Naomi Mata’afa, as the country’s first female prime minister.
Mata’afa won the majority in the April 2021 election but defeated Prime Minister Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi refused to accept Mata’afa’s victory. Malielegaoi’s refusal to leave office lead to a constitutional crisis when Head of State Tuimalealiifano Va’aletoa Sualauvi II for unknown reasons issued a proclamation preventing Parliament from meeting to resolve the issue. Samoa’s attorney general requested the Samoa Supreme Court revoke the proclamation, but Chief Justice Satiu Simativa Perese rejected the request.
Politician jailed for murder
A local body politician in Papua New Guinea has been jailed for 30 years for shooting a student to death two years ago.
Sent Koip, a ward councillor in Jiwaka, was sentenced in Port Moresby by the Chief Justice, Sir Gibbs Salika.
The judge told Koip he had abused his responsibility by shooting the student instead of addressing any concerns at an appropriate forum.
Koip had claimed the student was disturbing one of his tenants.
Meanwhile, the National newspaper reports the University of PNG has announced that the student would posthumously graduate.
He was in the final month of his degree at the time of the shooting in 2019.