TERMINATED: Cabinet Ministers who questioned Fiame’s Leadership

By Staff Reporters/

Apia, Samoa – 13 January 2025 – Three more Cabinet Ministers have been terminated following one-on-one meetings with Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa today.

The Ministers are Mulipola Anarosa Ale-Molioo who was the Minister for Women and Social Development, Leota Laki Sio, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Labour and Toelupe Pou Onesemo, Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

The three Ministers appointments were revoked in accordance with Article 33(3)(b) of the Constitution and effective immediately by warrants of revocation signed by the Head of State 13 January 2025.

The ministers were among the FAST Party MPs who signed a letter submitted to the Prime Minister on Monday 6 January, that questioned and expressed dissatisfaction in the PM’s leadership and accenting a rift within the party following the charging of Party Chairman, Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao by police and his termination as a Cabinet Minister last Friday.

A caucus meeting was called this afternoon but the Prime Minister and other Cabinet Ministers did not attend.

Meanwhile, positions and perks have been offered to lure the party MPs who did not sign the letter to fill the four vacant ministerial posts. However, some of the MPs who signed the letter, have already moved across to accept what have been offered.

Along with the Party Chairman, Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao, the three cabinet ministers now terminated, Mulipola Anarosa Ale-Molioo, Leota Laki Sio and Toelupe Pou Onesemo, were among the core group that founded and formed the FAST Party’s manifesto in the 2021 general elections that included the $51m per annum district development project.

New Cabinet Ministers are expected to be sworn in sometime soon with a possible cabinet reshuffle as the country heads into the April 2026 general elections.