Clerk had No Legal Authority to Advise the Head of State to Appoint a New Prime Minister

"The Clerk has no legal authority to unilaterally determine that the Office of the Prime Minister is vacated and to advise that a new Prime Minister is to be appointed."

Press Release

July 18, 2025

2230

ATTORNEY GENERAL’S RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS REGARDING THE CLERK OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

PRESS RELEASE 17th July 2025 Published in verbatim.

I have received questions from the media seeking to clarify the legal issues that the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly has taken actions on, namely:

1. The Clerk’s report on 27 May 2025 to the Head of State that Honourable Laauli Leauatea Polataivao Fosi has the confidence of the majority of the Members of Parliament and therefore to be appointed as the Prime Minister.

2. The Clerk’s press release dated 3 July 2025 stating that the Speaker and Deputy Speaker continue in Office following dissolution of Parliament and that they are both entitled to government vehicles.

I have already provided legal opinions to clarify the law on these 2 matters.

Given that these matters are of significant public interest and for the sake of transparency, I have decided to publish the Legal Opinions provided by my Office on these 2 matters. These Legal Opinions are not subject to solicitor/client privilege.

With all due respect to the Office of the Clerk, I do not agree with the actions he took in advising the Head of State to appoint a new Prime Minister.

The Clerk has no legal authority to unilaterally determine that the Office of the Prime Minister is vacated and to advise that a new Prime Minister is to be appointed.

Orator Hotel: Email: reservations@oratorhotel.com

The process is clearly set out in the Constitution and the Clerk’s advice was inconsistent with that process.

The Clerk has already published the letter from Ministry of Finance requesting the return of the vehicles as well as the Speaker’s letter in response to the Ministry of Finance declining to return the vehicles that were allocated to him and the Deputy Speaker.

I have again urged the Speaker to return the vehicles so as to comply with the Public Finance Management (Government Vehicles) Regulations.

As Samoa heads into the General Elections our Office remains committed to protecting the rule of law. We will take enforcement action if necessary but our preference is to encourage voluntary compliance with all our laws.

More details are provided in the Legal Opinions on the QR code below .