Sunday 6 June 2021 Apia Samoa. Police Commissioner Su’a Fuiavailiili Egon Keil says he is awaiting a decision in regards to a Cabinet submission requesting the renewal of Deputy Commissioner Papalii Monalisa Tiai-Keti’s contract.
“I can’t really comment on contract renewals since I should be receiving confirmation tomorrow (Monday)”.
“But we have made a submission to Cabinet to renew Papalii’s contract for an additional three years,” said Su’a.
Su’a commended Samoa’s first woman Deputy Commissioner for her leadership and representation of women in the Police force.
“She has done an outstanding job for the last three years.”
“I am very proud of her accomplishments. She has paved the way for women in leadership positions within law enforcement for Samoa and the Pacific,” added Su’a.
Papalii Monalisa Tiai-Keti has a bachelor and masters degree, and is in the final stages of achieving a law degree. She joined the Ministry of Police in 2004 after returning home to Samoa as a graduate. She took the road less traveled and joined the Samoa Police Service at a time when no returning graduate would think of it.
In a presentation to mark International Women’s Day this year, Papalii shared how she was thrown into the deep end, and placed in difficult roles without support in the hope that she would give up.
“They made me direct traffic on the road, and then watched to see if I would survive under pressure..” she recalls.
“Instead I learnt a lot from the experiences..”
This motivated Papalii to apply to a detective course being offered at the time, where she was ranked 3rd out of only 15 who passed out of 21 candidates.
“We could hear the perception about us returning scholars… that the only thing we were good for was to sit in the air conditioned rooms”, said Papalii.
“Ia sa iai foi le tulaga lena o tala feavea’i e faapea…ia na’o le pau lava lena o le mea e lelei ai le vaega lea omai mai fafo, na’o le omai lava e faamalulu i le ea malulu, e leiloa fai le galuega faaleoleo. O faamatalaga uma na na mafua ai ona ou apalai i le detective course lea…”
Papalii then worked her way through the ranks over the years, to become Samoa’s first woman Deputy Commissioner of Police, selected by Su’a Fuiavailiili three years ago.
