Samoan PM La'aulialemalietoa Polataivao Leuatea Schmidt Photo: Savali Newspaper / Samoa Government
Samoa's opposition leader claims the Prime Minister is too sick to lead the country and should resign.
Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi hit out at La'aulialemalietoa Polataivao Leuatea Schmidt after he returned from a two month absence in New Zealand.
In September, La'auli was medivacced from Apia to Auckland just days after being sworn in as Samoa's eighth prime minister.
La'auli banned the nation's only newspaper from government access on his return home.
He barred the Samoa Observer from all ministerial press conferences on Monday, just days after returning on a private jet from New Zealand.
He also stopped his Cabinet ministers from talking to the newspaper, following an ugly scene outside his house on Saturday.
Journalists from the Observer and the BBC claim they did not enter the Prime Minister's compound, but were accused of trespassing by his security guards.
Tuilaepa said the incident outside the PM's house and the media ban that ensued were "inappropriate".
"Well it is telling the world, that the present government in Samoa is hiding things that they should have disclosed. It's a govenrment that does not recognise the rule of law," he said.
Tuilaepa claims the government is covering up the true nature of La'auli's illness.
"The rumours are that he should have both legs cut (amputated), he had an accident, a fall, and his legs are absolutely useless, that's what I am told," he said.
Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi (file image) Photo: RNZ Pacific/Tipi Autagavaia
Pacific Waves has attempted to contact the Prime Minister repeatedly for a response.
In a text message on Thursday, La'auli said: "Don't worry about Tuilaepa, I have far more better duties to serve Samoa."
In a social media video message while in Auckland, he said that his leg was injured while campaigning for the election in August, and that the "trip for treatment was long overdue".
He said it was "not something the country should be worried about".
However, Tuilaepa claims that most Samoans know the Prime Minister is unwell.
"It is well known to all Samoans, 100 percent, although those who support the Prime Minister prefer not to know," he said.
"In our constitution, when a prime minister is unable to run the country, he ought to resign. That's where we are now, he is very sick."
Meanwhile, the former Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa believes the media ban was "reactionary".
"I think its an unwise position to take to have a ban, I don't think it serves the government well or the public for that matter. Especially since the Observer is the only print media that we have," Fiame said.
She said the optics for the government are not good.
"We are now getting comments from outside sources condemning the actions taken, so I think the external scrutiny will be there for our government and that's not a good thing."
She believes there was a definite lack of transparency while the Prime Minister was on medical leave.
"I thought the government would have been a lot more 'onto it', and kept the public informed, given the timing of the trip and the length of time he was away," she said.
"I had thought that they had a better media sense, all it really required was for a spokesperson to keep people updated. I mean if he's unwell, he's unwell."
"All they (the PM's team) needed to say was that he had arrived safely, that he needed to rest and that he would meet the media at a designated time."
Fiame admitted that while she had her own squirmishes with the newspaper while Prime Minister, she never sought to ban it.
