Dear Editor,

Re: A timely letter from the Past 

Surely the payment for being in a transit country for more than 8 hours is for the purpose of organising a motel or a hotel to stay in whilst waiting for a delayed or a rescheduled flight? 

If you pay this in Samoan tala, the amount in euros or yen or pounds that would convert to would be enough for the poor public servant (who gets paid peanuts by world standards) to sleep in a bus shelter.

I agree with the overall gist of the letter though. 

Cut down the unnecessary travel to waste of time conferences that really don’t add much to Samoa’s economy. 

A sacked former C.E.O travelled over to Africa to “observe” an election. Why would you travel to bloody Africa to observe an election? 

What a waste of money. 

If the O.E.C doesn’t know how to run elections by now then there is no hope. 

PS Jeffrey