Overview:
Samoa’s Minister of Revenue has come under scrutiny after threatening to revoke the Samoa Observer’s business licence during a parliamentary budget debate. The remarks, directed at the country’s leading independent newspaper, have raised concerns about press freedom and government relations with the media.
APIA, 25 JUNE 2026 (SAMOA OBSERVER) —Samoa Minister of Revenue and Member of Parliament for Vaimauga No. 1, Pauga Talalelei Pauga, threatened to revoke the Samoa Observer’s business licence during Parliament on Wednesday.
Pauga made the threat while speaking on business licences in his budget address, saying the Ministry of Revenue is responsible for issuing them and that businesses must comply with the laws administered by the Ministry in order to continue operating.
“We issue licences, but there are businesses that are not abiding by the laws of the Ministry of Revenue,” Pauga said.
“For us to issue a licence, businesses need to comply with the laws for them to carry out their work.”
He referred to a recent case in which a business licence was cancelled after the business was “caught selling ice”, or methamphetamine.
Pauga then turned his attention to the Samoa Observer.
“We are looking at the company Samoa Observer,” he said.
“There are a lot of publications that I have recorded that are incorrect and biased,” he said.
He added that the Ministry was looking at whether the company “should continue’, before saying the Ministry of Revenue would issue the cancellation of the business licence, with the Minister of Finance, Mulipola Anarosa Ale-Molioo, signing it off.
“Listen here, Samoa Observer, stop writing irrelevant and false news,” Pauga told Parliament.
Speaker of the House Auapaau Aloitafua Mulipola cut in and stopped Pauga, saying the Samoa Observer was not present in Parliament and could not respond to comments made in the chamber.
He then told Pauga to refrain from continuing his remarks about the newspaper…. PACNEWS
