The Lolo and Lemanu Administration is transferring the American Samoa Government (ASG) payroll away from Treasury and to the Department of Human Resources. This has been confirmed by government officials who did not want to be named.

The instructions are said to come from Governor Lolo M. Moliga to HR and Treasury and that they have been given 60 days to materialize this move. One of the government officials told Samoa News this should happen by the end of August.

Emails sent to the governor’s Executive Assistant Iulogologo Pereira and Human Resources Director Sonny Thompson were not answered as of press time. However, Samoa News was told by the government officials that “it’s a done deal.”

Samoa News should point out this issue is not something new, as in previous interviews with the late Treasurer Falema’o Phil Pili, on this particular issue, he had told Samoa News that it would be a “bad idea to transfer the payroll under Treasury to HR” but he did not elaborate why.

According to one of the government officials this move was initiated by HR due to the many issues that are occurring from the payroll system, however the late Treasurer did not agree to releasing the payroll to HR at the time.

Acting Treasurer Levi Reese said “this is news to my ears” and then further declined to say anything on the issue.

However, the government official told Samoa News “this move by the governor was due to numerous discrepancies in the payroll system, including the overtime unaccounted for, ASG employees who have passed away yet still remain in the ASG system, causing ghost employees and other issues.”

According to the government official, having the payroll under HR will most “importantly [provide] accurate and reliable processing and reporting of payroll and secure data management and transactions.” The official also noted “that almost everywhere in the world, the payroll system is under HR guidance.”