Veteran Member of Parliament Tea To’oala Peato has been appointed to Cabinet at the age of 87, marking another chapter in a political career stretching back more than four decades to one of Samoa’s earlier eras of parliamentary politics.
The Government announced on Tuesday, 18 August 2026, that Prime Minister La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Fosi Schmidt had advised the Head of State, Afioga Tuimaleali’ifano Va’aletoa Sualauvi II, to appoint Tea as a Cabinet Minister.
Under the Ministerial and Departmental Arrangements Act 2003, Tea has been appointed Minister responsible for the Legislative Assembly and the Office of the Ombudsman.
Before his elevation to Cabinet, Tea was serving as Associate Minister of Lands and Survey, supporting Minister Foisa Lilo Tu’u Ioane.
Tea currently represents Fa’asaleleaga No. 4, but his parliamentary history reaches back to 1982, when he was first elected to the Legislative Assembly representing Fa’asaleleaga No. 3. He was re-elected in 1985 before losing the seat at the 1988 general election.
His first term came during a very different period in Samoa’s political history. Tupuola Efi was Prime Minister during part of 1982, a year which saw major shifts in political leadership before the Human Rights Protection Party became the dominant force in Samoan politics. Samoa Parliament records list Tupuola Efi as Prime Minister from 1976 to 1982 and again during 1982.
After a period outside Parliament, Tea returned at the 1996 general election as a member of the Samoa National Development Party, or SNDP, representing Fa’asaleleaga No. 3.
At the time, the SNDP was Samoa’s main opposition party and was headed by former Prime Minister Tupuola Efi, while the Government was led by Prime Minister Tofilau Eti Alesana and the HRPP. Tea served during that parliamentary term until 2001.
The SNDP connection places Tea among a generation of politicians whose careers stretch back to the political contests involving figures such as Tupuola Efi, Tofilau Eti Alesana and Va’ai Kolone, decades before the formation of the FAST Party.
Tea later attempted a return to Parliament in 2016 but was unsuccessful. Five years later, he contested the 2021 general election under the Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi banner and won Fa’asaleleaga No. 4, returning to Parliament roughly two decades after his previous term. He subsequently served as an Associate Minister during the 2021–2025 parliamentary term.
He retained a seat in Parliament following the 2025 general election and continued representing Fa’asaleleaga No. 4.
His appointment to Cabinet in 2026 means Tea’s political journey now spans approximately 44 years from his first election to Parliament in 1982.
While his parliamentary service has not been continuous, few sitting MPs can point to a political career connecting so many different periods of Samoa’s modern political history — from the parliamentary battles of the early 1980s, through the SNDP opposition years of the 1990s, to the rise of FAST and the current Government.
At 87, Tea is now taking on one of the most senior responsibilities of his career as a member of Cabinet.
This story is based on an official release issued by the Government of Samoa Office of the Press Secretariat on 18 August 2026, with historical information drawn from parliamentary and election records.
