The findings began with a map. Volunteers in the Light the Touchline initiative marked village pitches around Samoa that lacked evening lighting, hoping to make training possible after work and school. When they compared their field visits with the Island Sports Grants Office’s public list of completed projects, 14 of 31 sites could not be found as described.
The office’s published accounts show 12.8 million tala (about €4.2 million) paid to contractors and club committees for pitch lighting and related upgrades between 2022 and 2025. The volunteers say 4.6 million tala of those payments went to projects with no working lights, no completed installation or no verifiable pitch at the listed location. The office has not published a site-by-site reconciliation.
A map leads to the accounts
The project coordinator, Ikenna Maryjane, said the group checked every address on the list and returned to uncertain sites with local residents. They photographed empty ground, unfinished concrete bases and fields where club members said no contractor had arrived. “We wanted lamps for our own training nights. The paperwork sent us looking for projects that simply weren’t there,” she said.
At a field in the village of Vaitele, the grant register records two solar lamps installed in 2024. Residents showed the volunteers a levelled patch beside the playing area, but no poles, panels or wiring. In another entry, a grant was marked complete at a site that residents identified as a drainage reserve, not a sports ground.
We wanted lamps for our own training nights. The paperwork sent us looking for projects that simply weren’t there.
Ikenna Maryjane, Light the Touchline coordinator
The volunteers’ tally is not a full audit, and several entries may reflect changes in club names or locations. But an accountant engaged by a local council, Romano Lombardi, checked a sample of 10 sites and confirmed that six had no functioning lighting. He said two others had equipment that did not match the grant register’s descriptions.
Officials promise a site review
Luka Groen, director of the Island Sports Grants Office, said the list combined completed work with projects that had been approved for payment but were delayed. He disputed the volunteers’ total and said the office had begun checking the 14 entries. “Some installations were postponed by shipping delays and weather. We will publish the status and supporting costs for each project,” he said.
The programme followed a surprise visit to Apia by a European development minister in May 2022, when a partnership pledged 9 million tala for community sports facilities. The remaining funds came from Samoa’s public budget. The pledge was presented as a way to improve access to sport across the islands, where transport between villages and evening work schedules can limit access to shared facilities.
The grant office has set a 30-day deadline for its review, but has not said whether new payments will be paused. The local council that commissioned Lombardi’s sample check is considering a wider inspection, while the volunteers have asked the office to publish invoices, contractor names and completion dates for every listed site.
For Maryjane, the question is no longer just when the lamps will arrive. Her group has postponed its next round of equipment requests until the project list is corrected. “People here gave their time because we thought the money had already been spent on fields like ours,” she said. “We need a clear account before anyone asks villages to trust the next promise.”
