Hans Kruse (1964)
The Samoalive personality this week is Hans Kruse, some times referred to by
many as the father of modern economic development planning of Samoa. During the
latter part of the 1960s Hans Kruse under studied the Mr Gerakas in the setting
up of the economic planning systems in Samoa.
As the first local to head the Department of Economic Development, Hans Kruse
oversaw the production of Economic Development Plans for Samoa which guided the
Samoan economy during the 1970s and 1980s. The present Samoa Development
Strategy statement or the recent Statement of Economic Strategy have their
origins from the Economic Development Plans. Hans Kruse with his relatively
small team of local economists and a team of UNDP experts were producing the
original development plans on a five year cycle with detailed investment
programmes. These development plans were mainly used for aid donor
negotiations but were not fully integrated into the management and planning
systems of Government because it took a while for the local capacity to be built
up to make full use of the development planning tools.
Hans Kruse is enjoying retirement now in Apia. However, Hans Kruse has sometimes
wondered that if he had chosen to take up an acting career when he first
acted in the Gary Cooper film "Return to Paradise" he would be somewhere in a
retirement home in Hollywood, USA.
A number of our present community leaders, including the present Prime Minister and the
Deputy Prime Minister have either worked with or have been counseled by Hans
Kruse during his term as Director of Economic Development.
Hans Kruse was and still is an outstanding sports person. He still plays tennis. He
represented Samoa in tennis and rugby in the regional and international
games.
The Samoalive team salutes Han Kruse for his contribution to the present
prosperity of the Samoan economy.