Ale expressed frustration towards Tuila'epa's poor responses to the HRPP's defeat in the 2021 general election to the newly formed Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi party, the disappointing showing at the 2021 by-elections and the failure to win subsequent legal challenges.
Ale has not yet been able to leave the HRPP immediately due to a law passed in early 2021, in which if a member of parliament left their respective party to become an independent, a by-election would take place in their constituency.
He admitted that the HRPP passed the law due to fears that many party caucus members would defect, as deputy prime minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa had done shortly before.
The HRPP leader responded to Ale's comments by urging him to remember how he entered parliament when his predecessor Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi refused to retract his support for a party he was not a member of, triggering a by-election.
[13] On 3 November 2022 Ale and fellow MP Tuu'u Anasi'i Leota resigned from the HRPP to become independents, saying they did not want to remain in a party led by a leader guilty of contempt of court.