Bougainville

Another constituency referendum-ready

As Bougainville approaches the targeted year to conduct its Referendum, constituencies in Bougainville were delayed against time to fulfil resolution number 5 of 2016 that was passed in the Bougainville House of Representative. This was for all constituencies to be declared referendum-ready by 31st of December, 2018.

Terra was one of the two Constituencies in Wakunai District of Central Bougainville that witnessed the official declaration on the 26th of December, 2018.

ABG officers dismissed over alleged fraud

Chief Secretary to the Autonomous Bougainville Government, Joseph Nobetau, announced that a further two officers employed by the Department of Community Government have been dismissed due to their alleged involvement in gross misconduct, theft and fraud.

The officers were found to have allegedly misused funds that had been allocated by the Autonomous Bougainville Government to assist with the funeral expenses of the late Premier, Leo Hannet, last year.

Peace, unity campaign for B’villeans

The first part of the campaign commenced on Tuesday, 9th July, in the Diocese with a peace educator media training that ran for two days.

“The purpose of the program is to educate the general public of Bougainville to know about their voting rights and to accept responsibility for the outcome of the Referendum peacefully,” said Marie Mondu, Development Secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference and facilitator of the program.

B’villean voters in POM to register this Saturday

The Electoral Commission, in collaboration with the Port Moresby Bougainville Association, will be conducting registration and enrolment of eligible voters on Saturday.

All eligible Bougainvilleans living outside Bougainville are urged to come forward and register between 8am to 4pm.

NCD election manager Terrence Hetinu will be in charge and registration may be extended to ensure all eligible Bougainville voters are given the opportunity to register.

2019 Bougainville audience study

An online survey was launched on February 24th and publicized through social media to get a wider reach of Bougainvilleans living outside the region.

The online survey is focused on understanding how people living outside the region are getting information about ABG and the upcoming referendum.

ABG Director of Media and Communications, Adriana Schmidt, said good awareness is key to keeping people informed and confident about what is happening to decide Bougainville’s future political status.

Public servants dismissed over alleged fraud

The last three months has seen the dismissal of several members of the Bougainville Public Service after an audit of the payroll system found members of the ABG’s Department of Personnel Management had been allegedly defrauding the public purse in excess of K360,000.

Furthermore, other officials from the ABG Department of Community Government were implicated in another scandal where K2 million of the Disaster Trust Fund account was allegedly misappropriated, resulted in the sacking of the Secretary of the department.

Polio campaign launched in ARoB

Secretary of the Health Department in the Autonomous Bougainville Government, Clement Totavun, said the polio campaign will target an estimated 116,000 children in Bougainville, starting from the age of 15 down to newborn babies.

He said the campaign has started already in parts of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, particularly in South Bougainville.

“The intensive campaign will run for about two weeks until the 21st of October,” Totavun stated.

“180 health workers will be engaged in about 80 polio clinic sites set up across the Island.”

B’ville youth forum underway

The event started yesterday (August 18th) and will end on the 24th.

It coincides with the annual International Youth Day which falls on the 19th of August. 

It will feature various issues relating to the current peace building efforts and the Referendum Process.

The Forum with the theme “Safe space for youth and opportunities for participation in decision-making within peace building and the referendum process” is supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Second autonomy review underway

ABG Chief Secretary, Joseph Nobetau, said the review was the second since the formation of the Autonomous Bougainville Government, and would look at autonomy implementation from both sides of the government.

“The Review Team have provided their work plans to myself and National Government Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari, and will soon travel to Bougainville to undertake consultations,” Nobetau said.

“We look forward to a review with practical outcomes that set out the way forward for autonomy and the referendum.

Grants for B’ville communities

The grants will fund water and sanitation, road, child counselling and farming projects based in Central and South Bougainville.

Grants up to K100,000 each were signed on Friday in Arawa and given to nine communities based in Central and South Bougainville, including Bana, Buin, Kieta, Siwai, Panguna and Torokina.

The projects are supported through Bougainville Community Grants scheme, a partnership between the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and Australia.