Joseph Nobetau

The National Court today noted there are serious issues to be tried and that will need to be tested when the full Judicial Review application is made.

Nobetau believes his termination should be fully tested in court, not for himself, but for all Bougainvilleans.

Retired Col. Thomas Raivet remains acting Chief Secretary, while Nobetau has indicated that an application to stay the effect of his termination will also be pursued in court.

President and chairman of the BEC, Dr John Momis, announced the decision following the conclusion of the special BEC meeting on Friday, August 23^rd.

He said the decision to terminate Nobetau was made in the best interest of Bougainville’s unity as the people move closer to the conduct of the referendum in three months’ time.

The BEC earlier referred Nobetau to the Bougainville Senior Appointments Committee (BSAC) on allegations of incompetence and insubordination.

The five-point petition alleges malpractice within the ABG and calls for immediate investigations as well as sidelining of government officials, among them, President John Momis and Nobetau.

For the ABG Chief Secretary, the petition calls for an investigation into Nobetau’s alleged involvement in the awarding of citizenship to Djoko Tjandra.

The petition by services providers and ex-combatants was delivered on December 3^rd alleging malpractices in the ABG, claiming there is incompetency, corruption and a system of favouritism.

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.

In a year in review statement he said the past year has been a challenging one for the Autonomous region. 

“The fact is that the ABG faces systemic constraints that impact on our capacity to deliver on key aspects of the Bougainville Peace Agreement. 

“While some of these challenges are of our own making, the reality is that the fiscal environment that we face means that our ability to reach fiscal self-reliance is significantly constrained,” said Nobetau.

He said despite these constraints, the Autonomous region of Bougainville Government has made some good gains.

Nobetau formally assumed his duties as the ABG’s Chief Secretary this week.

“I recognise that this will be no easy task and given the ongoing fiscal and capacity constraints acknowledge that much work needs to be done.

“As Chief Secretary my sole priority is to build the capacity of the Public Service so that we can deliver on the expectations of the government and the people,” said Nobetau.

Over the coming weeks the new Chief Secretary will be meeting with Departmental Heads to discuss some of the key challenges that the government faces.