Land is a key factor in all sectors of development in Bougainville.
Autonomous Bougainville Government President, Ishmael Toroama, made this statement during the swearing in of the new Minister for Lands, Physical Planning, Environment and Conservation, Amanda Masono.
He also took the time to acknowledge the outgoing Minister and Member for Hagogohe Constituency, Robert Hamas Sawa, for his services during his term as Minister for Lands.
“In the last twenty-four months, Hon. Sawa played an important role in leading the department. His noteworthy contributions include the drawdown of the administrative powers and functions for the creation of our Land Board and continuing the development of Bougainville’s Lands Act,” President Toroama said.
He reiterated that land is a valuable asset, and encouraged all Bougainvilleans to trust the government and adopt a progressive mindset to ensure tangible development is felt and seen by the people.
“The sanctity of land to our people is so sacred that it drove us to start a revolution to protect our lands and defend our rights as indigenous custodians of our land,” he stated.
“Regrettably, this experience has conditioned us to be suspicious of development in all forms that requires the use of land.
“My encouragement to our people is that for tangible development to manifest, people have to adopt a progressive mindset. They have to learn to trust the government and its decisions on developing land and introducing new concepts to improve our socio-economic capacity.
“We cannot complain about lack of services and financial capacity when we become impediments to development.”
(A dawn service at the defunct Panguna mine, which was part of the Guava Mass Reconciliation program in July 2022)