Autonomous Bougainville Government

He made the commitment during the closing of the Joint Supervisory Body meeting in Port Moresby on Friday (Dec 15).

The conclusion of the JSB meeting began with ironing of technical agreements, which then led to a negotiation scenario.

After two hours and with both sides satisfied, binding documents were signed.

Later in a joint media conference, PM O’Neill announced that at the heart of the meeting was the referendum agenda, particularly the setting up of the referendum transitional committee.

ABG President Dr John Momis, in a special parliament convened last week to discuss the JSB, said some of the agendas are outstanding from previous meetings while others are focused on the referendum preparations.

The referendum preparations will be a dominant issue of discussion in the JSB and with the recent formation of the Bougainville Referendum Commission, there is an urgency to operationalise it.

Speaking at the recent summit closing, Chief Secretary Joseph Nobetau acknowledged the creative and innovative presentations and contributions made and proposed the next steps that the ABG will focus on.

The Chief Secretary then presented a range of initiatives based on Summit presentations and discussions. These include:

Bougainville’s Regional Member, Joe Lera, says to prepare and to fulfil the three conditions of the Bougainville Peace Agreement, the government and all leaders concerned must unite and work with the people.

He appreciates the new structure of the community governments by the Autonomous Bougainville Government and says this is the way forward for Bougainville.

“For decades we have overseen the potential and contributions that our community leaders can make towards the building of our province and country as a whole,” said Lera.

The library is part of the Autonomous Bougainville Government’s (ABG) Education Infrastructure Project Rollout. It was funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT) and project managed by Digicel PNG Foundation.

Built at a cost of K165,000, the library comes fully-kitted with desks, chairs, book shelves, air conditioning, connection to the main power grid as well as five desktop computers for electronic cataloguing and students’ use.

From January right through to September, landlords say they have not received any payment.

Spokesperson for the group of landlords, Clement Omi, said a letter of demand has already been handed over to the relevant authorities.

“It is with great concern that we are now making the call on the ABG to pay up outstanding rentals that they owe us,” Omi said. 

“Failure to do so will force us to move tenants out of the premises, more particularly the departments that are renting from us.”

First secretary to the ABG President’s office, Pajomile Minaka, relayed this after queried by Loop PNG as to why the ABG didn’t have an opposition within it.

He said the Autonomous Region of Bougainville was a special case because it is emerging from a crisis situation, thus it needs to be dealt with sensitively.

“Bougainville is still recovering from a crisis situation, however we hope to establish an opposition in the 4^th House,” said Minaka.

All these efforts will go towards developing Bougainville’s Strategic Development Plan.

This plan will be the blueprint for future development in priority areas that will be identified through the consultations.

Chief Secretary to the Autonomous Bougainville Government, Joseph Nobetau, says the consultations are important as they will capture the needs of the people and enable ABG to develop a strategic plan that promotes inclusiveness at all levels of the community.

The consultations in Buin have already begun, with Port Moresby to follow suit.

Joe Lera, the sitting MP, as well as Kapeatu Puaria and Jimmy Mose are the only three candidates from the 2012 elections to vie for the seat again.

Puaria finished fourth while Mose finished 11^th out of 13 candidates.

The runners up to Lera in 2012, Ishmael Toroama (2^nd) and Fidelis Semoso (3^rd), have not nominated to contest, as well as 10 others.

PNGRC Commissioner, Gari Baki is currently in Bougainville to undertake discussions as part of the ABG-New Zealand Community Policing Project and also to launch the election operations of the Bougainville Police Service.

The Commissioner met with ABG President John Momis to discuss important law and order issues on Bougainville.

President Momis raised the issue of police visibility in Bougainville as a deterrent to crime and what ways to further empower the Bougainville Police Service.