Media Statement from Office of the President: Termination of Mr. Joseph Nobetau as Chief Secretary
The Bougainville Executive Council (BEC) today terminated Mr. Joseph Noebtau’s employment contract as Chief Secretary and directed the immediate calculation and payment of the balance of his employment entitlements to him.
This announcement was made by the President and Chairman of the BEC, Honorable Chief Dr John Momis, at the conclusion of the special BEC meeting this afternoon. The decision to terminate Mr. Nobetau was made ‘in the interest of Bougainville’s unity’ as the people move closer to the conduct of the referendum in three months’ time.
The relationship between the Chief Secretary and the BEC has been an issue for a long while and came to head when BEC referred Mr. Nobetau to the Bougainville Senior Appointments Committee (BSAC) on allegations of incompetence and insubordination. Whilst the BSAC did clear the Senior Officer of the allegations, it also recognized the untenable working relationship between the BEC and its Chief Advisor, basically telling the BEC to deal with the matter. Despite efforts by the BEC to mend the relationship, and even reconciling with the Chief Secretary, there has been no marked improvement.
“Although Mr. Nobetau has done some good work in terms of minimizing corruption in the Bougainville Public Service, he has miserably failed in all other aspects of whole of government policy implementation”, Momis said.
The BEC has appointed the Deputy Chief Secretary (Policy & Strategic Planning) Col (Rtd) Thomas Raivet as Acting Chief Secretary while arrangements are being made to advertise the position. This Acting Appointment is effective forthwith and will be in force until a permanent Chief Secretary is appointed through the normal recruitment and selection process for Heads of Departments of the Bougainville Public Service.
Authorized by:
Honorable Chief Dr John Momis, GCL. MHR
President, Autonomous Bougainville Government
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