Momis pays tribute to Somare
PNG’s first Prime Minister and Father of the Nation Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare has been hailed as an iconic individual who was a trailblazer.
Fellow founding Father and Chief Architect of the PNG Constitution and President of the Autonomous Bougainville Chief Dr John Momis made this statement while paying tribute to Sir Michael.
Sir Michael Somare was in Bougainville this week on invitation by the ABG as a chance for the people of Bougainville to farewell and give thanks to the great man.
“Michael Thomas Somare is a charismatic man who was courageous enough to accept the mantle of leadership when he became Chief Minister and then Prime Minister at the dawn of independence,” Momis said.
“Bougainville has always shared a close relationship with this man. Since before independence you were with us rught up to finding a peaceful solution on Bougainville.” Momis said.
“Our gratitude to you not only lies in the fact that you led PNG to independence but also because of your close relations with the late Sir Paul Lapun and the Late Sir Donatus Mola,” Momis said.
Both Bougainvillean knights were senior members of the first Somare Cabinet with Sir Paul Lapun who was the Pangu Pati Leader receiving the knighthood as the first knight of PNG.
“Sir Michael has been highly favoured by God to lead Papua New Guinea and I am privileged to know him professionally as well as personally,” President Momis said.
President Momis is one of the few people in the country who have shared a very close relationship with the Grand Chief.
Momis was appointed by Somare as the De Facto Chairman of the Constitutional Planning Committee in 1973 which for the next two years developed the PNG “Mama Lo”.
Momis said that Somare’s leadership is yet to be matched by and emulated by our current breed of politicians.
He exercised his role as a true politician – guided by his faith and embracing his role as a vocation, he ventured into the unknown responding to a call without fear.
President Momis also paid tribute to Lady Veronica Somare for supporting her husband throughout Sir Michael’s political career.
This is the first time the Grand Chief has visited Bougainville as a private citizen. It featured no political rhetoric nor did it have any political intention, it was simply an opportunity for Bougainville to farewell the great man.
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