News and Public Notices

Mr Speaker I rise today within the chambers of this August house to share with its honorable members the current state of affairs of the Autonomous Bougainville Government.

Mr Speaker, next month in September will be the first anniversary of my Presidency and the fourth Bougainville House of Representatives. Upon assuming the Presidency last year, I declared that my government would introduce reforms that will bring about change and promote transparency, accountability and good governance on Bougainville. I also introduced my Six Point Strategy as the guiding principles to facilitate these reforms through; Political Control, Economic Control, Administrative Control, Mobilizing Private Sector and Civil Society, Long Term Vision and Planning and International Relations.

Ultimately these reforms under the Six Point Strategy will pave the way for progress and development that complements our political aspirations for an independent Bougainville. In light of our independence preparations, our political aspirations require a holistic approach to achieving independence. All manner of progress at the socioeconomic levels must be on par with the progress we achieve at the political level.

Mr Speaker, in the last eleven months I have travelled the length and breadth of Bougainville to launch the Constituency Independence Readiness Mission Implementation initiative for most of our thirty-three constituencies. My expectations of the constituencies are simple, they must;

1. Unite
Unity is a key factor to our independence aspirations. We must start thinking beyond our segregated mind sets and look at building positive relationships that will benefit our people and our government. We all have a shared commitment to maintaining peace and unity on Bougainville so let’s put aside our differences and work together.

2. Work hard
We must have a sense of duty to creating an industrious Bougainville society. Our independence preparations call for hard work at the government and community levels. Hard work entails creating innovative means to improving our livelihood and promoting socioeconomic growth throughout Bougainville.

3. Support the government
The government has set a course for change to prepare for independence. As such our people must be ready to accept these changes and support the government.  We must support the government by implementing its policies on economic development, upholding law and order in our communities and provide a unified front as we negotiate our political independence.

 

These launches presented an opportunity for the government to directly engage with our people at the constituency and community levels. We witnessed their challenges and hardships in their communities but we also saw their resilience and their optimism for a better future in an independent Bougainville. Their unwavering resolve should serve as an inspiration to the members of this honorable house.

Mr Speaker our position on Independence and the approval of the timeline for our political settlement (not before 2025 and no later than 2027) at the consultations places us at a very crucial point in our history. In no uncertain terms, we have declared to the National Government and the international community that Bougainville will pursue attaining full sovereign powers and Independence from PNG.

These two milestones are the culmination of other preparatory activities that my government has undertaken and completed in the last eleven months. These are;

• Signing of the Joint Communique
• Signing of the Sharp Memorial Agreement (dispensation of drawdown requirements)
• Constituency Independence Readiness Mission initiative (33 Constituencies Launched)
• Progression of outstanding JSB Agendas (Economical and Autonomous Arrangements)
• Commencement of the first Joint Referendum.
• Continuation of drawdown of powers and functions.

These achievements are a testament to the 97.7 percent outcome of the Referendum and our aspirations for an independent Bougainville. However, there is still a lot more work to be done and my government will continue to progress our political agenda through continued negotiations in the JSB and JCB with the Government of Papua New Guinea.

Mr Speaker, I must also take this time to thank our Attorney General and Minister for Bougainville Independence Mission and the Member for Tonsu Hon. Ezekiel Massat. His department continues to play a pivotal role in our Independence preparations. Their consolidated efforts along with the Bougainville Independence Mission Advisory Team (BIMAT) and our consultation team has provided foresight and clarity in the interpretation of the Bougainville Peace Agreement and the Joint Consultations with the National Government.

Mr Speaker, the Referendum results has signaled the need to innovate and do things differently. This change must also be seen in the way development partners provide support to Bougainville – more of the same unfortunately will not be good enough for Bougainville.

My government will insist on aid coordination from every development partner to be channeled through the ABG under our Six Point Strategy and Independence Readiness initiative and coordinated under the newly established Bougainville Strategic Research and Planning Secretariat.

As part of our independence preparations my government has placed particular emphasis on building Bougainville’s economic capacity to generate internal revenue. Development aid on Bougainville must now be focused on developing our economic sectors in key areas identified by the ABG to create a fiscally self-reliant Bougainville.

Mr Speaker three months after the formation of government last year we successfully presented the 2021 ABG Budget. The total appropriation for the 2021 Budget amounts to K390 million and is aimed at stimulating economic growth, funding the consultations for independence, infrastructure development and improving law and order. Funding sources for the 2021 Budget are derived from National Government Grants, Re-appropriated funds (also from the GoPNG) and internal revenue. As impressive as it may seem, only K27 million from the 2021 ABG Budget is from internal revenue.

Bougainville further received a K30 million that was remitted to Bougainville by the Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) from Internal Corporate Tax. An additional K5 million was also paid by the National Fisheries Authority from fishing revenue from Bougainville waters. However, there is still the matter of outstanding tax revenues from customs duties and the BCL payments to the IRC that is yet to be resolved.

At this juncture I would like to announce to the House that the government has decided that K20 million of the tax remittance will be used to procure treasury bills from the Bank of Papua New Guinea. This will generate revenue for the ABG over time on an annual basis.

Mr Speaker while we are still on the subject of intergovernmental funding for Bougainville I am putting the Minister for Finance and Treasury and his Secretary on notice. The issue of the outstanding Restoration and Development Grant has gone silent. We are owed in access of K600 million from the RDG as of 2018 and this amount has increased pro rata. I do not want to give the impression that we are begging from the national government but the RDG is a constitutionally guaranteed grant that Bougainville is entitled to.

Mr Speaker, I welcome the Vice President recently declaring Bougainville open for business. With our enormous potential for economic growth we need credible foreign investment to develop our resources and generate revenue in tourism, fisheries, agriculture, forestry and mining to name a few.

The government has met with several interested foreign and domestic investors who have shown a keen interest to invest on Bougainville. These investors are interest in investing in the energy, mineral and agriculture sectors.  I want to assure the people that my government will not politicize any investment on Bougainville but we will let the Bougainville Inward Investment Act of 2018 and the responsible agencies govern and regulate all foreign investments on Bougainville.

Mr Speaker, the last eleven months have seen the government work on formulating a macroeconomic model that will create a stable economic environment that generates revenue, creates employment and establishes fiscal self-reliance on Bougainville. Under this initiative the government has already initiated several high impact economic development projects. I want to urge all economic sector agencies in the ABG to continue to support this new innovative approach to economic revival on Bougainville.

Mr Speaker, service delivery through the health, education and infrastructure sectors are still focal points of development in the ABG. However, government departments are now realigning their priorities to capture the essence of my Six Point Strategy as part of Independence Readiness.

Within the last eleven months several departments have begun work on development programs that articulate the Six Point Strategy and the independence ready initiative. These are;

• Department of Economic Services – Developing high impact projects and formulating macroeconomic plan.
• Department of Law and Justice – Shaping Bougainville Justice Sector Program expansion of the infrastructure and human resource capacity programs.
• Department of Technical Services – Expansion of transport sector programs (sealing and upgrades), introduction of electricity project under a Bougainville utilities company.
• Department of Health – Expansion of programs and continued management of COVID 19 Pandemic.
• Department of Education – Introduction of self-sustaining initiatives for institutions through SME’s, MOU Signing with Vudal University.
• Department of Lands – Drawdown of Lands Powers and Functions from National Government and formation of the Bougainville Lands Board.
• Drawdown of Public Service Powers.
• Environmental Impact Assessment of Panguna by Rio Tinto and BCL.

I expect all Ministers and your departments to start creating innovative means to effect change in your respective areas of responsibility. I make this call also to all the other members of this honorable house. We no longer have the luxury to procrastinate. As we call upon our people to unite and work hard, we must be at the forefront of this charge.

Mr Speaker I must stress again the need for balance in our progress. The political progress made by the government must be equaled by progress in the economic and social sectors.

Mr Speaker at this juncture I would like make mention of the recent tragedies that has befallen this house in the last two months. In late June we lost the Late Hon. Raymond Masono the Member for Atolls and Minister for Health at the time of his death. A month later the new Minister for Health and Member for Nissan Island Hon. Charry Napto was lost at sea.

The search for Minister Napto and the five other persons lost at sea has scaled down. However, we will keep them in our prayers and we will remain optimistic. I thank the Bougainville Disaster Office for coordinating the Search and Rescue Program since the boating mishap occurred off the Nissan Island Coast last month.

Mr Speaker there have been comments and criticisms by citizens and leaders alike on Bougainville pursuing independence. I want to make it clear that Independence is our Right and it is our Destiny!

We earned this right after we sacrificed our blood, sweat and tears in a war against a government that favored oppression instead of protecting the rights and livelihood of its people.

Mr Speaker and the Honorable Members of this house, our struggle for independence is not over so we must never lose hope. Trust our God, trust our people and trust ourselves as leaders who will deliver Bougainville to its ultimate political destiny and that is Independence.

God Bless you all and God Bless Bougainville.

Thank You Mr Speaker.

 

Hon. Ishmael Toroama, MHR

President

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