NEW DAWN ON BOUGAINVILLE

080820TOKURA APPEALS TO PEOPLE NOT TO PANIC
NEW DAWN FM NEWS
The State of Emergency Controller on Bougainville, Deputy Commissioner Police and chief of Bougainville Service, FRANCIS TOKURA has appealed to the people of Bougainville to remain calm and stay at home at this time.
He made this appeal live on New Dawn FM today after Port Moresby reported last night that out of the 25 cases announced 24 were from NCD and one was from Bougainville.
And this has brought the total of cases reported in PNG to 188 and 3 deaths.
According to the Controller, the person travelled to Bougainville from Port Moresby and by now should be at his home in Central Bougainville.
He said because the Covid-19 response team is carrying out contact tracing there will not be any movement of people between the towns of Buka, Arawa and Buin for the next few days.
The controller said that the election campaign will continue as this one case should not disturb the election process.
MR TOKURA said his team were trying their best to make sure no-more case is detected on Bougainville.
Earlier, the ABG member for Tsitalato and Presidential candidate, FIDELIS SEMOSO and JAMES TANIS also appealed to the people for calm on New Dawn FM.
DR JOE VILOSI from the Arawa Hospital also called and said that he was disappointed to hear this news and called on the Covid 19 secretariat to beef its activity of monitoring the movement of people into Bougainville.
Some came to the radio station from as far as Arawa and wanted to confirm the story.
MR. SEMOSO wanted all gatherings and campaigns in Tsitalato to stop immediately.
He questioned why the Covid 19 response and the surveillance team at the Buka airport allowed this one to pass through without detection.
ENDS

140820 STATE OF EMERGENCY SUPPLENTARY ORDER ELEVEN OUT
NEW DAWN FM NEWS

The Bougainville State of Emergency controller and chief of Bougainville Police Service, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER POLICE, FRANCIS TOKURA this afternoon issued Supplementary Order Eleven to be actioned or implemented immediately.
Supplementary Order 8 has been revoked and Supplementary Order 9 reviewed and the following orders takes effect immediately.
A) It is now compulsory that all intending travellers into Bougainville who show and are confirmed by a medical practitioner to have influenza like illness and severe acute respiratory infection shall undergo a Genexpert or Polymerase chain reaction test, 48 hours to 72 hours before departing their port of origin.
B) It is compulsory that all intending travellers into Bougainville are to obtain a quarantine medical clearance certificate 48 to 72 hours before departing their port of origin.
C) The quarantine medical clearance certificate shall be surrendered upon check in time, with the airline carrier, with an approval letter from the Bougainville State of Emergency Controller.
D) A passenger who fails to produce these mandatory documents be immediately denied check-in and boarding.
E) Travellers will undergo a mandatory clinical/medical examination and sample collection at the port of arrival.

All travellers arriving in Buka will undergo 14 days quarantine period at their own costs.
And all international travellers are required to undergo a full 14 days quarantine at a designated hotel in Port Moresby.

And a valid medical clearance certificate shall be produced upon entry into Bougainville.

And an airline operator shall operate a weekly, regular passenger transport into Buka airport. ENDS

140820 NEW STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED FOR BOUGAINVILLE
NEW DAWN FM NEWS

A new State of Emergency has been declared for Bougainville starting midnight tonight as the extended State of Emergency will lapse at midnight tonight.
This was not announced by the State of Emergency controller, FRANCIS TOKURA this afternoon because this new order will have to be gazetted.
According to the Bougainville constitution, section 198 on State of Emergency the President and BEC can declare a State of emergency for 21 days but to call for an extension only Parliament can approve the extension therefore because the Bougainville Parliament will sit after the new members are sworn in September this year.
The President and his caretaker BEC had to approve the new State of Emergency to allow some order during this Election in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic.
In the absence of the State of Emergency, Bougainville would have to follow the National pandemic law passed by the National government recently.
The SOE controller will make an official announcement once the SOE is gazetted.

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140820SENIOR MAGISTRATE CLARIFIES ON THE CHANGES MADE TO EXISITNG LAWS.
NEW DAWN FM NEWS
SENIOR Provincial Magistrate in Bougainville Bruce Tasikul said many changes have been made to the laws Bougainvillle is operating under with the increase of penalty provision of these laws.
The magistrate said one of the law amended is the Criminal Code Act that deals with the very serious offence like willful murder, arm robbery and rape.
The amendment of the Criminal Code Act under Section 299(A) was changed and a provision was put in place that if in the event that someone suspects and kills another person of practicing sorcery, court sentence for this crime is Death Penalty.
Mr. Tasikul clarified that death penalty is imposed on this crime because there is no Sorcery Act in place anymore.
Another amendment done to the Criminal Code Act under Section 247(C) is on Aggravated Rape where the provision was put that, in an event someone uses weapons to rape someone or there was a group rape, the penalty for this crime is also death sentence.
Under the amendment of Section 383 (A) if the court finds you guilty of the misappropriation of public funds, penalty provision of this crime is 50 years’ imprisonment.
The magistrate stated that the new amendments were done to these criminal codes because people tend to commit these offenses and get away with less penalties.
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140820DISTRICT COURT OPEN BUT NOT TAKING NEW COMPLAINTS SAYS TASIKUL.
NEW DAWN FM NEWS
THE Senior Provincial Magistrate in Bougainville Bruce Tasikul says with the lock down because of the new cases of COVID-19 in the region, the District Court is still open but not taking in new complaints.
The magistrate said the District Court still continues to hear cases because the cases have been adjourned previously as stopping will only create backlog.
Mr. Tasikul is appealing to people who have court hearings next week to turn up in court except that the court will not open its counter until after two weeks.
He said after the lock down period lapse, the court will resume its normal operations.
Mr. Tasikul said with the COVID-19 pandemic, the court house has put in place strict rules and urged that everyone take heed of these preventive measures seriously and observe the SOE orders to prevent the spread of the COVID-19.
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130820TEAM C-122 CONTINUES POLLING WITH A SMALL CROWD
NEW DAWN FM NEWS...
THE C-122 polling team for the Buin Urban Community continued polling with a small number of voters at the Buin town stage today.
The team held its first polling at Buin Hospital were only a total of 157 voters attended yesterday.
According to the tally presented by one of the officials, out of the 157 voters 77 were female and 80 were male.
As the polling continues today, not many voters presented at the polling centre that there was hardly a queue created.
The Team will continue polling at Buin Secondary School tomorrow.
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130820MANU URGED EVERYONE TO RESPECT ELECTION PROCESS.
NEW DAWN FM NEWS
The Bougainville Electoral Commissioner George Manu has called on all the candidates, supporters and scrutineers to respect the process of the election.
The commissioner urged that all candidates, supporters and scrutineers do not try to influence voters as these are the things that will negatively affect the credibility of the election.
Mr. Manu said the world is watching Bougainville and a free and fair election will be determined by the reports of the observers and media.
He asked that the process of the election is respected by everyone so that voters can cast their votes knowing that their votes will be secret and secure at the polling stations, during the transport of ballot boxes and at the counting centres.
Mr. Manu said this is the key to a credible election where voters will vote freely and fairly.
Meanwhile, a supplementary roll has been distributed throughout Bougainville today for voters who have not located their names on the electoral roll.
However, Mr. Manu clarified that only those eligible voters on the roll will be allowed to cast their votes.
Mr. Manu said people whose names are not on the roll will not be allowed to use provisional vote similar to what was offered during the referendum.
He clarified that the referendum was conducted under another law which calls for provisional vote to be taken if the voter does not find his/her name on the roll.
Mr. Manu clarified that this election is governed by the Bougainville Election Act meaning any procedure that is used should be under this Act, therefore people who do not find their name on the roll will not be allowed to vote.
Mr. Manu said the issue of people not locating their names on the roll would not have occurred if all voters have made it their business to go and enroll.
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1308820MANU SAYS POLLING STARTED WELL YESTERDAY.
NEW DAWN FM NEWS
The Bougainville Electoral Commissioner George Manu says that polling throughout Bougainville started off well yesterday despite some logistical and administrative issues.
The OBEC Commissioner said from reports received from Returning Officers, polling in the six provinces of East New Britain, West New Britain, Morobe, Madang, Eastern Highlands and NCD for Bougainvilleans residing in those provinces has also started well.
Polling for Bougainvilleans Inside Bougainville (BIBS) will open next week Tuesday 18th August, 2020 and will close on Tuesday 25th August, 2020.
This will allow eligible Bougainvillean voters who have enrolled to vote but are outside of their constituencies.
Mr. Manu said BIBs polling will strictly be conducted in the three regional centres only.
BIBs polling in North Bougainville will be conducted in Buka at Bel Isi Park, for Central Bougainville polling will be held in Arawa at the OBEC regional office and in South Bougainville polling will be conducted in Buin at the main stage in Buin town.
Mr. Manu said there have been a lot of complaints received from people regarding the conduct of this election but he wants to assure everyone that OBEC is trying its best to ensure this election is conducted successfully.
He encouraged all eligible voters to consult the polling schedules and go and cast their votes.
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130820 SIX LOCAL AND THREE INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS WILL OBSERVE THE ABG 2020 ELECTIONS
NEW DAWN FM NEWS

Six local and three International observers will observe the 2020 ABG election.
They are, HAKU WOMENS COLLECTIVE, BOUGAINVILLE WOMEN S FEDERATION, DEPARTMENT OF POST REFERENDUM CONSULTATION AND DIALOGUE, BOUGAINVILLE TRANSITIONAL DIALOGUE, CALLAN SERVICES BOUGAINVILLE and the NATIONAL CORDINATION OFFICE OF BOUGAINVILLE AFFAIRS(NCOBA).
The three International groups are, AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSION, INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ELECTORAL SYSTEMS and the US EMBASSY.
This was also revealed by the Bougainville Electoral Commissioner, GEORGE MANU in his Election update with the Bougainville media.
He commended all Independent Observer Groups who have shown their interest in applying to observe the 2020 Bougainville Election.
MR. MANU said that your role as observers plays a critical role in the democratic electoral process when it comes to observing the polling and counting according to international standard of free and fair.

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120820 CHINESE BUSINESSMAN FINED FORTY THOUSAND KINA BY THE BUKA DISTRICT COURT.

NEW DAWN FM NEWS

A Buka based Chinese Businessman, WEN QING CHEN has been fined FORTY THOUSAND KINA by the Buka District Court for four counts of charges of secretly purchasing BECH DE MER from local fisherman when the harvesting of BECH DE MER is banned by the National Fisheries office.
Harvesting will be opened at the end of this month.
According to court documents, WEN QING CHEN, 53 years old from FUJI, China pleaded guilty to four charges and was convicted on July 27th, 2020.
His first charge was that between 13th May 2020 and 16th May 2020 at Happy sound, Ieta village stored 194.12 Kg of dried BECH DE MER when the ban is still on.
Again his second charge at around the same time he was caught processing dried Bech De Mer.
Third charge was that between May 13th he engaged MR .JETHRO TUILANI to fish Bech de mer and the fourth was for him to buy bech de mer from fishermen.
Provincial Magistrate, BRUCE TASIKUL fined him TEN THOUSAND KINA each for the four charges and if he does not pay will serve two years in jail.
Magistrate TASIKUL said that the fine for this incident is a fine of FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINA but reduced the charge considering his first time incident and pleading guilty and is married to a Bougainvillean with four children.

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