NEW DAWN ON BOUGAINVILLE

LAST POLLING

200612BUKA POLLS
By Aloysius Laukai

The remaining voters in Buka town, voted today at the Buka Market Polling Booth.
The one-day polling was approved by Bougainville Electoral Manager LEITAMA TARAVARU because heaby dowpour on Tuesday prevented some voters from voting on Tuesday.
Pictured is the Deputy Administrator Policy RAYMOND MASONO'S fingure being painted to vote Voting in the Atolls are yet to be conducted as the chartered boat will arrive tomorrow and pick up polling officials to Tasman,Motlock and Nuguria. Voting in Nissan has been completed.

290612 last change for Buka town
By Aloysius Laukai

Voter who missed out on polling in Buka town, Sohano, Kubu and Hutjena have their final chance tomorrow.

In making the announcement yesterday, Electoral Manager for Bougainville, REITAMA TARAVARU said that he had authorized one more day polling tomorrow at the Buka market,.

He said this was to cover for persons affected by heavy rains on Tuesday and did not cast their votes.

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290612 last change for Buka town
By Aloysius Laukai

Voter who missed out on polling in Buka town, Sohano, Kubu and Hutjena have their final chance tomorrow.

In making the announcement yesterday, Electoral Manager for Bougainville, REITAMA TARAVARU said that he had authorized one more day polling tomorrow at the Buka market,.

He said this was to cover for persons affected by heavy rains on Tuesday and did not cast their votes.

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280612EXTRA POLLING DAY
By Aloysius Laukai

The Bougainville electoral Manager, REITAMA TARAVARU has announced extra polling day in the Tsitalato Constituency due to bad weather during polling day this week.

In making the announcement, he said that due to heavy rain on Tuesday, Polling will be held at Malasang Primary School tomorrow Friday 29th June 2012.

He also announced another polling booth tomorrow at the Bekut Prison for staff and the people there.

And for the people of Buka town, MR. REITAMA has also approved Saturday June 30th as the last day of polling for the people there.

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290612ABG TO MEET GOVT
By Aloysius Laukai

ABG President Chief John Momis intends to meet with the National Government after the elections, to consider establishing a small implementing unit at Waigani to execute the co-operative arrangements between the two governments.
This, he added, would include the setting up of a corresponding unit within the ABG Division of Autonomy or the Chief Administrator’s Office to ensure that matters relating to Autonomy and the Transfer of Functions and Powers do not become enmeshed in the routine bureaucracy.
The President urged that because the process of Autonomy is new to both governments, it is vital that each be mindful to respect all Bougainville Peace Agreement commitments.
“Autonomy is not just a phrase in our daily use. Its core objective is the transfer, of real powers and functions from the Government of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville,” said chief Momis.

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290612 ABG commends Digicel
BY Aloysius Laukai
PRESIDENT of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville Chief Dr John Momis has commended telecommunication company Digicel PNG Limited, for its success in establishing communication services throughout Bougainville despite having had some of its equipments destroyed in some areas.
Momis said this, when he met with Digicel Chief Executive Officer John Mangos and Chief Technical Officer Shiva Kumar in Port Moresby recently.
“My government and I regard the services provided by Digicel in Bougainville as of great significance in terms of Digicel having;
- greatly improved the contact of our rural people with the outside world,
- through that contact, contributed to the often difficult and ongoing work of peace building in post conflict Bougainville,
- facilitated many aspects of both economic and social development in a post-conflict Bougainville where our communities have many special needs,” said Momis.
During their meeting, the President had the opportunity to advice Mangos on several issues of interest and concern to the ABG including the use of Digicel towers to extend radio broadcast coverage in Central and South Bougainville, Sponsorship of the Bougainville Team for the PNG Games in November and a possible new tower for San Toro Pass in Konnou, Buin District, South Bougainville.
Momis said that if it is possible to establish such a tower to service the east coast side of Konnou, this would be a major contribution to peace building in Bougainville.
“In co-operation with the ABG and local leaders, Digicel should be able to explore the situation in Konnou and establish with more certainty both the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of establishing a tower there,” said Momis.
“If it is possible, it would be a major contribution to a return to normalcy and opening access to the outside world in an area where access to information and to education has been particularly bad for many years,” Momis added.
He assured Digicel of ABG’s continued support on the basis that both entities shared similar interest in providing communication service to the people of Bougainville.
“I look forward to the ABG and Digicel having a closer working relationship in the future,” added Momis.
New Dawn FM would be piggybacking on the Digicel Towers to send its program signals to Central and South Bougainville.

290612 ABG monitors Elections
By Aloysius Laukai
4
THE Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) is closely monitoring the National Election and expects that one of the priorities of the new government formed would be to initiate the long overdue meeting of parties to the Joint Supervisory Body (JSB).
The parties to the JSB comprise members of the Autonomous Bougainville Government led by President John Momis and members of the Papua New Guinea government led by the elected new Prime Minister.
The ABG is concerned at the oversight shown by the last PNG government to upholding its contractual obligation to implement the process of Autonomy that involved ensuring an efficient progress on the draw down of powers and functions to the ABG.
Autonomous Region of Bougainville President,John Momis said although much progress had been made in bringing powers and functions to Bougainville, there are constraints such as the slow transfer of the powers and functions.
“Among the causes are issues relating to capacity, disinterest on the part of the National Government and some legal and institutional restraints relating to absorptive capacity in Bougainville.
Given this level of development, I think it imperative that both the ABG and the National Government should consider new approaches to the transfer issues”, said Momis.
He suggested that both parties refocus their efforts on four key strategies as follows.
• Capacity and internal and external co-operation and coordination issues,
• New Key Priorities {Economic Issues, Mining and other economic powers} that will lead to fiscal self-reliance.
• Establishment of the Institutions of Government in Bougainville as a pre-condition for the Referendum
• Security Issues
The President said in order to achieve these objectives he had directed his administration to focus on strengthening the Division of Autonomy through the provisions of additional resources including legal expertize.
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280612STROEBLE FAREWELLED
By Aloysius Laukai
Bougainville this afternoon farewelled the Traditional Health Project coordinator, MRS.STEPHANIE TROEBLE at the Hahela project site.
MRS.TROEBLE was instrumental in the establishment of the Bougainville Diocese Traditional Health Project which has since established the Association of Bougainville Herbal Practitioners.
Since the establishment of the project funded by European Union under Horizon 3000, Bougainville has moved to run various trainings with Traditional Health Practitioners and also will be producing a guide book shortly.
Speakers at this afternoon’s ceremony called for the need to strengthen the project and also find ways of identifying the strength of the drugs to make sure patients are not under-dosed or overdosed.
Dr.Joseph Vislosi from the Buka Hospital called on the group to try to find out if there is a drug for Cervix Cancer which is killing many Bougainville women today.
Bishop of Bougainville Catholic Diocese, BISHOP BERNARD UNABALI said he supported the project as it was approved under the last Bishop Henk Kronenberg.
He said the project is good as for the first time the people are realizing that they can actually get their medicine from their own backyard.

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280612CANDIDATES CRY FOUL
By Aloysius Laukai

More candidates are crying foul as the polling is coming to an end throughout Bougainville.
And New Dawn FM received calls from Candidates in North Bougainville that many Tinputz voters were turned away today because their names were not on the common roll.
Candidate ALBERT TORO said that he was not happy as many of his supporters were not able to vote this election.
From the Central Bougainville, Mekamui President, PHILIP MIRIORI said that his group were also not happy that their names were not on the list.
And he was calling on the Electoral Commission address this issue as a matter of urgency.
MR. MIRIORI said that the Mekamui group were keen to join the process for the first time however the common roll is preventing them.

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280612ABG concerned at missing names
By Aloysius Laukai
LOCAL media reports of an increasing number of eligible voters names missing from the Bougainville Electoral Roll has the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) concerned that some of its citizens are being deprived of their right to cast their vote.
Bougainville’s President Chief Dr John Momis and his wife are among the list of prominent Bougainville citizen’s names not included on the electoral roll despite having been regular voters in previous national elections.
President Chief John Momis urged that the Bougainville Electoral Commission under the leadership of election manager Reitama Taravaru should have ensured that all eligible voters in Bougainville had their names on the common roll.
“It is not good enough to say it was the citizen’s responsibility to make sure their names were on the common roll.
“It is a perennial problem of the electoral commission that despite having had five years to prepare and having had overwhelming financial and technical support from our common wealth friends, we still find ourselves being faced with the common issue of missing names on the rolls,” said Momis.
The president attributed the cause of the missing names in Bougainville to last minute preparations and lack of quality training of election casuals by the Bougainville Electoral Commission.
“The Bougainville Electoral Commission has failed us and I am disappointed that so much money has been spent by the National Government, the Australian and New Zealand Governments including the majority of citizens having made that extra effort to register their names, yet at the end of all these, we’re still faced by such issues,” said Momis.
He added that hopefully the current issues of the National electoral roll is not indicative of issues to arise in 2015 when ABG conducts its general elections.
Momis urged that the Bougainville Electoral Commission ensure that the ABG electoral roll is well updated and verified prior to the ABG election in 2015.
“This is when the people of Bougainville go into referendum and as the President, I want to ensure that all citizens of Bougainville will not be deprived of their right to cast their votes to determine their destiny,” said Momis.