NEW DAWN ON BOUGAINVILLE

300113 WHO WANTED A MASTER PLAN
By Aloysius Laukai
 
 
The CEO for the HEALTH DIVISION on Bougainville DOCTOR ANTHONY PUMPARA said that the Minister for Health and VICE PRESIDENT, PATRICK NISIRA wanted a long term Health Plan instead of annual Heath Reports which forced the division to seek help to work on a Health Plan.
 
DR. PUMPARA said since then the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION conducted two assessments on developing a Health Plan of which AUSAID finally came in to assist with the Master Plan starting with the RAPID Assessment.
 
DR. PUMPARA made these remarks at the launching of the Bougainville Health Master Plan on Sohano island last Friday.
 
He said committees engaged by AUSAID then approached all the Bougainville communities to gauge their views on Health developments in the region.
 
The Doctor also called on the people of Bougainville to support the division in implementing the plan.
 
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300113 RABAN COMMENTS
By Aloysius Laukai
 
Bougainville Business Association has already submitted a policy paper to the ABG for enactment in its March sitting.
 
The Executive Officer of Bougainville Business Association, THOMAS RABAN revealed this to New Dawn FM this week.
 
MR. RABAN said that the Bougainville Business Association was working with the ABG through the Minister for Commerce to enact the policy that would protect Bougainville Business houses and also investors who may want to involve in big Impact projects.
 
MR. RABAN said that once the policy is passed then all business houses have to comply to the policy.
 
On Internal revenue being raised by Businesses Houses, MR. RABAN called on Bougainvilleans to support the ABG by paying taxes.
 
He questioned how Bougainvilleans expect to support their government when they continue to avoid paying taxes by getting cargoes in the Solomon islands and also avoiding taxes on Cigarettes and Beer by ordering their cargoes from Rabaul.
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300113 HOME GROWN PLAN
By Aloysius Laukai
 
The CEO for the Division of Health on Bougainville, DR. ANTHONY PUMPARA has praised AUSAID and all stakeholders throughout Bougainville for contributing to the development of the Bougainville Health Master Plan.
 
Speaking at the launching ceremony in Sohano last week, DR. PUMPARA said that the plan was a locally produced plan based on the contribution of all the health facilities and communities approached during the initial stage of developing the plan.
 
He said that all their comments and suggestions raised during visits by committees engaged by AUSAID were accommodated in the final documents launched last week.
 
DR. PUMPARA said that now was the time of implementing the plan to see results in the end.
 
 
 
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300113 CAR FACES
By Aloysius Laukai
 
 
A Bougainville chief Andrew Peugai has called on the people of Bougainville to forget about cars and seek compensation by other means.
 
MR. PEUGAI told New Dawn FM from Buin that he was concerned at the trend in which anyone on Bougainville who has any grievances aims to commandeer a vehicle.
 
He said this trend was painting a very bad image for Bougainville as a land of FACE CAR people,
 
MR. PEUGAI was commenting after two District vehicles owned by the Bana District and Siwai district were taken by people over non payment of some bills by the government.
 
He said that these type of activities must be stopped if Bougainville wants to move forward.
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300113 ARAWA HOSPITAL MOVE
By Aloysius Laukai
 
The Central Regional Parliamentary Committee has recommended that the ARAWA GENERAL HOSPITAL be fully re-instated to its former status.
 
The Committee recommended that the Allocation of ONE MILLION KINA be used to upgrade the facilities at the Arawa Health Centre to facilitate the move.
 
DR. JOE VILOSI made this announcement on the ABG’s Member’s update last week.
 
He said that work has already started on the move to Arawa and he would be the first Doctor to be based in Arawa under the program
 
DR. VILOSI said that the move was made because many of the referred cases currently attended in Buka were from Arawa and Buin and getting closer to where the people were was their first intention to save lives and monies.
 
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290113 SALEM ON HEALTH
By Aloysius Laukai
 
The WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION representative on Bougainville REZA MOHAMAD SALEM said that WOLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION is committed to working closely with the Division of Health on Bougainville.
 
DR. SALEM made these comments at the launching of the Bougainville Health Master Plan on Sohano island last Friday.
 
He said that the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION has been working with the Health division on Bougainville on many health issues one very outstanding one was the TB Dots program.
 
The World Health Organization also assisted with the preparation of the Health Master Plan.
 
 
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290113 RABAN ON BUSINESS BILL
By Aloysius Laukai
 
One of the Executives of the Bougainville Business Association, THOMAS RABAN is calling on the Autonomous Bougainville Government to settle outstanding bills owed by the government to the local Businesses.
 
Speaking on New Dawn FM last night, MR. RABAN said that the Government must assist the Business Houses instead of killing them.
 
He said now that the ABG has 390 million to spend this year it must start to pay bills owed for services rendered to the Government.
 
MR. RABAN said that Bougainville Business houses cannot compete with outsiders coming into the region because the Government does not honor its commitment to its own people.
 
 
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290113 PRESIDENT TO MOVE OFFICE
By Aloysius Laukai
 
 
ABG President DR. JOHN MOMIS will move to the newly built President’s office at KUBU on Buka island.
 
This house built on a block of land owned by the COCOA/COCONUT Research Institute (CCRI) was started as a Conference and Training facility for farmers but was later changed to accommodate the office of the President who was squeezed at the upper end of the current Parliament house.
 
According to a memo from the ABG Speaker, ANDREW MIRIKI to the chief administrator, the final contractors fee totaling 260,000 must be paid in order for the President to move to this new building.
 
The Speaker said that once the ABG President moves to the new building he will then renovate the current officer to accommodate members who do not have proper offices to operate from.
 
NEW DAWN FM understands if everything settled quickly the ABG President should be operating from his new office in March this year.
 
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280113PAYROLL QUESTIONED
By Aloysius Laukai
 
Workers employed by the Autonomous Bougainville Government are questioning why they have missed out on their salary for two consecutive paydays.
 
They told New Dawn FM today that it was very frustrating for the workers to miss out on their pay and no one is explaining why this is happening.
 
They said that if the administration has changed its payday to a different week they should let them know so that they can prepare for these changes.
 
New Dawn FM understands that the staff of ABG Parliament are also affected by this problem.
 
 
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280113RABANZ EDUCATION
By Aloysius Laukai
 
Meanwhile the President for the Bougainville Business Association, THOMAS RABAN wants education facilities offering courses to make sure their School’s are able to get their students get employment on Bougainville and outside.
 
He told New Dawn FM that parents invest on their kids in the hope of getting good education locally however these schools must also provide quality training for these students.
 
MR. RABANZ welcomed the establishment of schools on Bougainville by both Bougainvilleans and non Bougainvilleans but wants who ever coming in must be qualified and has the capacity to produce good educated Bougainvilleans.
 
 
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