NEW DAWN ON BOUGAINVILLE

270215PARTICIPANTS THANK WORLD VISION
BY JENNIFER NKUI

Participants of the New Born Care Trainning workshop have thanked World Vision for giving them the opportunity to have access to such knowledge and skills.
The participants’ representative Ambrose Savara who spoke on behalf of the participants during their graduation ceremony yesterday said the participants have been given the opportunity to bring much needed service to the community where there is a great need of such help for mothers and their babies.
The workshop under the theme “Caring for mothers and new borns in the community” ran for one week at the Tsiroge Catholic Mission and was attended by health workers as well as representatives from project areas in the North West Coast of Bougainville and North Bougainville.
With the completion of the workshop, the thirty-seven participants were presented with certificates participation in New Born Care.
Meanwhile the district health representative Wilfred Nopin revealed also that World Vision has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding for World Vision to work in partnership with the health department in implementing the programmes in the communities.
He said these programme will make it easy for mothers and fathers in the communities to look after new born babies.
He then thanked World Vision for making the workshop possible for the people of Bougainville.

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270215ITS ABOUT TIME
BY JENNIFER NKUI

The intending woman candidate for this year’s ABG General Election Lynette Ona has stressed strongly that it is about time Bougainville women stand up and find solutions for present problems and for the future of Bougainville.
She told New Dawn Fm in an interview earlier this week that as a woman who will be contesting the Central Bougainville seat in this year’s election, she has observed that women are capable of running the ABG government because men are too corrupt.
She said what the women want with this coming election is for the men to give them five years in parliament so that Bougainville can see how the women can run the government of the day.
She added that they are always called the mothers of the land and as mothers of the land; they can run the people because the people are their children and they can look after them well.
Ms. Ona revealed that the women of Bougainville are now standing together with one voice to run for the election because the women of Bougainville have remained silent for far too long.
She said once one of the women wins, the women of Bougainville will support her to bring development to the region and the people of Bougainville.
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250215 CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS
By JENNIFER NKUI

Candidates intending to contest in this year’s ABG General Election are urged to consult the qualifying requirements for candidates before contesting in the election.
While issuing this call on Monday, the Acting ABG Electoral Commissioner George Manu stressed that this is to avoid court battles that may arise following the declaration of a candidate that is not qualified to contest in a particular seat.
He said intending candidates must come and check with us so we can advise you on what requirements you must fulfil before you can qualify to contest in the constituency, former combatants, regional women’s and presidential seats.
He then pointed out that according to the ABG Constitution, a member of the House of Representatives must not be less than 25 years of age and candidates intending to stand for election must also be qualified to vote in the elections of the Bougainville House of Representatives.
He added that in order to contest in one of the 33 constituency seats, a candidate must be a Bougainvillean and be a member of a clan lineage that holds land in the constituency for which the candidate wishes to nominate.
Mr. Manu went on further saying the candidate must also have been in that constituency for at least five years immediately prior to nomination.
As for the regional seat for women, a candidate will be eligible to contest if she is a Bougainvillean and be a member of a clan lineage that holds land in that particular region that she will be contesting in.
He said the woman candidate must also have resided continuously in that region for at least five years immediately prior to nomination.
And for those intending candidates for the three regional seats reserved for the former combatants, the requirement is that they must be a Bougainvillean and a former combatant.
The candidate must also be a member of a clan lineage that holds land in that region that he intends to contest and that he must also have resided continuously in that region for at least five years immediately prior to nomination.
On top of that the acting commissioner stated that the candidate’s nomination must be endorsed by twenty other former combatants from that region.
And in the presidential seat, the candidate must not be less than 40 years of age, is a Bougainvillean and is qualified to vote in the elections of the Bougainville House of Representatives.
According to the Bougainville Constitution, a Bougainvillean is defined as a person;
• who is a member (whether by birth or by adoption according to custom by the clan lineage) of a Bougainvillean clan lineage (matrilineal or patrilineal) owning customary land in Bougainville; or
• who is married (whether by law or custom) to a person regarded as a Bougainville; or
• Who is a child one of whose parents is a Bougainvillean as per the above definition
Intending candidates are advised to check with the Assistant Returning Officers or the regional returning officer to get more information on these requirements.

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250215 BOUGAINVILLE WOMEN LEADERS UNDERGO TRAINING
BY JENNIFER NKUI

THERE is a possibility that more women candidates will be contesting in the upcoming ABG General Election.
This was evident during a weeklong workshop on leadership and good governance that was held in Buka last week.
The workshop which was funded by the Canadian Government and Melbourne-based International Women Development Agency (IWDA) was facilitated by the executive officer for Bougainville Women’s Federation Barbara Tanne and was attended by many women leaders who are planning to contest in the election.
The three ABG women parliamentarians including Elizabeth Burain, Joan Jerome and Rose Pihei also participated and shared experiences encountered during their term in parliament.
The purpose of this workshop was to educate the women candidates on how well they can prepare their campaign strategies before embarking on their campaign drives.
The presentations were done by representatives from various organizations including the ABG Education Department, police and the acting ABG Political Party Registrar Joseph Kaipu.
Mr Kaipu’s presentation was based on the legalities on the registration of political parties before taking part in any election.
The intending women candidates were also fortunate to get an update from the acting ABG Electoral Commissioner George Manu on issues of importance concerning the staging of the ABG election.
Mr Manu started off his presentation on the establishment of the Office of the Bougainville Electoral Commissioner and the independency of his office from political influence before adding that the primary role of the organization he heads is to conduct a free, fair, transparent and safe election.
He pointed out that the Office of the ABG Electoral Commissioner is a constitutional office that conducts its work independently and without outside influence.
He also gave an update on the preparatory works carried out by the commission in preparation for the election saying the continuing challenge is that the government has yet to release the money to conduct the election; however, our preparations are still on track.

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240215POLICE CAPTURE SUSPECTS
BY JENNIFER NKUI

Police in Buka have apprehended two suspects who have been involved in an armed robbery which occurred the weekend before last.
According to the Buka Police Station commander senior sergeant Emart Tsimes, two of the armed robbery suspects are now in their custody while three of their accomplices are still at large.
He revealed to New Dawn Fm in an interview today that a substantial amount of money was stolen that night from a Chinese businessman.
He said he is not in the position to confirm the amount of money that was stolen because the investigation is ongoing at the moment.
He explained that the amount of money stolen will be confirmed only after the investigation is completed.
Mr. Tsimes went on further to say that people have their own reasons to be involved in such an activity saying Bougainvilleans are protecting local business owners by creating such situations.
He said such situations can take place as a result of disagreements over Chinese businessmen not banking their money in local banks.
However as a law enforcement officer, SSgt Tsimes strongly pointed out that such an act that was carried out by these young men involving a firearm is not good because the use of firearm will instill fear amongst Bougainvilleans.
He stressed that we have a government in place and the people should use the government to create laws and policies to dictate such business entities.
He said such an approach taken by these young Bougainvilleans to deal with such a situation is not a good approach and solution to the problem.
Meanwhile, a young boy is now in the Buka General Hospital for medical examinations after he became a vitim of a hit and run incident last night.
The matter has been attended to but police have yet to confirm reports on that matter as investigation is still in progress.
With regards to this matter, senior sergeant Tsimes would like to remind, parents, residents, car users and car drivers to always take precautions and drive cars in a controllable manner.

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240215BOUGAINVILLE WOMEN GET HANDS ON EXPERIENCE
BY JENNIFER NKUI

Bougainville women now have hands on experience on how parliament sessions are conducted thanks to the Bougainville Women’s’ Federation.
The Mock Parliament Session which was held behind closed doors in parliament yesterday and under public scrutiny today at the Bel isi Park in Buka Town saw women leaders and young women participate fully in the mock parliament session.
As explained by the executive officer for BWF Barbara Tanne, the mock parliament session which is being organized by the organization in partnership with the international women’s organization aims at teaching Bougainville women and to make them see for themselves how issues are being debated in the House of Representatives.
She added that they had to hold this mock parliament session in public again today so the public can also witness the mock parliament session and have a fair idea as to how a parliament session is conducted.
She said BWF since last year has been empowering women in leadership roles in all levels so women can be equal partners when it comes to decision making with their male counterparts.
This is the first of its kind and the mock parliament session was also attended by the three women members of Bougainville.

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200215STANDARD BASED CURRICULUM TRAININGS
BY JENNIFER NKUI

The National Education Department is currently facilitating trainings across the country for the implementation of the Standard Based Curriculum and Standard Based Education.
This similar training of trainers which is also underway at Hahela in Buka, aims at training District Education officers, standard officers, elementary trainers and teachers so they can be equipped to go out into the districts and conduct trainings on the standard based curriculum or education for all elementary teachers.
This concept according to the assistant secretary of Standards within the education department Anne-Marie Kona was developed and introduced after parents right across the country started complaining about the low level of learning and education as a result of the Outcome Based Education or OBE.
She explained in an interview today that this concept was not borrowed from outside but was developed by Papua New Guineans.
Meanwhile, the curriculum officer Betty Banna revealed that the National government has given the green light for the standard based education to be taught in all elementary schools this year but they were not ready to do so this year.
She said they have just started training the trainers for elementary, district education officers and teachers so they could go back and train all teachers in all cluster groups.
She stressed that this standard based education is not a new thing as it was in place before in objective based curriculum up until it was changed to outcome based curriculum.
She added that nothing much has been changed as all they did was to re-align and re-position some contents that have been lacking in the outcome based curriculum.
Mrs. Banna said these additional contents have now been added to the standard based curriculum to enable better learning and educational outcomes for the students.
This Standard Based Education training which started last week Wednesday due to late funding is a two weeks training and will end next week.

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200215IMAKO RESPONDS TO CRITICISMS
BY JENNIFER NKUI

The chief executive officer for Buka General Hospital Dr. Cyril Imako has appreciated feedback from patients which according to him can help the management to try and improve the facilities at the hospital.
He told New Dawn Fm in an interview yesterday that it is good to get feedback from service receivers because without feedback, the management would continue to think that the services provided are of best quality.
When responding to criticisms concerning the state of the hospital toilets, the CEO pointed out strongly that the Buka General Hospital is a public institution which caters for patients mostly from the rural areas.
He said most of these patients who access services at the hospital do not know how to use the toilet facility because they do not have such facilities in their villages.
He added that with the lack of knowhow, the patients and their guardians push whatever matter down the toilet pots which causes the pipes to be blocked.
Dr. Imako further stressed that the toilet facility has always been a big issue since the hospital was built in 1998.
He said in a public institution like the Buka General Hospital, it is very hard to maintain a good and clean facility because people come and go every day and every day you see new faces.
He added that the hospital management is trying to improve the facilities, saying criticism is good but pointed out that if a service receiver wants to criticize, he or she must provide solutions for their criticisms.

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190215POLICE CALL FOR INFORMATION
By Aloysius Laukai

The head of the Bougainville Police Service, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER, PAUL KAMUAI last night called on people who have information concerning the recent hold up of the Chinese shop in Buka to Police investigators.
INPECTOR PAUL KAMUAI told New Dawn FM from Port Moresby that he was concerned at some reports accusing Police officers with the amount recovered and called on those spreading rumors to stop immediately.
He said that people who have any information on the incident must go and see officers from the Criminal Investigation Branch so that those involved can be dealt with.
INSPECTOR KAMUAI said that any information by people can be treated as confidential and persons with such information should go and see Inspector LUA the acting Police Commander for North Bougainville.

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190215BUKA TOWN SEALING PROGRESSING
By Aloysius Laukai

The sealing of Buka town streets is progressing slowly with the Contractor completing most of the drainage work in Buka town.
AND the recent heavy rain has given the engineers the chance to study the flow of water and are now in a better position to fix the drainage system in Buka town.
New Dawn FM has checked and found out that after several attempts they are now in a better position to fix the whole drainage system in the town.
It is anticipated that the sealing of Buka town streets would be completed by June this year.

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