NEW DAWN ON BOUGAINVILLE

280220 NEW DAWN HEALTH PROGRAM
NEW DAWN FM NEWS

New Dawn FM and the Bougainville Health Department, with the assistance of K10,000 from Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), last night launched a weekly Health program, dedicated to improving the health of Bougainvilleans.
The program, to be aired of 89.9 New Dawn FM, will cover a wide range of health topics of relevance to Bougainvilleans with the aim of raising greater levels of awareness and understanding.
Some of the subjects to be covered include communicable diseases and water sanitation, lifestyle illness such as diabetes, maternal childhood health; the importance of seeking medical assistance in cases of measles, tuberculosis, HIV or malaria, through to heart health, family planning, managing teenage pregnancies and educating listeners on the effects of illicit drugs.
BCL chairman Sir Melchior Togolo said the company was proud to be supporting the new radio program and commended both New Dawn FM and the Health Department for such a worthy initiative.
“Improving the health standards and outcomes of Bougainvilleans must remain of highest priority given its intrinsic link to enhancing living standards and quality of life overall. As the old saying goes, if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything,” he said.
Mr Togolo said healthier communities were generally more productive and happier communities and in particular; we needed to focus on reducing the instances of health problems that were preventable and initiatives such as this would assist those aims.
Well-known radio personality Aloysius Laukai will be hosting the new program and each week he will be speaking with respected doctors, health officers and other specialists across the many topics that will be covered.
“Our aim is to reach as many people as possible with useful information and advice. The better-informed people are the better equipped they will be to make good decisions regarding their health,” he said.
Other topics that will be covered include mental health, dental and eye care and first aid. Mr Laukai said it was planned for the program to run for 52 weeks on a Thursday evening with a repeat on Friday mornings.
The first introduction program was aired{Date} last night 27/Feb, at 8.30 pm on 89.9 New Dawn 89.9 FM with Aloysius Laukai spoke with ABG Health Secretary Clement Totavun who officially launched the program, episodes will be aired every Thursday 8.30 pm BST and repeated on Friday morning 8am
Due to the CoronaVirus issue, Secretary Clement Totavun explained on plans that The Health Department has made on how to react to the virus if it is detected on Bougainville.
Link to our Introductory program is

[ENDS]

280220 BEB CHAIRMAN URGED PARENTS TO PAY SCHOOL FEES FOR THEIR CHILDREN
NEW DAWN FM NEWS
THE Chairman for the Bougainville Education Board (BEB) is calling on parents to take responsibility and pay school fees for their children.
Mr. Michael Pearson told NEW DAWN FM that it is important that parents pay for their school fees because the TFF does not cover the true cost of running a school.
He said the cost of running a school in Bougainville is expensive and what is given by the government is only 50 percent of what is needed.
Mr. Pearson said there are some parents who are paying the full amount and indirectly subsidizing parents who are not making full contributions.
He said the National Government contribution for this year’s academic will only be K3.4 million instead of K5.5 million so that means the other K2.1 million has to come from the parents.
End

280220 RESPONSE TEAM IN BOUGAINVILLE SET UP TO FIGHT CORONA VIRUS
NEW DAWN FM NEWS
THE Department of Health in Bougainville has already established a response team made up of different key people in the department in preparation to fight the corona virus.
Secretary for the Department of Health Mr Clement Totavun said the response team will be headed by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the Buka General Hospital Dr. Tommy Watia and assisting him will be Dr. Mathias Tovilu.
Mr. Totavun said the response team is currently preparing a response action plan which will be presented to ABG to allocate funds for the team to carry out their tasks.
He said the response team is having meetings on a weekly basis to discuss activities and areas to look at in this response.
He said preparations are underway to train clinical officers in the region to manage any case and consultations with key stakeholders are also going on.
Mr. Totavun said the team is preparing personal protective equipment that health workers can use to protect themselves.
The team is also preparing an isolated area to put patients suspected of having the virus said Mr. Totavun.
He said a public awareness will be carried out so that people are aware of what is happening and take precautions in case any case is reported in PNG or in the region.
End

280220 OWNING THE LAND IS MY NATURAL RIGHT AS A BOUGAIVILLEAN
NEW DAWN FM NEWS
I have the natural right to make decision over my land and there’s no one who has the right under the law of nature says chief of Banoni, Patrick Heromate on New Dawn FM yesterday.
He said that some fundamental individual rights such as natural right to right of liberty and right of property are very important that no Government, no representative of Government or democratically elected Government can override.
He says “The right to property is a natural right in the sense that it is PRE-POLITICAL, it is a right that attaches to individual as human beings. Even before Parliament and Legislature enact laws and even before governments came into seen.”
He therefore claimed that no one is allowed to establish any form of Economic Development without prior consultation with resources owners in Bougainville.
Mr. Heromate said that our leaders in the ABG therefore cannot invite and give right to any unknown fly by night investors to conduct mining in Bougainville as they wish.
He said that Bougainvilleans have fought and died for their land that was unceremoniously taken away by the white race.
MR. HEROMATE made these comments when commenting on the death that occurred at an exploration site in South Bougainville.
Ends

280220 ONSA WARNS NATIONAL MEMBERS NOT TO COME DOWN
NEW DAWN FM NEWS

Buka chief and businessman SENIOR HENRY ONSA is warning Bougainville National Members not to resign to contest in the ABG General election.
He told New Dawn FM last night that Bougainville needs all the four members in the National Parliament for the ratification vote therefore they must not consider resigning at this time.
MR. ONSA said that this is not the last ABG election and if they want to stand later they can wait for those elections.
He said that in parliament it’s a numbers game therefore he wants all four Bougainville Parliamentarians to remain.
MR. ONSA said resigning from there means they are running away from their duties to represent the Bougainvilleans in the National Parliament.

Ends

280220 NEW DAWN HEALTH PROGRAM
NEW DAWN FM NEWS

New Dawn FM and the Bougainville Health Department, with the assistance of K10,000 from Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), last night launched a weekly Health program, dedicated to improving the health of Bougainvilleans.
The program, to be aired of 89.9 New Dawn FM, will cover a wide range of health topics of relevance to Bougainvilleans with the aim of raising greater levels of awareness and understanding.
Some of the subjects to be covered include communicable diseases and water sanitation, lifestyle illness such as diabetes, maternal childhood health; the importance of seeking medical assistance in cases of measles, tuberculosis, HIV or malaria, through to heart health, family planning, managing teenage pregnancies and educating listeners on the effects of illicit drugs.
BCL chairman Sir Melchior Togolo said the company was proud to be supporting the new radio program and commended both New Dawn FM and the Health Department for such a worthy initiative.
“Improving the health standards and outcomes of Bougainvilleans must remain of highest priority given its intrinsic link to enhancing living standards and quality of life overall. As the old saying goes, if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything,” he said.
Mr Togolo said healthier communities were generally more productive and happier communities and in particular; we needed to focus on reducing the instances of health problems that were preventable and initiatives such as this would assist those aims.
Well-known radio personality Aloysius Laukai will be hosting the new program and each week he will be speaking with respected doctors, health officers and other specialists across the many topics that will be covered.
“Our aim is to reach as many people as possible with useful information and advice. The better-informed people are the better equipped they will be to make good decisions regarding their health,” he said.
Other topics that will be covered include mental health, dental and eye care and first aid. Mr Laukai said it was planned for the program to run for 52 weeks on a Thursday evening with a repeat on Friday mornings.
The first introduction program was aired{Date} last night 27/Feb, at 8.30 pm on 89.9 New Dawn 89.9 FM with Aloysius Laukai spoke with ABG Health Secretary Clement Totavun who officially launched the program, episodes will be aired every Thursday 8.30 pm BST and repeated on Friday morning 8am
Due to the CoronaVirus issue, Secretary Clement Totavun explained on plans that The Health Department has made on how to react to the virus if it is detected on Bougainville.
Link to our Introductory program is

[ENDS]

270220 SIGNED MOU SET TO BOOST PNG’S ICT AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AGENDA

NEW DAWN FM NEWS

The National member for South Bougainville and Minister for Information and Communication Technology, TIMOTHY MASIU is visiting Australia this week.
A memorandum of Understanding was signed on Tuesday this week between the PNG Department of ICT and its Australian counterpart, the Department of Infrastructure. Transport, Regional Development and Communication.
The MOU was signed by the PNG Department’s Acting Secretary, STEVEN MATAINAHO and Australia Department’s Secretary, SIMON ATKINSON in Canberra and witnessed by the PNG ICT Minister, TIMOTHY MASIU as well as key representatives from key agencies.
The signing coincided with Minister Masiu’s maiden Ministerial visit to Australia.
During the event, MR. MASIU highlighted that the MOU cemented longstanding spirit of partnership and cooperation between both Governments currently reflected in the Treaty on Development Cooperation.
Secretary MATAINAHO acknowledged the ongoing support from Australia through the Coral Sea Cable which will set the phase for legislative and structural reforms in the ICT sector.
Secretary ATKINSON also emphasized on the need for the two nations to work together and said that his Department was just a Phone call away.

Ends

270220 COMMUNITY BASED CORRECTION PROVIDING PROBATION AND PRIVILEGES TO THE INMATES
NEW DAWN FM NEWS
LAW and Justice Department’s Agency, Community Based Correction (CBC) affirmed during the Law and Justice broadcast program that their roles and responsibilities is importantly to give second chances to inmates who are under non-custodial sentence.
Senior Probation officer and officer in Charge of CBC, Linda Dentana explained that Probation services and Parole services are like giving troublemakers a privilege to spend their sentence outside instead of serving it in jail.
She said that probation officers provides court report and supervise troublemakers and monitor those who are under ultimate sentence or probation.
Mss Dentana explained further on parole that parole is a privilege that given to inmates who may meet some requirements while in jail and they can be eligible to go out for parole.
She said that if an inmate is bail out for parole it doesn’t mean that the inmate is free. They are to be under rehabilitation services.
However, she said if rules are not followed as set by the CBC then the privilege of serving he’s/her sentence outside the jail will not be given whereas the inmate will go back to prison.
Ends

270220 OMBUDSMEN COMMISSIONERS CLAIMED TO BE THE GUARD DOGS.
New Dawn FM News
THE Ombudsmen Commission, under the Department of Law and Justice declared during their awareness on the radio that apart from investigating complains as their primary function they are also protecting all the citizens in the Region.
Ombudsmen Commission Senior investigator Richard Bana said the duty of the commission officers is to protect the people by providing check and balance to the work of the government to avoid corruption.
He said that their main job is to make sure that there is transparency and accountability in place for the good of our people.
Mr. Bana also put forward a request to the public that if you see or witness any exploitation or corruption within a Government workforce, don’t just tell stories about it, but lodge complain with all the substantial evidence so that we can investigate and justice will be achieved.
Ends

270220 MINISTER URGED ABG TO REVISIT PAST POLICIES TO FAST TRACK ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
NEW DAWN FM NEWS
ABG must prioritize revisiting past policies, laws, regulations and strategies and re-align these to the region’s special need to fast track economic development says a member.
Member for Selau and Minister for Economy Development Joseph Watawi said this is important because it will lift the region’s development fiscal self- reliance thresholds which are dismally low.
Mr. Watawi said many attempts have been made on policy development, strategic development plans and developing investment laws and regulations yet many of these still linger at the backdrop so there is no need to re-invent new policies.
He said Bougainville must immediately change the way it has been doing things and prioritize taking steps in investing on big development projects.
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