Walking out Rich from the Autonomous Bougainville Government

Leonard Fong Roka

To many sound-minded ordinary Bougainvilleans, we know that the twenty thousand people perished on our island in the name of FREEDOM! That is, our relatives’ lives were lost for our island to be free from the claws of Papua New Guineans and their exploitation and subjugation of our land and people.

Many died for our island but we still ignore them

Thus, when our young men took up arms and violence in 1988 against the illegal New Guinean squatter settlers, the Bougainville Copper Limited and the PNG National Government, we the people stood up with our hearts for them.

These peoples’ ambition and sacrifice is not so much characterized by many leaders and a handful of Bougainvilleans. But the post conflict Bougainville, is a massive fireball of opportunists, tearing the Bougainville our people died to save, apart.

To date, the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) budget is fast going beyond K300 million whilst tax the Bougainville’s Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) branch is collecting is snailing way behind with this year, 2013, is predicted to be around K12 million.

With our ambition for nationhood with this alarming financial gap, our people still run around with the desire for compensation for crisis created loses. Our few business men also are reluctant to pay tax with a loud call for compensation for all they had lost amidst the ten year old conflict Bougainville has gone through.

To most ordinary Bougainvilleans around my area, the Tumpusiong Valley, the wrong precedence is displayed to our people by far, by our politicians who ignore the fact that they are public figures and should lead the people of Bougainville by example if we really respect the issues we fought and died for on our island.

To most people, who painfully observe the shit in Bougainville politics, our politicians and bureaucrats live not by the directives of the norms of the public offices they hold. Many public officials of Bougainville are an eye sore and nuisance to the community. They do not uphold the principles our very people have died for and lead Bougainville into the realm of corruption and personal prestige and power.

And in these desperate times, leadership is so challenging since even the people are also too powerful than the government itself!

According to the people in the Tumpusiong Valley of Panguna, we are voting people who are weak and coward into power; or, we are getting old timers into ABG and Waigani parliaments who had not walked with us through the path of the crisis thus they easily put on PNG shoes to play the game since they do not share the vision approach of our island with those of us who had suffered.

Most ABG parliamentarians are well noted by ordinary people as looters of public offices they hold. Amongst these, the notable figures, who had came out of the public office rich with public property, especially government vehicles are: Glen Tovirika (Veterans Affairs Minister  of the First ABG House), Robert Sawa Hamar (back bencher), Ezekiel Masat (Police Minister of First ABG House) and Joseph Watawi (Vice President of the First ABG House).

Many Bougainvilleans dream to lead Bougainville; yet they lack the power to influence positive thinking and education within their own families! To be a leader, it is about time Bougainvilleans start practicing it on their own families.

In Bougainville two noted examples of this break-down was seen at the passing away of Deputy Administrator Andrew Pisi in 2007 where his extended family members of Moroni village in Panguna came and ransacked the Administration office in Arawa.

They walked away with all office materials like computers, furniture and a vehicle costing nearly a million kina. Then for the administration to get in, new materials need to be purchase and this practice will always get the seesaw away from development allocation to the recurrent allocation of the ABG budget.

With the passing away of Chief Administrator, Peter Tsiamalili in late 2007, again with saw his well-known son Peter Tsiamalili (Jr) helping himself with his late father’s official vehicle; all efforts to return the vehicle failed.

The question is: ‘Are we, as leaders and ordinary people, interested in saving Bougainville for the benefit and betterment of the future generations?’

This problem also is present around two former ABG presidents. People know that with the ABG laws, the presidents has entitlements when leaving office but the pair should be noted as guilty against the people of Bougainville by getting or having their family members helping themselves with property valued more than their legal entitlements.

When the first ABG president, late Joseph Kabui passed away in mid 2008, his official vehicle was locked at his residence in Hutjena as a bargaining tool for the release of the entitlements. But when the entitlement was released and his wife purchased her family a vehicle, the ABG official vehicle for the president was not returned till today.

Again, with James Tanis, when he was voted out of office in 2010 and seating President, John Momis getting in, James Tanis had destroyed in his single year of 2009 as president a official vehicle in an accident in the northern tip of Buka island and walked out of office with another vehicle which he sold and replaced with a truck that he used as a PMV to serve the Nagovis-Arawa road.

Ordinary people of Bougainville struggle to make ends meet; yet our lazy leaders are leaving office rich, and tell people that their island needs more money to run. More money for the island with this trend means more corruption and the derailing of the Bougainville progress to independence.

Can the current Bougainville Administrator, Raymond Masono and President, John Momis change this nerve wrecking issues? I wonder when the ABG will start going down to the people of Bougainville and their thoughts about their island.