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Tsiamalili dead
By AUGUSTINE KINNA
BOUGAINVILLEANS were shocked to learn of
the death of Peter Tsiamalili, the administrator of the autonomous
region, yesterday.
Tsiamalili, 54, died while asleep in his village home in Amun along the
west coast of Bougainville. The cause of his death is not known, but an
ABG administration official contacted last night said it could be
related to a heart problem the founding administrator of the autonomous
region has complained recently about.
His relatives found him dead in his bed when they went to wake him up,
thinking he was still asleep.
The body of the late Mr Tsiamalili is now at the Buka General Hospital
morgue and will be flown to Port Moresby for a post mortem.
Funeral arrangements are being finalised by the ABG administration and
office of Bougainville Affairs in Port Moresby.
ABG President Joseph Kabui confirmed Mr Tsiamalili’s death and said the
people of Bougainville and ABG had lost one of its most important
servants.
Mr Kabui had worked with Mr Tsiamalili during the pre-crisis days when
Mr Kabui was the premier of Bougainville and Mr Tsiamalili was the head
of the administration, and he described the latter as someone with high
administrative values and standard, who will be hard to replace.
He said he had worked hard in putting in place the administrative
machinery in Bougainville, and to lose him with this initiative in its
infant stage, was a big blow.
He said in an urgent conference with all the chief executive officers of
respective divisions, he had made an appeal to all public servants in
the region to dig a little bit deeper into what they can offer in the
gap the late Mr Tsiamalili had now left behind.
“There is no body who can replace Mr Tsiamalili and the work that he had
done in the development of the region, but I call on individual public
servants to work extra harder to overcome the huge gap that he had now
completely left behind,” Mr Kabui said.
A public holiday was declared today as a mark of respect for Mr
Tsiamalili, who served as Department of Personnel Management secretary
before taking up the ABG job.
Mr Tsiamalili is survived by his wife Ruth and four children.
 
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