Bills to be introduced for B’ville

By DELORESE TALASI
THE introduction of bills to amend the constitution of Bougainville to allow the president’s term to be extended to a third term and the ex-combatant seat for another term are to take place today.
According to the Post-Referendum Dialogue and Consultation Minister Albert Punghau, the bills will be presented to the Bougainville Minister for Justice Ezekiel Massat.
Punghau told The National that after the introduction of the bills, a special committee of 10 members would be sent out for consultation with the people, community chairmen, chiefs and church leaders.
He said the announcement of the 10 members would be made today during the introduction of the Bills.
“The special committee, who will be carrying out the consultation with the people, consists of three members from the three regions, North, Central and South.
“The chairman of the committee will be the Speaker of the Bougainville House of Representatives Simon Pentanu.
“The committee were given three months to do their consultation work and will come back to parliament to give reports which the Bougainville government will decide whether to go through with making the amendments as mentioned.”
Punghau said the Bougainville government was supposed to make three amendments but would proceed with only two.
“The third amendment to change the name of the government will not happen because the constitution touches part of the PNG Constitution and the PNG Government did not take time to make changes at their end,” he said. “However, we have provided a policy directive that the name change will happen after the 2020 election when the new government is formed.”
Amending the constitution for ex-combatants to retain their seats was important because they had contributed so much in bringing Bougainville to where it was now, Punghau said.
He said they wanted them to participate during the consultation and ratification period.
“The ex-combatants have played a very important role in drafting the Bougainville Peace Agreement, making sure the agreement was signed on the Aug 30, 2001, and were part of us making negotiations that led us to conduct a very successful referendum.
“They were the ones who defended the people of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville during the civil unrest against the national security.
“They fought for the freedom of Bougainville and now we are headed to finally getting what we want which is independence.”
The government also wants to amend the president’s term to allow President John Momis contest the election.