B’ville affairs coordination office not working: Sansan

THE National Coordination Office of Bougainville Affairs (NCOBA) has been created to coordinate things between the national government and the Autonomous Bougainville Government but it is not working, it has been revealed.
Department of Personnel Management Secretary Taies Sansan told the parliamentary committee on Bougainville matters that the office had not been performing its core functions of coordination.
She said the entity needed to be transferred back to the Department of Prime Minister and the National Executive Council so it could do its job better.
She said the national coordination office of Bougainville Affairs did not have the personnel or funding so it would be better if it was transferred or its functions transferred to the Department of Prime Minister and National Executive Council so that it was more proactive.
Samarai-Murua MP Isi Henry Leonard, a member of the Parliamentary Bipartisan Committee on Bougainville Matters, said that a lot of people in Bougainville asked about the functions of the NCOBA as it did not seem to be working.
He said while people understood that NCOBA had a big responsibility in becoming an agent between the national government and the Bougainville government, it should be fully resourced and financed but that had not been the case.
Leonard said the national government should make sure the NCOBA was funded to allow it to perform its core functions.
NCOBA acting director John Anuma said funding had been an issue for them as the annual funding of K1 million was for personnel emoluments and goods and services in running the office.
However, he said the good news was that the national government had approved K30 million of the K45 million budget submission made.