Delays affecting commission’s ops, chief exec exlains

THE Bougainville Referendum Commission (BRC) Secretariat, the implementing arm of the commission, is rather slow due to a series of delays accumulated over a decade, chief officer Mauricio Claudio says.
He said this in his presentation to the Bi-partisan Parliamentary Committee on Bougainville Affairs members led by acting chairman Joe Lera and members Isi Henry Leonard and Thomas Pelika on Monday.
Claudio said the PNG and Bougainville governments established the BRC on paper only in Oct 2017, 12 years after the Bougainville Peace Agreement allowed for its establishment.
He said the two governments appointed their chairman after seven months of its formal establishment, and the chairman came on board effectively 11 months after the establishment of the BRC.
Similarly, important appointments came just as slow, he said. The chief referendum officer (CRO) said BRC did not have fulltime staff except for him.
“It lacks sufficient equipment, vehicles and facilities and field officers,” he said.
Delays accumulated over months, years and a decade-plus now have negative direct implications for the integrity of the referendum, Claudio said.
“Another reason for low operational readiness is delays in funding. The BRC received from the national government the first tranche of funding of K8.7 million on March 28.
“This delay in funding has delayed the start of active enrolment for the referendum by at least by 17 days.”