Govt and ABG

THE Government has failed to work with the Autonomous Bougainville Government to implement most of the resolutions agreed to in many previous
joint supervisory board (JSB) meetings.
First, the Government failed to facilitate the full transfer of powers and functions that are available to Bougainville under the PNG Constitution.
The only powers that were transferred to the ABG are social services powers such as education.
But even after transferring those powers, the PNG Government failed to provide support to train people in Bougainville to effectively exercise those powers.
For the transfer of health powers, the government never cooperated well with the ABG.
The transfer of economic or income-regenerating powers was a disaster and done at snail’s pace.
The transfer of fisheries powers was delayed.
Until today there is no fisheries authority in Bougainville to exercise the available powers which would result in generating fisheries income for Bougainville.
The internal revenue powers were also at snail’s pace: 4000 teachers who teach in Bougainville do not pay tax to the ABG directly because the positions they occupy are all national.
Something must be done so that the tax they pay goes directly to the ABG.
The disaster in transferring and implementing economic powers has caused the ABG real difficulties to raise its internal revenue,
thereby making Bougainville heavily dependent to the PNG Government.
It is obvious that this may have been a National Government tactic so that while the ABG is made incapable of raising its own
internal revenue in the end, it will forgo its interest to pursue independence.

Marus Hasing