Peace agreement still with issues, Powi says

THE Bougainville Peace Agreement (BPA) is an important matter for the country and must be attended to in a transparent and genuine manner, Southern Highlands Governor William Powi says.
Powi, a former chairman of the Parliamentary Bipartition Committee on the Bougainville Peace Agreement, made the remarks in Parliament yesterday when debating a report on the BPA presented by Bougainville Affairs Minister Sir Puka Temu.
“I was the former chairman of the Parliamentary Bipartition Committee on Bougainville Peace Agreement and there are a lot of outstanding issues,” Powi said.
“There’s a lot of issues of negligence on the side of the national government and all these were covered in a detailed report that my committee presented to this Parliament earlier on.
“The report is comprehensive and I want the new Government, under the leadership of Prime Minister James Marape, to revisit this report and implement the recommendations contained therein.”
Powi said the biggest issue facing the country was the issue of BPA and it had to be addressed through transparent and genuine dialogue.
“I recommend that the new Government immediately establish genuine and transparent consultation between ABG to look into how the many outstanding issues under the peace agreement can be addressed appropriately,” he said.
“The issues must be addressed in an open and transparent process before a vote can be taken by the people of Bougainville.
“But as it is, there’s a lot of issues on negligence in implementing the peace agreement and we must not shy away from it.
“We must stand up to address it together, and I call on the new government to immediately establish honest, transparent and genuine dialogue with the ABG and the people of Bougainville.”
Powi reiterated that what is due to the people of Bougainville had to be given to them as they were people of an autonomous government declared under the constitution and not a provincial government.