Table set for talks on Bougainville

PRIME Minister James Marape and Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama have agreed to convene a joint supervisory body meeting early this year in Bougainville.
The two leaders met last week in Port Moresby to discuss matters about the ratification, inter-governmental funding arrangements and other matters concerning the development and political future of Bougainville.
The President and Prime Minister were accompanied by Bougainville Attorney-General Ezekiel Masatt, Minister for Internal Security and regional member for Bougainville Peter Tsiamalili Jnr, Bougainville Affairs Minister Manasseh Makiba and South Bougainville MP Timothy Masiu.
On the matter of inter-governmental funding, Toroama expressed to Marape that he was only interested in funding that was constitutionally guaranteed to Bougainville.
Toroama made particular mention of the Restoration and Development Grant which is funding what is at the Bougainville government’s discretion and its outstanding arrears still owed to Bougainville.
Toroama told Marape that emphasis on inter-governmental funding for Bougainville should be on the Restoration and Development Grant (RDG) and tax remittance from internal revenue as opposed to other funding that was outside Autonomous Bougainville Government’s (ABG) purview.
It has long been a tendency for Bougainville to receive only a fraction of its annual budget funds from the national Government annually despite the national Budget showing Bougainville having the largest budget out of all the provinces.
In 2023, the ABG budget had a K100 million allocation for RDG funding and another K100 million for the Prime Minister’s annual commitment for Bougainville.
In reality, Bougainville received only K28 million for the 2023 RDG in stark contrast to K50 million for the PM’s commitment.