Transfer all powers to ABG, PM tells ministers

PRIME Minister James Marape has directed Cabinet ministers to immediately transfer all relevant powers meant for the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG).
“I am ashamed to say that out of the 59 powers envisioned for Bougainville, only 11 were transferred. That is not good on our part,” Marape said.
He attended Wednesday’s meeting of the joint supervisory body (JSB) in Port Moresby with ABG President Ishmael Toroama and officials from the PNG and ABG governments.
“The Government, for the last 23 years, has not fully transferred all powers and I do not need to justify this. But when I was minister for education in 2009, education was the first function I transferred to Bougainville,” Marape said.
The transfer of financial powers was highlighted in the JSB meeting.
It included the transfer of financial powers that the ABG had requested in one of its recent engagements with the Government.
Last year, Marape committed K1 billion additional support to Bougainville over 10 years – at K100 million per year.
“My call on Bougainville is to be independent ready, economically ready, and must ensure to be consistent and functional,” Marape said.
“Part of the reason the (referendum) vote was as high as 97.7 percent is an indication that Waigani is willing to fully give the power to Bougainville, not just in money terms, but in every other functional power.”
Toroama said his government had a position to discontinue the commitment of K100 million per annum to the ABG post-2024 and convert it in the 2024 national budget and 2024 ABG budget into an annual rural development grant.
Marape said the future decision on Bougainville’s referendum for independence was uncertain.
This is because the results of the referendum will be determined in Parliament, guided by the constitution and legal processes.
The majority vote of the 118-member Parliament will determine the final decision on Bougainville’s political future.
“The Bougainville peace agreement makes its explicit for the parliament to make a decision on this as per the constitution,” Marape said.
The 2001 peace agreement has three pillars: autonomy, referendum and weapons disposal.
It states that the results of the referendum of independence as per the contents of the agreement is subject to a final decision of Parliament.