Bougainville to frame questions for independence referendum
05 October 2015
ANTHONY KAYBING
BOUGAINVILLE President, Grand Chief Dr John Momis, has said that, with less than five years left in the referendum window of 2015–2020, his government hopes to reach an agreement with the PNG government on a number of important issues.
These include the questions to be asked during the referendum, determination of who is eligible to vote, the conduct of the referendum and the date of the referendum.
“It is very clear that time is not on our side and we must move fast,” Dr Momis said.
“The Autonomous Bougainville Government has already moved to implement a number of important initiatives that will strengthen government and public service machinery to enable it to effectively deliver services to our people and at the same time prepare them for the referendum,” he said.
Later this month there will be a referendum summit held in East New Britain Province.
The object of the summit is to seek consensus and understanding amongst key players from PNG and Bougainville about the way forward to staging the referendum and to consider issues that may arise from the referendum.
Comments