Toroama reaches out to ‘King’ Noah
24 January 2021
KEITH JACKSON
NOOSA – The Bougainville government continues to make headway in unifying his people as it prepares for consultations with the Papua New Government on independence for the autonomous province.
And on Friday it was with unity in mind that Bougainville president Ishmael Toroama met with U-Vistract leader Noah Musingku.
Musingku formed U-Vistract in 1997 at Tonu in Bougainville’s Siwai District.
As the Bougainville civil war raged, Musingku said he wanted “to create her [Bougainville’s] own independent and sovereign system in order to be free from the control of the other international financial and governing structure.”
He said his method would be “uprooting, pulling down, destroying and overthrowing the existing foreign control system”.
By 1999, the U-Vistract had extended to Australia where it operated a Christian mission.
But that ended in tears when Musingku was arrested and publicly belittled by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for offering an unlicensed securities and investment program.
That didn’t stop Musingku, who went on to construct what has been described as an elaborate Ponzi scheme drawing in ‘investors’ from around the world.
He proclaimed himself ‘King’ and distanced himself and his followers from the legitimate government of Bougainville.
For its part, after its inauguration in 2000, the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) has never recognised the U-Vistract faction as a separate government, but it remained as a thorn in its side.
That’s why, in the words of a statement from the Office of the President, there was “much apprehension over President Toroama’s visit to Tonu to visit the U-Vistract stronghold” on Friday.
But Toroama sees Musingku as an important stakeholder in the Bougainville peace process and he is eager to see the relationship soundly based.
Ostensibly Toroama was in Tonu to witness a reconciliation ceremony between Bougainville police minister Thomas Tari and the faction.
The reconciliation was necessitated by a 2006 assault on Tonu that led to several deaths and injuries and caused a serious rift between the ABG and U-Vistract.
It was seen by Toroama as a major step in unifying Bougainville and bringing the faction into alignment with the ABG.
The statement said president Toroama is firm in his resolve that the ABG is the only legitimate government on Bougainville.
“President Toroama said Bougainville is undergoing a spiritual and socioeconomic and political transformation and that those under the banner of the faction are encouraged to embrace it as it prepares for independence.
“He challenged Mr Misingku and his faction to unite with the rest of the region as it continues to consult with the national government.”
Toroama said the national government “will embrace the Bougainville process if the people unite and work together when they put aside their differences to create a prosperous Bougainville.
He also expressed his gratitude to the faction and the communities in the area for cooperating with the ABG.
Noah started trading as U-Vistract in 1993-94 in Port Moresby after he had stopped attending classes in the diploma of magisterial services program.
When he attended the first part of second semester he boasted to his cohorts that he was going into something big and bombastic.
U-Vistract was only for Bougainvilleans, so the Money Rain venture was the offshoot run by Jimmy Was and a Solomon Islander for non- Bougainvilleans, including Solomon Islanders. This started in 1996/97.
I think it was 1999 when Musingko was locked out of Burns House in downtown Port Moresby and he moved rural to Tonu in Bougainville.
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Between Richard Jones and you, you've made my afternoon, AG. Fascinating detail - KJ
Posted by: AG Satori | 02 February 2021 at 02:02 PM
Noah Musingku claimed to be an accountant at the height of his U-Vistract scheme. He may have been. But what is known is that he attended Unitech for architecture studies.
He did not complete that but was big in the National Union of Students movement. He then enrolled at UPNG with the last batch of students in Diploma in Magisterial Studies before it was abolished. He did not complete this program.
His purported Chief Magistrate, Maurice, was one of those enrolled in that last DMS program.
Noah's Musingku's adherents and investors claim him to be an accountant and a legitimate player.
Don't be taken.
Posted by: AG Satori | 02 February 2021 at 01:19 PM