PNG - Vote for the right leader, says Bougainville President Momis

Thu, 28 Jun 2012

BUKA, PNG (THE NATIONAL) ---- As more than 145,000 eligible voters go to the polls in Bougainville this week, Autonomous Region president John Momis is encouraging them to have the moral courage to vote for the right leader. In a statement, Momis said choosing the right leaders to represent Bougainville in the national parliament was crucial to the region?s progress towards the referendum for full autonomy or independence in 2015. ?This is the time when the power lies in the hands of every citizen of Papua New Guinea to elect the best MPs that will represent them.? Momis said the job of a politician was not to create his own business or use his office to advance his interests but to serve the needs of all people, including those who did not support him. He said elected public office holders were simply public servants and servants of the people.?Elect the best person who holds the interest of the people at heart and will serve you,? he said. It is not hard talking about it but put into practice, it is very difficult that is why I urge each voter to really scrutinise each candidate and vote for the person who will serve.? ?This huge privilege to graduate a person into the political seat rests in your hands. You have equal right, no matter where you are from, whether you are young or old or literate or not, that does not matter, you have the same right to cast your vote and only you have the right to say that out of that number of candidates contesting, we graduate this person, we elect this leader to represent us. This is a great privilege,? he said. He said as an independent Autonomous Bougainville Government, the Bougainville House of Representatives was independent from the national parliament and so it was important that the four elected Bougainville members respected and worked with the ABG. ?It is true that the winning candidate will be a member of the national government but that does not mean he will have authority over the ABG. The winning candidates must collaborate with the ABG to promote nothing but the best interest of the people of Bougainville.? Momis urged that the four members elected must be united in their effort to represent the people of Bougainville in the national parliament. ?Bougainville is a special case. We have a timeline to referendum that is three years away. If we do not have a united effort from our four elected members, and with the National Government and the people of Bougainville, things will not work out, people will be angry and we could end up having another very unstable region,? warned Momis.

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