97.7% REFERENDUM RESULT AN OUTCOME OF FRUSTRATION SAYS NORTH BOUGAINVILLE MP

By Nigel Mado

The 2019 Bougainville Referendum results without a shred of doubt, shocked the nation after the Government, in adherence to the 2002 Bougainville Peace Agreement, staged a referendum to decide the future of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville [AROB].

The Bougainville Crisis as many refer to, were the events that occurred between 1987 and 1998 that led to the loss of over 20, 000 lives in the region and almost 20 years on, the Bougainville people are still healing from the aftermath of the war, and hope that one day they may be able to walk away and start anew.

But this could not have been the case, as explained by North Bougainville MP, Francesca Semoso when speaking on the FM100 Community Corner Program this week. She explained that after the turmoil and destruction, people on Bougainville were left wondering why, their own nation would raise their own army against her people.
Coupled with the frustration of being neglect after the ceasefire agreement and disarmament of the security forces on both sides, it was bound to happen.

“The vote, the 97.7 vote was a vote of anger and a vote of frustration,” Semoso said.

“Had you looked after my people when peace came back, when peace had come back, had you got on your knees and started looking after my people, you would not have seen that 97.7. That’s a vote of anger and a vote of frustration.”

She explained that many of the roads linking major ports and key infrastructure in the region were all left or forgotten and now remain derelict.

“It’s nil. We have all health clinics throughout the nation that are sitting idle over there. We’ve got, all aid posts, we’ve got clinics that used to operate before, the time before 1975. We had churches run health centers that were thriving. We had health centers run by the government that were thriving at that time. What happened to it?”

“We got independence in 1975. What happened to that? You may think that you may come up good, but we’re nose diving now. The basics are not basics anymore. The roads are not roads anymore. They’re now tracks.”

She said right now the country needs leadership and they need leaders in the House of Parliament now that are going to be compassionate about what’s happening in this country.

Pic: Supplied