BCA to deliberate on second draft Constitution
The Bougainville Constituent Assembly (BCA) Meeting will convene today to discuss and deliberate on the Second Draft constitution.
The formation of the BCA is a next phase in Bougainville’s transition from autonomy to independence and began when the ABG President Hon. Ishmael Toroama tabled a motion in parliament to convert the autonomous region's House of Representatives into a Constituent Assembly, and that was unanimously passed by Bougainville parliamentarians.
The conversion of the House of Representatives into the BCA sets the stage for the deliberation and adoption of Bougainville's Independence Constitution, a critical step towards self-governance.
The BCA is made up of the elected members of the parliament representing 33 single member constituencies, three regional seats representing women, three regional seats representing veterans, and six appointed members representing the BCPC.
Its key role is to deliberate and adopt the draft constitution and the meetings are only held when matters concerning the constitution arises.
The functions of the Assembly are to:
- receive the second draft of the Constitution from the BCPC,
- consider, and subject to these rules and to the extent considered necessary by the Assembly to amend the second the draft
- approve and adopt the Constitution of the Republic of North Solomons, initially to come into effect on a date to be fixed by decision of the Assembly and to be stated in the constitution, such approval to be initially in principle, pending the outcome of the post-independence-referendum-decision-making-process on the future political status of Bougainville being conducted under the Bougainville Peace Agreement and Section 342 in Part XIV of the Constitution of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, scheduled to be completed by the date fixed for the issue of the writs for the fifth general elections for the ABG President and members of the House
- following the approval of the post-independence-referendum-decision-making-process on future political status of Bougainville, if the Assembly considers it appropriate, adopt the final draft Constitution of the Republic of North Solomons
- receive, consider, amend and adopt such organic laws, ordinary laws and standing orders as may be brought before the Assembly
- do other thing that may be necessary or desirable for ensuring a peaceful, orderly and effective preparation for the transition of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) to independence as the Republic of North Solomos
The first meeting will begin today at 10amBST and Bougainvilleans within Bougainville, across mainland PNG and abroad are encouraged to watch the sessions live on Bougainville TV on YouTube and or tune into NBC Bougainville live relay.
The constitution was drafted following views from the Bougainville citizenry from within Bougainville, across mainland Papua New Guinea (PNG) and abroad has a preamble, fourteen (14) chapters and eight (8) schedules.
According to a Senior Member of the Secretariat, Mr. Dennis Kuiai, the first seven chapters of constitution reflect views based on the referendum results for independence and the other remaining chapters reflect on transitional powers, Organic Laws, and Acts of Parliament, amongst others.
The BCA meeting will end on Friday 30th May 2025.
[ Back to News ]
