Presidential Statement to the Joint Supervisory Body Meeting
My Co-chair Honorable Prime Minister, James Marape, Members of your delegation, ABG Vice President Honorable Ezekiel Masatt, and ABG Members of the JSB, Chairman of the National Bipartisan Committee on Bougainville Matters, Speakers of the National and Bougainville parliaments, Heads of Diplomatic Missions, and people of Bougainville and Papua New Guinea.
First of all, let me thank you and acknowledge that this is the first JSB meeting of the ABG Fifth House of Representatives. It gives us the opportunity to progress dialogue following the signing of the Melanesian Agreement and its time bound processes.
However, Mr. Prime Minister, I have a grave concern that the two governments are beginning to behave in a manner that renders JSB resolutions irrelevant. As a negotiator and a signatory to the Peace Agreement, I wish to remind us that the JSB is the core structure that has held the Bougainville peace process together for the last 24 years.
I can still remember the inaugural Bougainville President the Late Joseph Kabui, who reminded us, the members of the BRA, and I quote, “that the peace process is not the end of the war on independence but rather, Bougainville is leaving the jungles and entering the jungles of the negotiation table.”
Therefore, the JSB is the very table where the two parties can continue to have peaceful dialogue on Bougainville’s independence in the controlled and respected environment of the JSB.
Mr. Prime Minister, the sanctity and constitutionality of the JSB is being demeaned; in using a state apparatus like the State Solicitors Office to open secret Trust Accounts, and to then get Finance & Treasury to deposit monies into that account, contrary to JSB Resolutions. It appears the law now takes precedence over the political agreements reached by the two governments through the JSB.
As you know very well Mr. Prime Minister, the JSB has legal mandate as the conflict resolution mechanism that has sustained the Bougainville Peace Agreement thus far.
It is the JSB that has provided the forum for both our governments to discuss and negotiate Bougainville’s Independence so it is only proper that the pivotal role that the JSB plays in sustaining peace on Bougainville, is genuinely acknowledged and recognized as a legally-mandated peacebuilding platform that has both, domestic justification and similarly, has full international acclaim.
Mr. Prime Minister, it is therefore deeply concerning that in this matter, though initiated by the ABG through the courts, the Regional Member for Bougainville and your state Minister has chosen to actively defend against the implementation of JSB-endorsed decisions on this funding. His public statements that the JSB Resolutions does not change the law, reflects a total disregard for the sanctity and constitutionality of the JSB as the legitimate body from which the Prime Minister’s Commitment funds originate. Such actions risk undermining the JSB’s authority. This is very dangerous and has the potential to be perilous to the peace process and to the constitutionality of the JSB itself.
My good Prime Minister, your passive silence throughout this saga is therefore, very telling indeed.
The upholding of Resolutions of the JSB and the sanctity of the JSB must be our joint priority through this peace process because it is this forum that has brought both our governments to this juncture of the peace process.
You know too well Mr. Prime Minister that the funding in question here and how it should be applied was something you yourself determined in the presence of Vice President Masatt, Tsiamalili Jr and Mr. Makiba in Port Moresby during Black Wednesday of January 2024.
Mr. Prime Minister, you determined that it should rightfully be remitted to the ABG to retire the outstanding RDG Arrears. This was subsequently captured in the JSB Resolution of May 8th 2024, giving legal effect to your commitment.
Your silence, therefore, Mr. Prime Minister, is equally as alarming and may suggest a degenerative view of the importance of the JSB.
Mr. Prime Minister, let me remind all of us again, including the international community, that it is the constitution and laws of PNG that continues to uphold peace on Bougainville. The conversation around Bougainville’s Independence has been amplified through the JSB and whilst this must remain the core agenda of our consultations, let me sound a warning here that any suggestions watering down or diluting the constitutional role of the JSB will prove fatal on many fronts.
I state this because it was those same laws that killed thousands of Bougainvilleans. It was that same constitution that turned murderous through decisions of the PNG parliament. You will therefore appreciate the mediatory role of the JSB in resolving these difficult issues. I trust you share these same views Mr. Prime Minister.
Mr. Prime Minister, I will state here that whilst national MPs from Bougainville may want to use any and all state resources at their disposal in preparation for the 2027 elections, let me go on record here and plainly state that there may not be national elections on Bougainville in 2027.
Mr. Prime Minister, my concern is that until and unless you recognize the legality and validity of the JSB resolutions; there is no point in furthering the main purpose of this JSB on the Melanesian Agreement, because statements and actions made by your state minister has the potential to nullify all JSB resolutions in the past, present and future.
Mr. Prime Minister, the JSB is not intended to be legalistic; it is about relationship.
Our main agenda in this JSB must be the implementation of the Melanesian Agreement signed on the 26th of June 2025, through a number of essential activities that will constitute a pathway to achieve this last leg of the process.
Mr. Prime Minister, we must endorse the Melanesian Agreement as the Framework to implement Bougainville’s independence, which must be guided by the sanctity of this JSB. Central to this, is an agreement on the form in which the sessional order will take.
Mr. Prime Minister our responsibility right now is to ensure that all work pertaining to the Melanesian Agreement concludes by June 2026.
Before I conclude Mr. Prime Minister, I want to acknowledge the work progressed by the two parliaments through the Parliamentary Partnership Agreement. I acknowledge that the National Parliament and Bougainville House of Representatives have a central and integral role to play in the process leading up to the National Parliament and thereafter.
Let me also acknowledge the National Bipartisan Committee on Bougainville Matters and we look forward to the outcomes of this nation-wide consultation program.
Finally, I want to thank the United Nations Secretary General for the opportunity to speak of Bougainville’s commitment to the Peace Agreement and the opportunity to present the Bougainville Memoir in person.
I thank the United Nations for support to the recently concluded moderation process, and I call on the UN to consider having a special Bougainville Peace Agreement Fund package to support the Governments of PNG and Bougainville on the Melanesian Agreement.
In conclusion, Co-chair Mr. Prime Minister, I believe this is the time when a Melanesian consensus can be reached through the 11th National Parliament that is simple and involves our ‘Melanesian pasin’, where you come with your story, I come with my story and the Melanesian Agreement is the masterpiece, which is……OUR STORY.
His Excellency Ishmael Toroama, MHR
President
[ Back to News ]
