leaders want people to decide future

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK

THE reopening of the Panguna mine was a sensitive issue and will only be decided by the landowners, including Francis Ona.
This is the view of Joseph Kabui, Joel Banaam, and John Momis, three candidates contesting the presidency of the Autonomous Bougainville Government.
The mine was shut down when the Bougainville uprising started in 1990. It has remained shut since.
The three leaders stated their views in separate interviews on Saturday in Buka town.
“The re-opening of the mine is a sensitive issue,” Mr Kabui said. “But it does not stop us from negotiating with BCL and the landowners to re-open it. There are some financial things to consider before re-opening the mine. But then only time will tell. We have also included an agenda of the re-opening in our Constitution and only the people will decide. We want to be careful as we have seen from the mistakes that BCL had caused that had resulted in this lengthy crisis,” he said.
Mr Banaam said that he does trust BCL to operate the mine again as they have contributed to the crisis.
“We have to bring in another developer to re-open the mine. Also we have to talk to Francis Ona and must include him in the negotiation to re-open the mine,” he said.
Mr Momis said Mr Ona had talked to him regarding the issue of re-opening the mine.
“Mr Ona only wants a good agreement between the Autonomous Government and the developer to develop the mine. This is necessary so that the mine will not cause any inconveniences but will benefit the developer, Landowners and the Bougainvilleans,” he said.
Mr Momis also said that apart from the Panguna mine, there are other mineral and oil exploration prospects throughout the province.