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Tiensten On East New Britain Autonomy

Pomio MP, Paul Tiensten, has lashed out at the Autonomy Committees of East New Britain and New Ireland provinces, demanding the National Government, to declare them autonomous by June 30 this year.

Mr. Tiensten said he has not received copies of the type of autonomy proposed for the East New Britain Province.

 

He said the people must be made aware of the costs and benefits, which they are likely to receive from being autonomous, against what they are getting from the current provincial government system.

 

Mr. Tiensten said autonomy should not be rushed for East New Britain Province. He said he is not aware of the province’s stance and its capability to be declared autonomous.

 

He also said he never received copies of the letters issued by the autonomy committees for East New Britain and New Ireland Provinces, urging the national government, to grant autonomy to the two provinces by June 30.

 

Mr. Tiensten said rather, the current political system needs to be reviewed and tailored towards empowering the people, to have quality of life to meet the challenges of life in the 21st Century.

 

He said with such change, the National Government will only be responsible for key National Functions such as Defence and Foreign Affairs and Trade, and will retain 30% of revenues from all resources of the country.

 

This and other important information about autonomy, such as the new roles and functions of each leadership role amongst others, need to be made known to all communities in the province.

 

Mr. Tiensten said it is important that the people know the costs and benefits, which they are likely to receive as an autonomous province against what they are getting from the province, under the current provincial government system.

 

He said Pomio has been unfairly treated by successive provincial governments, and there is no guarantee that they will be treated differently under the proposed autonomous system for the province.

 

Therefore, he suggested that East New Britain adopt the provincial autonomous government system by replacing the existing provincial government system or consider another system altogether.

 

Meanwhile, Mr Tiensten’s sentencing on the K10 million misapplied when he was the National Planning and Monitoring Minister, will be heard this Friday at the Waigani National Court House.

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