Transcript
MAURICIO CLAUDIO: There isn't a whole lot of time left, which is unfortunate, because there was significant time but due to accumulated delays on the part of the two governments in funding and establishing the BRC we are now running out of time and find ourselves in a difficult situation. When it comes to enrolment, the phase two enrolment, which is the active face-to-face enrolment of voters, will commence, tentatively, at the end of May. It was supposed to start last month but for several reasons, including the fact that the BRC's funding has been chronically delayed and the funding that has arrived, has not arrived in the amounts pledged by the two governments. This has caused delays. The other reason was we were waiting for the national government, to approve a set of constitutional regulations which were required for enrolment. Those were only gazetted last week and there were some changes made to those constitutional regulations that required the BRC to put in place supplementary processes in order to get enrolment going. So enrolment will get underway at the end of this month. What I mean by enrolment is the active phase, face-to-face enrolment. There has been a desk exercise, phase one, which has started and will come to a conclusion soon. Generally speaking we are in a tough situation, given the fact we are facing funding shortfalls, delays in funding and delays in establishing the Bougainville Referendum Commission.
DON WISEMAN: I guess the thing is, are you going to run out of time?
MC: We are committed to delivering the referendum on the dates established by the two governments on March 1st. Those dates are August 16th for the issue of writs, that's less than 3 months away, and the start of polling on October 12th. It is ultimately for the governments to decide the date of the referendum, the BRC can only advise the governments on whether to go ahead or not, but for now the BRC is committed to delivering those dates. Of course those dates were premised on the timely receipt of sufficient funding, which has not, to date, been fulfilled
DW: Well the PNG government has said that its commitment made back in March, had been fulfilled as of a week or so ago.
MC: That is untrue. The commitments made at the March 1st JSB by the two governments was that the national government was going to provide for the BRC and the BRC alone, 30 million kina in funding. To be dispersed in three tranches of 10 million kina by the 11th day of the months of March, April and May. To date, at the end of May, the BRC has only received the first tranche of the three tranches promised by the national government, and that first tranche was not for the full 10 million kina - but only for 8.7 million kina. The BRC, to date, has not received the second tranche of 10 million kina and has not received the third tranche of ten million kina either.
DW: They are not being held by the autonomous government itself?
MC: I understand that it's working its way through the national government machinery, but the net effect, for what matters to the BRC, for getting the work down, for getting enrolments underway in a timely fashion, is not in whether the money is in the government machinery but whether the money or the funds promised by the national government are in the coffers of the BRC itself. That's what matters ultimately. That's where the rubber meets the road.
DW: There has been some support from foreign donors. Is it possible that the BRC, through its international connections, such as Bertie Ahern, that it could approach these donors and ask for additional funding?
MC: Yes international donors have been very supportive, have been very kind, and a lot of the work that the BRC has undertaken so far, in the absence of commission funding, has been due in large part to the support of international donors. The model, the assumption here, so far, is that the national government was going to show its commitment and provide the 30 million kina pledged on March 1st and then the donors would come in and pick up any gaps or shortfalls, but the donors, understandably, are reluctant to do so and provide additional funding, the funding required, until and unless the national government meets its obligations.
DW: The BRC has a key role in educating people about just what these two options for the referendum are. How is that work proceeding?
MC: Well the two options to be put to the voters on the referendum ballot are, independence or greater autonomy. Now the two governments are still engaged in defining what those two options mean, and this remains a work in progress. Obviously the BRC cannot go out and inform the voters fully on what these options mean until, and unless, the governments agree as to what these options mean. And we are still waiting for the governments to do so.
DW: It does sound like, to me, looking at this from a distance, that there are a number of factors here that are possibly going to lead to yet another delay in the referendum.
MC: Well, as I said before, the BRC is committed to delivering those dates established by the two governments. Obviously this requires both pro-active and active support and collaboration of the two governments. This requires the timely provision of sufficient funding, which to date hasn't taken place. There are many elements conspiring to put great pressures on those dates established by the two governments. And the output quality of the referendum has already suffered as a result of the delays in establishing the BRC and the delays in funding.
