A TRIBUTE BY
RT HON. GRAND CHIEF SIR MICHAEL SOMARE
Prime Minister
AT THE STATE FUNERAL FOR THE LATE PRESIDENT OF THE AUTONOMOUS BOUGAINVILLE GOVERNMENT, HON. JOSEPH KABUI
[St Joseph's Church Boroko, 10 June 2008]
Acknowledgements
On behalf of the National Government and the people of Papua New Guinea, I offer our sincere condolences to the wife, Rose, and the four daughters – Alfreda, Josepha, Vicky and Liza – and other relatives and many friends on the untimely death of the late Joseph Canisius Kabui.
His family, friends, and people of Bougainville are very much in our thoughts and prayers at this very sad time.
The late Joseph Kabui was a good family man; an active member of his local community; and, as the first elected president of the Autonomous Bougainville Government, a prominent Bougainville leader.
But, above all, he was a man who was strongly committed to peace.
This can be seen in the various efforts in which he participated, his role in negotiations, and the agreements he helped make and then signed in order to restore peace in Bougainville.
It was plain for all to see in the way he stood for election as president of the Autonomous Bougainville Government, and then assumed the responsibilities of this office under the part of our National Constitution which gives legal effect to the Bougainville Peace Agreement.
The goal of this part of the Constitution is made clear in its name – ‘Peace-Building in Bougainville’.
Like other young Papua New Guineans, the late president began his education at a local primary school.
He continued his secondary education and undertook much of his higher education at church institutions before going on to the University of Papua New Guinea.
Having worked in various capacities for the Bougainville Mining Workers’ Union, he stood for election to the North Solomons Provincial Government in 1984.
Within two years, he had made a sufficiently strong impression to be appointed a minister.
In 1987, he became premier. He was re-elected to the position in the following year.
As premier, he played a leading part in efforts to negotiate the resolution of issues and tensions arising from the mining project at Panguna.
Unfortunately, these efforts did not succeed.
The terrible Bougainville conflict followed. Joseph Kabui chose to remain in Bougainville.
He continued to work to bring Bougainvilleans together, and to participate in negotiations to restore peace.
Thus it is that his signature appears on many of the most important building-blocks which have helped to make and build peace in Bougainville.
These include agreements which helped bring Bougainvilleans together from the 1997 Burnham Declaration on.
They also include the agreements through which peace has been made within the framework of the Papua New Guinea Constitution, which provides for the development of Bougainville autonomy and a guaranteed referendum on Bougainville’s political future.
In this regard, the Lincoln Agreement and the other agreements leading up to the Bougainville Peace Agreement stand out – with their firm commitments by National and Bougainville leaders to make and keep working together to build lasting peace by peaceful means.
As one who stood on the beachfront at Buka almost nine years ago, challenging Bougainvillean leaders to come together, I respect what he and other Bougainville leaders worked hard to achieve.
Following several years of detailed, at times difficult, negotiations, this eventually led to the signing of the Bougainville Peace Agreement.
The Agreement was followed by the drafting and passage of the national constitutional laws which give it legal effect through the Papua New Guinea Constitution.
Meanwhile, the constitutionally appointed Governor of Bougainville, John Momis, and Joseph Kabui, on behalf of his followers, agreed to an arrangement under which they worked closely together to restore order, prepare and begin giving effect to plans for reconstruction, and promote future development in Bougainville.
Joseph Kabui then chaired the Commission which drafted the new constitution for an autonomous Bougainville.
The Bougainville Constitution was made and adopted with the authority of our National Constitution, and operates in accordance with its provisions.
When the late Joseph Kabui stood for the ABG presidency, he was doing so within the framework of a part of our National Constitution and an organic law specifically committed, as their names make clear, to ‘Peace-Building in Bougainville – Autonomous Bougainville Government and Bougainville Referendum’.
When he was elected, he swore to respect and uphold the same laws. He did so because of his commitment to peace.
He continued to work hard in meeting his responsibilities as ABG President, despite failing health.
We mourn him today – as a husband, father and relative, a proud Bougainvillean and Papua New Guinean, and a man who, despite everything else, was committed to peace.
Like other politicians, we had our differences. We did not always agree.
We engaged in some very tough negotiations in pursuit of agreements which would provide a sound basis for peace.
In doing so, we looked beyond previous differences and worked together in order to make and build peace.
We kept in close contact until shortly before the ABG President’s untimely death.
May the late Joseph Kabui’s commitment to peace be his legacy to his dear wife and daughters and their extended family, the people of Bougainville, and Papua New Guinea as a whole.
May the Good Lord bless us all, as we mourn for the sad loss of the person we all knew as Joseph Canisius Kabui, a man whose lasting legacy will, we all pray, be peace.
May the Late Hon. Joseph Canisius Kabui Rest in Peace.
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