Ishmael Toroama has vowed to never stray from the three key pillars on which he campaigned to be elected the fourth president of Bougainville – fighting for independence, battling corruption and maintaining the rule of law.
Mr Toroama’s remarkable journey from revolutionary commander to peacemaker, cocoa farmer and president has captured the attention of the global community in what has been a momentous 12 months for Bougainville. Externally there is fascination in the man who will be leading negotiations with the PNG government regarding the historic 98 per cent vote for independence in last year’s referendum.
While the referendum vote was non-binding with the result needing to be ratified by the PNG parliament, President Toroama expresses hopes that Bougainville can secure nationhood within five years. “On my side, we will push hard for independence because that is the key issue on Bougainville,” he says.
President Toroama, 51, is of course a well-known and respected figure in Bougainville as the strength of his election victory demonstrates in defeating 24 other candidates and finishing more than 18,000 votes ahead of his nearest rival Father Simon Dumarinu. He stamped himself as a serious presidential contender back in 2015 when he ran second to John Momis, who at that time was elected to serve a second term as permitted under the constitution.
In his maiden speech, President Toroama was humble. “You had the difficult task of choosing me, from amongst the 25 candidates, all of whom are persons of high standing. Your choice of me as your president, proves that wisdom, knowledge and experience from the ‘University of Life’, still has a place in our Bougainville society,” he said.
President Toroama, leads a parliament in which 70 per cent are new members serving for the first time. He has made clear his desire to empower women and youth and for the first time appointed two women to cabinet in recognition of the “dynamic role that our women have in Bougainville society”. Theonila Roka Matbob is the new minister for education and Yolanda Geraldine Paul the minister for primary industries and marine resources.
President Toroama said Bougainville must embark on an exercise of long-term planning, beyond the medium-term plans that tend to gather dust in the offices of government.
“We must plan long term, say 40 years and have political commitment to such planning, so that Bougainville rises from the ashes into a vibrant economy, where the full potential and capacity of our citizens are fully harnessed,” he said.
President Toroama said objectives and expectations around new levels of service delivery must be realistic and await economic improvements. “We are only generating about 24 per cent of total budget from within Bougainville. Furthermore, COVID-19 has greatly impacted the global as well as the PNG economy. PNG has recently slashed its budget by K2 billion. So, all of this need to be taken into account as we are planning and implementing the strategies,” he said.
The president said his government would have a specific, targeted plan for growing the economy and while the Panguna mine would be a key consideration, all eggs would not be put in the one basket.
“My government has a number of specific large to medium project ideas in mining, agriculture, fisheries and tourism that will create employment and generate revenue for Bougainville,” he said.
“We welcome foreign investment, because without outside funding and technologies, we may not be able to exploit our natural resources. But we expect a fair share of return and participation, in the form of shareholding or equity in large scale projects. The medium to small enterprise sector must be controlled by our people.”
President Toroama said the years of crisis highlighted the innovative ability of the people and this spirit needed to be recaptured, to ensure Bougainvilleans were not bystanders on their own land.
“There were many new innovations at that time such as hydropower; coconut oil, new farming systems and even new architecture of village houses. The crisis liberated the thinking of Bougainvilleans,” he said.
On tackling corruption, President Toroama said the bible made it clear that if we want freedom, we must not keep bad company as bad company ruins morals. “We must get rid of any individuals, systems or institutions that are practicing corrupt behaviors. Corruption, whether it is true or a mere speculation, is damaging and we leaders must avoid putting ourselves in questionable situations,” he said.
President Toroama said enhanced law and order and the ongoing promotion of peace and unity were essential if Bougainville was to prosper socially and economically beyond the ratification and securing of independence. “Our dream of being masters of our destiny, will amount to nothing if we cannot behave in civil ways,” he said.
“I will be meeting with the law and order agencies here in Bougainville, to develop ways of combating increasing law and order issues especially drugs, homebrew, gender and family violence, stealing cars and so on.”