North Fly MP James Donald has raised concern over the “lack of transparency” with the recent signing of the 12th Supplementary Agreement of Ok Tedi Mine.
He said that representatives from the affected communities within the Community Mine Continuation Agreement or CMCA corridor and the heads of the Fly River Provincial Government, both administration and political leaders, were not given full disclosure of the agreement.
“It is surprising to learn that there was no full disclosure of the agreement. Even I asked in our political leaders meeting with OTML for them to disclose the 12th Supplementary Agreement draft but they never produced to us leaders that day before the signing took place the next day,” Mr Donald said.
“My Governor and Provincial Administrator saw it fit to blindly sign without knowing what was in the agreement. Something, I think only a foolish person can do that, and I make no apologies for this statement. I take my hats off to the three OTML Mine CMCA Trust regions who didn’t sign in the recent 12th Supplementary Agreement. They are Tutuwe Trust, Nupmo Trust and Middle Fly Trust. Your stand and position are well acknowledged and appreciated.
“Those other five (5) Trust regions who had signed in fear of losing the benefits even without knowing what they were actually signing for, mustn’t regret and cry foul when things don’t come as you expected in the future. I have observed you all fought hard and negotiated so well but in the end you gave in so easily. The four of the trust regions are badly affected by the mine waste down river but yet they easily signed off the agreement.
“Let me place it on record that I am neither talking politics nor about any personal gain, but rather speaking my honest view as local MP with genuineness for our benefit at large and for our future generation of Western Province.
“Tingting blo mipla sampla i bin yumi kilim cow pastem na yumi skelim husait bai kisim wanem hap mit blo cow. Abrus ya yumi go kilim mutmut na hau bai yumi stretim olgeta hauslain. (Our thoughts had been to broker a better deal for all of us to distribute equitably but unfortunately, this is not the case! How are we all going to equitably distribute with the least we had signed for?)
“I listened carefully with one speaker saying he was a commander with weak soldiers and didn’t have strong bargaining power. For me, this was an insult to the people of Western Province at large. We have a strong bargaining power, and we’ve already come of age and we know what we are capable of doing. We’ve learned our mistakes, and we know what to do now.
“We are always known for being too soft and easily influenced and manipulated. Wanem taim bai yumi gat bol olsem speaker bin tok lo haus parliament. (When are we going to stand up as a man and not to be influenced or manipulated by others, just as what the Speaker had said during a session in Parliament).