Momis looks set to win

FORMER Papua New Guinea ambassador to China John Momis is confident of becoming president of Bougainville, The National reports.

As of last night, Momis was leading incumbent President James Tanis by a comfortable margin.

When The National went to press, Momis polled 25,134 votes to Tanis’ 13,875 votes, a difference of over 11,000.

The five other candidates were not polling well enough to pose any threat to the two.

He told Radio New Zealand that baring any foul play, he would win because he had wide support.

Momis said once elected, he would get straight to work to ensure Bougainville moved away from dependency on aid, and ensure weapons disposal was completed quickly.

“I have a two-pronged approach to reconstruct the economy of Bougainville. One is to find ways and means of enabling the people to raise income for themselves and their families.

“We must not be made to be dependent on the government.

“The other approach will be to find ways and means of enabling the government to go into big projects which would involve joint venture businesses with good credible foreign partners, to generate revenue for the government.”

He said his government would use the increased revenue to provide badly needed services like education, health and infrastructure.

“Bougainville is rich with natural resources in many, many areas. That is something that we must do. We can’t be forever dependent on handouts,” he said.

He said the Tanis government had failed to tackle the problem of weapon disposal in a meaningful way, and that would be one of his first priorities.