Minister for Bougainville Affairs, Manaseh Makiba has called on Parliament to be mindful of the Bougainville peace agreement and the subsequent constitutional amendments contained in part 14 of the constitution of when looking to address the final phase of the Bougainville Peace Process. Minister Makiba made this statement in parliament on Tuesday, stressing that the thought of independence and self-determination of the people of Bougainville pre-existed the country’s independence. “Parliament must give thought of the fact that independence was stressed as one of the choices for the referendum in the BPA for reasons.” “Parliament must be mindful that the Bougainville people’s aspiration for self-determination pre-existed PNG’s independence as well.” He stated that the Bougainville Peace agreement has already achieved by their 3 pillars, Autonomy, Weapons disposal, and Referendum and as they approach the final stages of the Peace process, urged everyone to abide by the due process of law and uphold the final decision of the National Parliament. Minister Makiba noted that at this stage whatever decision the parliament made on the referendum result will still influence the constitution of the country to give practical effect to the decision whether in favour of the independence or to retain the current system. “Should the parliament pass a resolution accepting the results of the referendum, the constitution will need to be amended to allow part of the country to be independent.” He added that should the Parliament refuse to endorse or accept the results of the referendum the constitution will need to be reviewed to maintain the current autonomous government structure or replace it with another.