Fiji’s new constitution to be regarded as sacred document - CC member

Posted at 22:46 on 04 September, 2012 UTC

A member of the Fiji Constitution Commission, Professor Satendra Nandan, says the country’s new constitution will need to be regarded as a sacred document - created for the people by the people of Fiji so that no one can destroy it.

Fiji has abrogated three constitutions since 1970 which, he says, speaks volumes of the ignorance and lack of understanding Fijians have towards the document.

The Fiji Times reports Professor Nandan saying the people should treat the document like Fijians treasure their land and culture.

Professor Nandan says only 500 submissions had been received by the commission in the past month.

He says this was not a good sign because a lot of people still do not understand how important the document would be in their lives and the lives of their children.

Professor Nandan says people should regard the constitution as sacred, as they do for the Bible and other religious texts.

Another commissioner, Peni Moore, says people should not be swayed by groups feeding them information to submit to the Commission.

She says many people have submitted issues that did not affect their livelihoods while some people had submitted orchestrated comments from various groups.