Amending provisions of the new Constitution

September 8, 2012 | Filed under: Fiji News | Posted by: newsroom
By Maika Bolatiki

There is no provision in the both the Fiji Constitutional Process (Constituent Assembly and Adoption of Constitution) Decree 2012 and the Fiji Constitutional Process (Constitution Commission) Decree 2012 for the new Constitution to be referred to parliament after the 2014 general elections.

Reacting to the Fiji Sun question on whether the new Constitution will be referred to the new parliament after the 2014 general elections, the chairman of the Constitution Commission, Professor Yash Ghai said, “There is no provision for it in the decrees.”

However he said the new Constitution would no doubt make a provision for its amendment.

“The new constitution will no doubt make a provision for its amendment.”

The Prime Minister, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama had earlier outlined how the draft Constitution would be passed.  He said the President would receive the draft Constitution and pass it to the Constituent Assembly. The Assembly, he said, would consist of a broad cross-section of society and would be a truly representative body.

“The Constituent Assembly will then review the draft Constitution. The members will have an open and public discussion of its contents and make whatever amendments it deems appropriate and necessary before returning their version of the Constitution to the President,” the Prime Minister said.

The President, he said, in turn would submit the draft Constitution to a judicial panel that would review the document to ensure that it adhered to the non-negotiable principles.

“If it does, then the President will assent to it. If it does not, it will be returned to the Constituent Assembly for further review and compliance.”

Professor Ghai has urged members of the pubic to come forward and make their submissions.