Changing and consolidating the laws of Fiji was necessary to make it more applicable to Fiji today and the time and age the world is in.

And, in sharing the process with participants at the APAC Leadership Conference at the Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay in Nadroga, Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said the consolidation of the laws was a move in the right direction and was welcomed widely.

“It keeps various regulators in check. It contributes to reducing corruption because when the laws aren’t available readily you may have some people who serve over the counter in giving a particular licence can basically tell them whatever they feel like.

“The changes have had an enormous impact and we are keen to make things easy and applicable.

“The idea is to make the law readily available to many Fijians as possible and to simplify the law. And we have our Constitutional provision that says that legal aid is actually mandatory.

“So we now have legal aid officers throughout Fiji in rural centres, which is great, but we need to have the laws available there, too.”

Deputy Solicitor-General Tracy Wong concurred with the Attorney-General that having the Fiji laws available online would be a big boost to everyone connected to Fiji.

“We are working with Nexis Lexis to put the laws of Fiji online. So in terms of giving greater access to the public and in terms of technology, that is going to assist the rule of law, as we get this project up and running,’’ Ms Wong said.

“This will be a big impact because the laws will be available easily. We are making it mobile-ready so people can have it on their mobile (phones).”

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said this would be a major move for Fiji.

“We want to make the laws available online so investors can have a look at it before coming to Fiji,” Mr Sayed Khaiyum said.

“Back in 2008, we went and ratified the Union Convention against Corruption unreservedly, we then also put ourselves up for the peer review programme, so every couple of years we have independent countries coming up to assess us on our compliance.

“These tools are very critical to ensure that our compliance is greatly enhanced.”

The APAC Leadership Conference is a gathering of professionals from around the Asia Pacific region.

Edited by George Kulamaiwasa

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