Exercise caution, don’t weaken constitution, FLP tells Court

The Fiji Labour Party has urged the Supreme Court to exercise extreme caution in considering the State’s push to relax the amendment provisions of the 2013 Constitution warning that such a move would amount to an attack on the rule of law and human rights.

FLP lawyer Jagath Karunaratne told the six-judge bench in Suva that the State’s argument risked reducing the Constitution to the level of an ordinary parliamentary bill, allowing governments to “change the Constitution at will” and trample on minority rights.

“What the State appears to be doing in these proceedings is, we submit respectfully, is an attack on the rule of law,” Karunaratne said.

“It seeks to make it easier for them to change the Constitution, so that they do not have to respect human and minority rights if it becomes inconvenient to the majority. This is an attempt to revert back to the rule of man.”

Karunaratne said democracy was not just about elections, but about protecting human dignity, rights and judicial independence.

He warned that lowering the threshold for constitutional amendments would erode those protections.

Background:

The Supreme Court of Fiji is hearing arguments this week on the government’s request for an opinion regarding proposed amendments to the 2013 Constitution.

Nine interveners, including the Office of the Solicitor-General representing the State, will present submissions before six judges at the Veiuto Court Complex in Suva.

The six judges are Chief Justice Salesi Temo, President of Court of Appeal, Justice Isikeli Mataitoga, Justice Terrence Arnold, Madam Justice Lowarrd Gordald, Justice William Young and Justice Robert French.

Cabinet is seeking the opinion of the Supreme Court through five questions including:

• Are the provisions of Chapter 11 and Part D of Chapter 12 of the Constitution of the Republic of Fiji binding on the people of Fiji, the Parliament of Fiji and the Supreme Court with the effect that none of those provisions can ever be amended, regardless of the will of Parliament or of the people voting in a referendum?
• May the provisions referred to in (1) be amended following the enactment of a Bill in Parliament to do so, in terms thought fit by Parliament?
• Is the approval of any amendment proposed in accordance with (2) effective only if approved by the people of Fiji at a referendum?
• Is any special majority, and if so in what proportion, necessary for an enactment under (2) or approval by referendum under (3)?
• Is the 1997 Constitution still valid and applicable?