Supreme Court to provide advisory opinion on 2013 Constitution

The Supreme Court of Fiji will provide an advisory opinion on the controversial 2013 Constitution today.

The court will sit at 2.30pm to hear the opinion following a week of hearing submissions last week.

During the interveners submission from August 18-21, the case triggered heated debate, with the Fiji Law Society (FLS) and the Fiji Labour Party (FLP) strongly opposing the Court’s involvement in the matter, arguing that it has no jurisdiction to alter or relax constitutional amendment provisions.

In their submission last week, FLS King’s Counsel Arthur Moses told the six-judge bench in the hearing that the question before the Court was political, not judicial.

“Our submission is that accepting that invitation would be a pervasion of judicial power. Courts interpret Constitutions, but you do not rewrite them; that is not your right,” KC Moses said during his submissions.

FLP representative Jagath Karunaratne in his submissions also cautioned the Court that lowering the threshold for constitutional change would erode democracy

“To do so would undermine both the supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law,” Karunaratne said. “What the State appears to be doing is an attack on the rule of law. It seeks to make it easier for them to change the Constitution at will and trample on minority rights.”

Unity Fiji, meanwhile, insisted that the 1997 Constitution remains the supreme law of the land as it was never lawfully abrogated.

Adding to the sharp exchanges, People’s Alliance lawyer Simione Valenitabua told the Court that the 2013 Constitution should be “obliterated” and replaced with the 1997 Constitution.

“We come before you not to tinker with the rigging of a sinking ship, but to ask you to condemn the hull. The hull itself needs to be condemned,” he said.

The Fiji Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission argued in favour of constitutional reform, saying the 2013 Constitution was imposed under a military regime and did not reflect the will of the people.

The Supreme Court is being asked by Cabinet, through the President, to answer five key questions, including whether certain provisions of the 2013 Constitution can ever be amended, whether amendments require a referendum, and whether the 1997 Constitution remains valid.

The six-member bench presiding over the matter includes Chief Justice Salesi Temo, President of the Court of Appeal Justice Isikeli Mataitoga, Justice Terrence Arnold, Madam Justice Lowarrd Gordald, Justice William Young, and Justice Robert French.