Constitution bill is 'legally flawed', says former A-G
He wants MPs to look beyond party politics and hopes the Bill will fail at the third reading.
Wednesday 21 October 2026 | 10:30
Updated 21 October 2026 | 12:13 FJT
Former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum (left) with younger brother Riyaz on October 19, 2026.
Photo: Ronald Kumar
Former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has claimed the proposed Constitution Amendment Bill contains a legal flaw.
He questioned why the President can bring the new Constitution into force before its stated commencement date.
Speaking to social media content creator Semesa Tuicolo, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said the draft set March 31, 2028, as the date the proposed Constitution would come into force, but also gave the President the power to set an earlier date by proclamation.
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He said the two provisions raised questions about when the new Constitution would actually take effect.
“It is legally flawed,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.
Under Section 2 of the draft Bill, the Act would come into force on March 31, 2028. Section 211(2) also states that the proposed Constitution would come into force on that date.
However, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum pointed to another provision allowing the President to proclaim an earlier commencement date.
He argued that this created uncertainty and conflicted with the requirements of the existing Constitution.
“The people in Fiji need to know exactly when it’s going to start,” he said.
“If it’s got a date on it, like they’ve got here in Section 2, 31 March 2028, that’s the date it’s going to start on. But then they put in, ‘but he may bring it in sooner’.”
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said the Constitution was the supreme law of the country and that the process for amending it had to be followed carefully.
He also criticised the wider review process, saying the Government had given the Constitution Review Commission only five months to carry out its work and that public consultations had been rushed.
He claimed there had not been enough time for meaningful debate and said the proposed changes should not be supported.
“I’m hoping that it will fail at the third reading,” he said, urging Members of Parliament to consider the Bill beyond party politics.
The proposed amendment is part of a wider review of the 2013 Constitution. Under the amendment process, the Bill must pass the required parliamentary stages before proceeding to a referendum, if approved.
