If you want redemption, you have to confess it: Speight

Fiji cannot achieve genuine reconciliation without first acknowledging past wrongdoing, former coup leader George Speight told the Constitution Review Commission yesterday.

Mr Speight said accountability and confession were essential for rebuilding trust and moving the country forward.

"If you want redemption, you have to confess it," he said.

Quoting from Proverbs, he said those who admitted their wrongdoing would find mercy, while those who tried to hide it would never prosper.

Mr Speight said the same principle applied to individuals, families, organisations and governments.

"The first thing is recognising that there's been a wrong that's been committed," he said.

Having spent 24 years in prison, Mr Speight said he accepted responsibility for his own actions and believed healing could only begin when others accepted responsibility for theirs.

He said his submission was not motivated by anger or revenge but by a belief that justice and mercy could exist together in rebuilding the nation.