PM: Govt starts work to amend Constitution

Government has started the process of putting in place legislation or a Bill for Parliament to amend the 2013 Constitution.

This was confirmed by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka yesterday outside the Centenary Church, Suva.

The Constitution of Fiji provides for its own amendment.

The 2013 Fiji Constitution allows for amendments to be made to the Constitution.

According to this process, Parliament must pass a Bill in order to amend the Constitution. The Bill must be supported by the votes of at least three-quarters of the Members of Parliament.

“Government is putting in place legislation or bringing a bill to Parliament to enable the process to begin,” Mr Rabuka said.

Mr Rabuka was asked about Australian National University’s Constitutional Law Professor Anthony James Regan’s comments on the excessive concentration of powers given to the PM and Attorney-General in the 2013 Constitution.

Mr Regan spoke during the Fiji National University’s Vice-Chancellor’s Leadership Seminar last Thursday night in Suva.

Mr Rabuka said that power could only be exercised through Parliament.

“I welcome what he said, it was an eye-opener for many, but it is also something most of us have been considering,” Mr Rabuka said.

“I was going to ask that night about the last point of legitimacy. This is when he mentioned that the promulgation process adopted for the 2013 Constitution was not in accordance with what had been decreed as the proper process. He was referring more to the process itself. If we were to seek an opinion, it would be about whether the process was followed correctly.

“Granting them (PM and the A-G) the powers they have under the 2013 Constitution is unusual.”

The 2013 Constitution mentions the Prime Minister 111 times and the Attorney-General 66 times.

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