Aiyaz wants parliament and referendum threshold to be followed, AG stresses changes are necessary

As the coalition government gets ready to take the 2013 Constitution to the Supreme Court for a determination on the amendment provision, former Attorney General who is one of the main architects of the constitution, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says the government needs to follow the provision that states that 75 percent of MPs and 75 percent of the total registered voters in a national referendum have to agree to any changes.

Although the 2013 Constitution did not go through the parliamentary process before it came into effect and also did not go through the national referendum process, Sayed-Khaiyum says the document was born out of the People’s Charter process and the government should follow what is in the document.

When questioned regarding the immunity clause in the constitution to protect those who were behind the 1987 and 2006 coups, Sayed-Khaiyum says there was already an immunity provision in the previous constitution.

While speaking in support for amendments, Attorney General, Graham Leung had said the current amendment provision makes it one of the hardest Constitutions in the world to amend.

He says it seeks an impossible level of participation and consensus, and it was meant to be that way to preserve forever the handiwork of those who imposed the 2013 Constitution.

Leung says it is not a mechanism to support popular sovereignty - it is and was deliberately designed to be a measures to defeat the will of the people and to exercise perpetual control over them.

He stresses the last Constitution of Fiji that was established by a democratic process, was the 1997 Constitution and it was the product of a review, chaired by the former Governor General of New Zealand, Sir Paul Reeves, and that Constitution, was passed unanimously by the bicameral legislature of Fiji at the time.

Leung adds there are some noble features in the 2013 Constitution and they are not saying that it is wholly bad.

He says for example, equal citizenship, non-discrimination, reduction in the voting age to 18, parts of the Bill of Rights and a common name for our citizens are commendable provisions, and he supports them.

Leung says there is absolutely no intention to change the foundations of the Constitution but there are other parts, of this Constitution which are troubling and should be changed.

He says there is nothing democratic about a constitution which allows for someone with 500 votes to enter Parliament, and yet it shuts the door on a candidate who has received 5000 votes.

Leung says this Constitution does not permit the holding of by-election, and it deprives voters of a chance to assess their support of the sitting Government or of the candidate that has vacated the seat.

He says with due respect, 71 references to the office of the Attorney General and the Attorney himself, is unacceptable, and it vests power in one individual and could be a potential for abuse in the wrong hands.

Leung says if you look at the Section 6(5) of the Bill of Rights, it allows for limitations of human rights that are not specifically laid out in the Constitution.