11 Jan 2013

Fiji regime's constitution move reneging on commitment to people: trade unions

1:55 pm on 11 January 2013

The Fiji Trades Union Congress says the interim government's decision to dispose of the draft constitution is in breach of its commitment to the people and the international community.

The regime has dumped the draft constitution produced by Professor Yash Ghai's Constitution Commission and given its legal team until the end of the month to produce a new one.

It says the new draft will then go to a constituent assembly for debate, and a new constitution should be in place by March.

But the national secretary of the Congress, Felix Anthony, says the regime's own decrees require the document to be the result of the full, inclusive and fair participation of all people in Fiji.

"The Commission received altogether in excess of 7,000 submissions from the people and the commitment that the regime had given to the people was that it was going to respect the will and the aspirations of the people. Now if they're going to rewrite their own report, that will not reflect the will and the aspirations of the people."

Felix Anthony says if the interim government is simply going to impose a new constitution on the people of Fiji then it must stop pretending to be inclusive.