An international constitutional expert says the former Fiji vice president, Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi, exemplified the true nature of a leader.
Ratu Joni Madraiwiwi (right) with Frank Bainimarama in 2006. Ratu Joni was a politician and lawyer who served as vice-president of Fiji from 2004 to 2006. Photo: AFP
Ratu Joni died on Thursday last week.
Professor Yash Ghai, who was involved in drawing up the Fiji People's Constitution, and his wife Jill, have expressed their condolences to the family of the Bauan chief.
The Fiji Times reported he said Ratu Joni personified what a citizen of Fiji should be.
Dr Ghai said he was above race, regarding all the people of Fiji as one community.
The academic said he often turned to Ratu Joni for advice when he was chairman of the Constitution Review Commission, particularly on difficult issues of balancing different communal interests.
Dr Ghai's draft constitution was later ignored by the then military led regime, which installed its own constitution.
