Apenisa Waqairadovu 
[File Photo]
Attorney General Graham Leung told members of parliament today not to fear discussing or introducing changes to the constitution.
Leung labels Fiji’s current constitution as the very opposite of democracy.
He says even a senior jurist who recently visited Fiji has cited that the Fijian Constitution is one of the hardest in the world to amend.
The AG says this should not have been the case.
“Paradoxically, a constitution that is impossible to change or near impossible to change is the very antithesis of democracy. Its rigidity carries the seeds of potential disaffection and instability.”
Leung adds that a key part of the government’s legislative program for this session of parliament is to introduce an amending bill to the constitution.
“A country’s constitution is a living, organic document that should reflect the wishes and the broad consensus of the people it purports to govern. It should be the product of wide citizen participation and not something that is imposed on the people.”
He says that an imposed constitution lacks legitimacy.
He argued that constitutional change is a natural part of democratic evolution.
He adds that the politics of fearmongering is misguided.
Leung cited global examples, noting that the U.S. Constitution has undergone 27 amendments since 1788, while India’s has been amended 108 times since the 1950s.
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