Fiji’s Interim Government to Resume Drafting People’s Charter

By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Fiji’s interim government has received a stay on a court injunction which will allow the National Council for Building a Better Fiji to continue revising the People’s Charter. This decision follows a High Court order which had effectively stopped the interim government from resuming any Charter-related work.

Dispute over the drafting of the People’s Charter stems from the 2006 coup of Fiji’s Federal Government. Since that time, the ousted SDL Party has expressed growing concerns that the interim government will not make good on its promise to restore democracy. Interim Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, has yet to relinquish power or hold democratic elections. Last month, a three judge court validated the 2006 coup, giving legitimacy to the interim government.

Amidst this friction, the SDL Party supported Judge Justice Filimone Jitoko’s previous decision to stop the drafting of the People’s Charter. SDL Party leader and ousted Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, brought this matter to court because of the potentially dangerous consequences of amending Fiji’s 1997 Constitution.

In its previous decision, the court asserted that the interim government was to stop “promulgating any law, decree order or doing or recommending anything whatsoever to alter or amend the 1997 Constitution or anything whatsoever, including changes to the electoral system that are contrary to or inconsistent with current provisions of the Constitution until the final determination of this matter.”

Although no High Court judges were available to review the matter, Fiji’s interim Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, was able to get a stay on the decision from the Court of Appeal. According to Fiji law, a single member judge from the Court of Appeal may grant a stay in matters of urgency.

Court of Appeal Justice Byrne granted the stay on the grounds that section 15 of the State Proceedings Act indicates that an injunction cannot be granted against a State.

As a result, the interim government has resumed work on the People’s Charter.

But SDL Party lawyer, Niko Nawaikula, says that the interim government has responded to the court order too hastily. “As a lawyer and a professional I would have expected them to read this judgment and digest it before taking further action,”Nawaikula said.

The matter is scheduled to go before the Court of Appeal on November 20th.

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Ousted Fiji PM gets court order to stop charter process – 14 November 2008

Radio New Zealand International – Fiji’s interim government gets court injunction to continue charter process – 15 November 2008

Fiji Times – Lawyer disappointed with stay on order – 15 November 2008

Author: Impunity Watch Archive