Reinstating the Senate should guarantee parliamentarians are elected and not appointed, says Nadi resident Hussein Ali Shah.
Mr Shah’s comment came in response to a point stressed by New Zealand-based technical advisor Deidre Brookes during Electoral Law Reform consultations at the Nadi Airport mosque on Tuesday.
“We’ve had some people say to us that it would be good to use the Senate for cost-cutting issues, pertaining to things like all of the ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, more women, youth representatives, all of that sort of thing,” Ms Brookes said.
The Senate was abolished by the 2013 Constitution, and Mr Shah said more information about the Senate should be disseminated to the public.
“Why do you have a handful of people choose the senators?” he said.
“The Leader of the Opposition, the leader of the ruling party, they only have the Senate and the President endorses it, which is not good.
“They must be elected.”
Mr Shah said members of the reinstated Senate would then need to be neutral.
“The Senate, when a Bill goes there, they make the final decision whether to approve or reject it, but at the moment if the ruling party pushes it the Senate approves.
“The majority of the members are approved by the ruling party.
“They should be apolitical people.”
