Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara said individual freedom was a precious thing and should not be denied or curbed any more than required for the good of the community and nation.
Ratu Mara said this in an article published by The Fiji Times on September 13, 1985, when opening a parliamentary seminar in Suva, the first of its kind held in Fiji under Commonwealth Parliamentary Association sponsorship.
He said as lawmakers, parliamentarians needed to carefully consider whether any proposed law limited the liberty of choice of the people of Fiji.
“Here, of course, is where we have to make a decision on what, in our opinion, is for the good of Fiji as a whole,” he said.
He said an important feature of the principle of law was that any legislation governing the people should be clear and understandable to everyone affected by it.
“I know that it is part of the function of the courts to interpret as well as apply the laws of the land.”
“But it would be the height of irresponsibility for us to make laws which were deliberately left vague or ambiguous in the hope that the courts would later decide what the words really meant and what we were supposed to have intended.”
Ratu Mara urged MPs to read every bill and measure with utmost care and attention, and to be sure of its meaning and implications.
He said while members of parliament were often asked to do many things, their primary duty was the making of laws.
