FORMER Head of the School of Law at Fiji National University and Law Reform Commissioner Ana Rokomokoti has urged Parliament to adopt the approach taken by the Supreme Court on the constitutionally entrenched immunity provisions.
Ms Rokomokoti said the Supreme Court opinion, delivered under Section 91(5) of the 2013 Constitution, carried constitutional weight and should not be dismissed or disregarded.
She said the opinion was the result of a constitutional duty entrusted to the highest court in the country and required serious consideration.
“Any departure from, or disagreement with, that opinion must be approached through constitutionally legitimate means, with proper regard to its legal character, the scope of section 91(5), and the constitutional principles governing the authority of the Supreme Court,” she said.
Ms Rokomokoti said Cabinet had invoked Section 91(5) to refer the question of whether the entrenched immunity provisions could be amended to the Supreme Court for its opinion.
“If the Court’s opinion established that the provisions were beyond the lawful reach of constitutional amendment, political ambitions, parliamentary numbers or public opposition could not make an otherwise unconstitutional amendment lawful.
“The Constitution is not clay to be moulded at the pleasure of the powerful; it is the supreme law that binds those who govern and those who are governed alike.”
Ms Rokomokoti said the Supreme Court’s opinion should be approached with respect for the judicial office and an understanding of the constitutional limits it identified.
She said Parliament should adopt the approach taken by the Supreme Court opinion.
