Preoples Alliance Party lawyer Simione Valanitabua delivered a final submission before the Supreme Court thi morning, again challenging the legitimacy of the 2013 Constitution and urging the court to restore the 1997 Constitution.
Speaking on behalf of his client, the governing People’s Alliance Party, Mr Valanitabua said the Party leader is also the current Prime Minister.
Quoting a Fijian proverb, he asked the court, “will Your Lordships sit with your arms folded while the canoe sinks?”
“To choose an alternative remedy when the constitutional remedy under Section 91(5) was there to use, “would be to let the canoe of our state sink under the weight of an illegitimate constitution,” he said.
Mr Valanitabua insisted that the appearance of cooperation with the 2013 Constitution was “for convenience,” and must not be misread as acceptance of its legitimacy.
“We come before you not to tinker with the rigging of a sinking ship, but to ask you to condemn the hull,” he argued. “The hull itself needs to be condemned.”
He said Cabinet had followed the procedural path laid out in the 2013 Constitution, but argued that the entire document was void from inception.
He called on the court to perform its “deepest duty” and to restore the rule of law by reviving the 1997 Constitution, which he maintained had “never been lawfully abrogated.”
Mr Valanitabua cited previous case law, including Fiji v Prasad and Fiji v Qarase, to support his position that the lawful supreme law remains the 1997 Constitution.
The hearing continues.