As work is expected to start on the preparation of Fiji’s new constitution in September next year, Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said it’s simply not good enough to have a constitution if a government believes that it is not bound by it.

While opening the Attorney General’s Conference in Sigatoka today, Sayed-Khaiyum said many governments believe that just because it is elected through a skewered electoral system, they have the licence to do whatever they like.

He also said discretionary powers given to the ministers need to be removed or limited.

Sayed-Khaiyum said under the 1997 constitution there was a provision that required parliament to make laws on the code of conduct of public office holders however no parliament whether under SVT, Labour or SDL made such laws.

The Attorney General said the government is now looking at drafting a law governing the Code of Conduct for public office holders.

He said this law which is expected to come into effect before the constitution consultations commence, will cover the Office of the President, the Prime Minister, Ministers and all Civil Servants where they will all need to make available to the members of the public, their assets, liabilities of themselves, their spouses and any dependent children.

The public office holders will also need to update the information every six months.

This information will be made available to members of the public from the Office of Accountability and Transparency.

He also raised the question whether similar information should also be made public by those who intend to stand for parliament.
 
Sayed-Khaiyum said some people still think that having a constitution means having democracy.

He said the important issue to note is what is contained in a constitution and he cited an example on when the 1990 constitution came into force.