“It is my honor to inform you that with the support of the Fijian people, I have kept the promise and I return here today as the duly elected Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji.”
These were the words of Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama while delivering Fiji’s national statement at the UN General Assembly this morning.
Bainimarama told the Assembly that five years ago he stood in the same great chamber and promised the global community that his government would introduce the first genuine democracy in Fiji's history before the end of September 2014.
Bainimarama then said that he led his FijiFirst political movement to a decisive victory in the first election to be held under the new Constitution on the basis of equal votes of equal value in the September 17th general elections.
He said this Constitution has replaced three previous constitutions since Fiji’s independence from Britain in 1970 in which governments were chosen under a weighted and discriminatory formula that separated the various communities and favored some citizens over others.
Bainimarama said for nearly four decades, Fiji labored under a system that was undemocratic, unjust and unfair.
He said we were a case study of a nation that was supposedly democratic and casting itself as such, but was failing to meet some basic democratic standards like common and equal citizenry, a common identity and a level playing field on which every citizen can excel.
He added that our electoral system before it was reformed did not give true democracy, it did not facilitate justice, transparency or good governance.
Bainimarama said that it was about reinforcing the power of elites and keeping the population divided into different communal groups.
Bainimarama added that this weighted system perpetuated injustice for a great many of our people, created different classes of citizens and encouraged corruption and it was a system that no advanced democracy would accept for itself.
He further added that the status of any Fijian in national life depended on their racial origin, whether they came from one of the chiefly or business elites, and even what part of the country they lived in.
The Prime Minister then said that we needed a revolution to put us on the path to true democracy.
He said from the time that revolution began in 2006 to Fiji’s recent election; we embarked on a series of reforms that have transformed our nation.
He said more laws were passed during this eight-year period to improve our standard of governance than in the entire 36-year period since Independence.
Bainimarama said the 2013 Constitution from which all other laws flow is the blueprint for the new Fiji.
He told the General Assembly that now every Fijian enjoys equal opportunity and a common identity which is Fijian.
He said this name that was once reserved for the indigenous majority but now applies to everyone from Fiji, just as the common name American applies to all from the United States or to any Australian from Australia.
