The Citizens Constitutional Forum said the government needs to make public its plans on how the public consultations on the drafting of the constitution will be undertaken next year.

CCF Chief Executive, Reverend Akuila Yabaki said the government needs to reveal who will be involved and how members of the Constitutional Commission are expected to be appointed.

Yabaki said a fresh, innovative and appropriate approach is needed towards the constitutional development process to ensure it is inclusive and transparent and truly respective of the voice of the people and can be legitimately adopted as the supreme law of the land.

He said it is not merely the acceptance of a certain principle but the process under which that accepted principle is implemented must be inclusive, recognised and accepted as legal and binding by the people.

CCF believes that constitutional development does not have to follow the processes adopted in drafting of the Peoples Charter but a kind of constitutional assembly broadly representative and inclusive.

Meanwhile the government has revealed that it will ensure that the issue of legitimacy for the new electoral system is addressed before the next elections.

While speaking during the AG's Conference, Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said legitimacy has been gained through the general acceptance of a particular principle or value in many other countries, and this will be the same in Fiji.

Sayed-Khaiyum said the process is from the acceptance of the Peoples Charter to the consultations on the new constitution and then having the new electoral system in place.

Story by: Vijay Narayan