PM’s children make constitution submission

Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama’s daughters and son have called for the one man one vote system in the new constitution.

Siblings RubyAnn Sorovaki, Litiana Loabuka, Frances Lutunatabua, Ateca Whippy, Bernadette Bainimarama and Ratu Meli Bainimarama made the submission as a family.

While making their submission to the Constitution Commission, they asked for an antidiscrimination act to be in place and the removal of the electoral system from the constitution to allow for changes from time to time according to the changing needs and the will of the people.

The Bainimarama siblings also said there should be an end to the coup culture, behaviour and mentality.

They also said that the perpetrators of the 2000 coup were also working under the guise of the vanua and misleading people that the land and freedom of the itaukei would be taken away.

The siblings said the rebels in 2000 were wrong and the military spoke out and said that this was wrong.

They said there should be a clear separation between the state and religion.

The Bainimarama siblings said Fiji should not be declared a Christian state.

The siblings also stressed that the Great Council of Chiefs should be abolished.      

They said all the citizens of Fiji should be called Fijians and there should be full recognition that the indigenous people are the itaukei.

The siblings said none of the institutions should be permitted to have names that denote racial affiliations and they also propose that racial categorization should be eliminated from all government records and registers.

They also propose a national minimum wage for all workers and programs to be implemented to empower people to do things themselves rather than the old culture of reliance and handouts.

They said the civil servants need to have continual performance reviews as they are there to serve the people of this country.

The Bainimarama siblings also suggested for the introduction of a new tax for health services where every worker gets a minimal amount deducted for health care.

They said the threshold should be based on the earnings.


Story by: Vijay Narayan