Fiji Law Society Convention 2025

There is a constant struggle that we seem to have in Fiji with upholding and respecting the rule of law, and in my view, I think it starts at the top.

Fiji Law Society President, Wylie Clarke stated this at the Fiji Law Society Convention 2025, held in partnership with the Pasefika Lawyers Collective at the Crowne Plaza, Nadi.

Clarke says he has lost count of the number of times that we talk about respecting and upholding the rule of law.

He says that public trust in our social bodies, the State here, is unfortunately for him constantly undermined by examples that occur far too often, where it would seem that our leaders don't really pay regard to it.

The Law Society President says whether it is in the suspension or dismissal of a public officer, appointment of public officers and just the way that decisions are made.

He says he has not mentioned any names, and a number of these matters that he is talking about are actually before the courts right now, in respect of the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Clarke says this includes the Commission of Inquiry into the appointment of a former Commissioner of FICAC.

He says the response is if they are not happy, then take it to court and as a principle, you can't argue with that.

The Law Society President says if there is a dispute about what something means, or that you do not agree with something, take it to court, but the problem is that sometimes when you are looking from the outside in, it is so obvious that something is wrong.

He says the law has not been followed, it has just been disregarded.

Only Fiji has witnessed repeated coups, and each coup has two separate phases; first, the illegal overthrow of government and then the abrogation of the Constitution, which is unusual.

Professor of Comparative Politics of Victoria University of Wellington, Jon Fraenkel highlighted this during the Fiji Law Society Convention and the 2nd Pasefika Lawyers Collective Conference, held under the theme “Embracing Change: The Future of Law in the Pacific,” currently underway at the Crowne Plaza in Nadi.

Professor Fraenkel says one conclusion they can draw is that, in Fiji, coup perpetrators have carried out coups without fully envisioning the repercussions of their actions.

He says the December 2006 coup could be described as a “clean-up campaign” — as if it were akin to a rubbish collection day along the Suva waterfront.

He says that law courts are not particularly effective at dealing with coups or imposed authoritarian constitutions, not least because the first question they invariably ask concerns the source of their own jurisdiction — as seen in August here in Fiji.

Professor Fraenkel says, as a consequence, some legal scholars argue that courts should declare themselves unable to address such “meta-legal” political questions, however, that is a conclusion many judges are understandably reluctant to reach, for one reason or another.

He notes that many regimes owe their origins to revolutions or other unconstitutional political upheavals, prompting the question: how much time must elapse before courts are allowed to rule on the legality of a political order.

He says in 2025, the Supreme Court was asked by Fiji’s government to deliberate on the status of the 2013 Constitution.

Following the December 2006 coup, that Constitution had been promulgated by decree by a military-backed regime to replace the abrogated 1997 Constitution.

He says its amendment provisions were so contrived as to effectively rule out the possibility of change, requiring 75 percent support of all registered voters in a referendum.

Professor Fraenkel says coup leader and former Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama won two elections in 2014 and 2018, but narrowly lost a third in December 2022.

He says the incoming administration, comprising members of the former opposition, signalled a preference for constitutional change.

He also noted that the judges of Fiji’s Supreme Court had been appointed under the 2013 Constitution, and the questions posed to the Court by the government presupposed their endorsement of that foundational law.

Professor Fraenkel says without that endorsement, the judges would have no jurisdiction.

He adds that the Fiji Supreme Court was correct to strike down those draconian amendment provisions on the grounds that they were designed to prohibit constitutional change.

We have ended up with tonnes of methamphetamine found in Fiji because we now have locally organised crime syndicates working with international drug cartels.

This has been revealed by Assistant Commissioner of Police Crime Mesake Waqa while speaking at the Fiji Law Society Convention and the 2nd Pasefika Lawyers Collective Conference, held under the theme “Embracing Change: The Future of Law in the Pacific,” at the Crowne Plaza in Nadi.

ACP Waqa says 3 decades ago, marijuana was the only drug in Fiji however we then started seeing methamphetamine coming in small quantities, and then increasing into tonnes of drugs found here.

He says in Fiji, we had local crime syndicates that were normally involved in violent crimes like robberies and burglaries before they went into the drug trade.

ACP Waqa says the local crime syndicates were set up with deportees from Australia, New Zealand and the US.

He reveals that once the deportees settled in Fiji, they began to set up their operation here.

ACP Waqa says in 2012, they detected meth in milligrams and now they have discovered it in tonnes.

He confirms they have received information that the organised groups here have started connections with the international drug cartels.