Apenisa Waqairadovu 
[File Photo]
The Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma has called for the Great Council of Chiefs to be reinstated into the Constitution with greater powers, as part of wide-ranging proposals to overhaul Fiji’s constitutional framework.
The submission was made to the Constitutional Review Commission by Church lawyer Simione Valenitabua, who outlined support for restoring key elements of Fiji’s previous governance structures.
Valenitabua told the Commission the Church believes the removal of the Great Council of Chiefs from constitutional status was done without sufficient consultation.
“The inclusion of the Great Council of Chiefs in the 1997 Constitution through wide consultation and to be removed unilaterally without wide consultation like what we are currently doing as a nation, in the Church’s view, requires the Commission to consider proposing to Parliament that the GCC be elevated from the current regulation or subsidiary legislation enactment to the Constitution.”
The Church also supports the restoration of a bicameral parliamentary system, including a Senate, saying it would strengthen checks and balances in law-making, particularly on issues affecting iTaukei affairs.
“The bringing back the Senate will ensure that laws that govern affairs of the iTaukei are guarded or go through rigorous checks and balances in Parliament.”
The Methodist Church says the proposed changes form part of its broader constitutional recommendations aimed at strengthening governance, representation, and traditional leadership structures in Fiji.
