LOCALS studying and working in Suva, Fiji are currently going through a 5-day awareness consultation on the second 2014 Draft Federal Constitution of Solomon Islands.
The consultation and awareness program which takes place in Suva kicked off on Monday.
This program is a follow on from the consultation, which the Constitutional Reform Unit (CRU) held in 2012 for tertiary students in regional institutions.
The program is part of reviewing the 2011 Draft Federal Constitution.
In the overall 2015 awareness program on the 2nd 2014 Draft Federal Constitution, this round of consultation is for scholars, civil society organizations, national stakeholders and the institutional workforce.
In opening the awareness program, SI High Commissioner Patteson Oti thanked CRU and DCC Government’s Fundamental Reform on behalf of the participants for the privilege to be part of the nation-wide stakeholder consultation on the proposed Federal Constitution.
Participants in the awareness are students from USP and Fiji National University (FNU), and Solomon Islands nationals serving in key positions in various academic institutions and regional organizations in Suva.
“Unfortunately it is not possible for our students from other regions of Fiji to be here for these consultations,” Mr Oti said.
The SI High Commissioner’s Office in Suva assisted CRU in facilitating the selection of participants and making arrangements for the awareness program to be held this week.
Mr Oti said, that the selection of participants ensures and considers fair provincial and gender representation. Also the selected in-service and pre-service scholars are those pursuing Undergraduate, Post graduate, Degrees, Masters and PhD level programmes.
“My attempt to outline to CRU team the composition of participants is to reinforce the contemplation that we have the pool of human resources to draw from in the future to man the important governance institutions outlined the new Federal Constitution,” he said, “hence their valued participation in this constitutional making process.”
The awareness program attended by about 50 participants ends this Friday.
