“The guardianship of the Constitution belongs to the people, the Parliament, and the courts – never to the barrel of a gun.”

This is a strong statement made by the Province of Lau in their submission to the Constitution Review Committee.

They summited that a constitutional clause that invites the military to judge for itself when the “well-being” of the nation requires its intervention is not a security provision.

They say this is a standing charter for extraconstitutional action, and Fiji’s own history has shown where such reasoning leads.

The Vanua Ko Lau states that removing this provision takes nothing of honour from the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, however, it restores the RFMF to the noble and clearly bounded role in which its service to the nation, at home and in peacekeeping abroad, has earned genuine distinction.

They say in no comparable constitutional democracy is a nation’s military granted, in the constitution itself, an open-ended responsibility for the “well-being” of the nation and its people.

The submission also stresses that in the democracies of the Commonwealth and beyond, the armed forces are established and their functions defined by ordinary legislation, under the control of a responsible Minister and the oversight of Parliament – they defend the nation; they do not superintend it.