13 Dec 2010

Fiji official says decree roll-out in line with strategic framework

4:39 pm on 13 December 2010

Fiji's Solicitor General, Christopher Pryde, has said the roll-out of new legal decrees is following the path set out in the Strategic Framework.

He was speaking while in Wellington to provide assurances to the New Zealand's Law Society over the process of law and order in Fiji.

Mr Pryde confirmed it would be several years before any work would begin on a new constitution.

But he maintained that legal decrees drawn up as part of the regime's reform process were sound and that criticism was taken into account:

"What usually happens is that there is a consultancy, so the committee would drive it, it would go around different stakeholders in the country so there's a fair amount of community input in a lot of these."

Mr Pryde says dissenting voices are heard.

But he acknowledges the interested parties involved are generally drafted in by the committee overseeing the legal decree.