By EDDIE OSIFELO
The Democratic Coalition Government for Advancement (DCGA) needs to pass the Federal Constitution Bill in this March’s sitting to prepare each province for State government.
President of Gaena’alu Movement Jerry Sabino expressed this after Special Secretary to Prime Minister, Albert Kabui said it is not simple since the Government has the number.
Kabui said this would not mean just simply amending the Constitution, rather it would mean repealing the full Constitution.
“So, the draft Federal Constitution, when you repeal the Constitution, technically speaking, when you repeal the whole constitution, it means all the existing structures don’t have legal effects.
“Which means automatically all the new structures in the Constitution need to take effect,” he said.
“So, the question is, are we ready for this to happen?
“Because once we repeal the current constitution and we like new constitution to automatically take place or automatically take effect,” he said.
Kabui said what it means is Guadalcanal Province must have a High Court, Director of Public Prosecution, own police force, own medical authority to pay its own nurses and own education authority.
“Do we have that in place or not?” he asked.
Kabui said it’s not a matter about number, there are steps in place.
“It is the question of putting the right institutions in place so that transition period is smooth,” he added.
However, Sabino said Schedule 13 of the Federal Constitution talks about general provisions on transition and transformation.
He said if Parliament passes the Federal Constitution, the country will operate on an interim Constitution that provides for the transition and transformation programme, to happen on each state.
“For example, Malaita has a 10 years transition period to prepare it for State Government.
“Once Malaita is ready after 10 years, it will be declared a State Government,” he said.
Sabino said under the current British’s unitary system adopted by Solomon Islands in Independence, it cannot prepare any province to become states, until Parliament passes the Federal Constitution.
Apart from that, Kabui said the draft Federal Constitution needs to go through a cost analysis and peer review before the Government can proceed with it.
He told media on Tuesday, a consultant was supposed to come and do a cost analysis, but was deferred due to Covid 19.
He said Constitutional Reform Unit is also suggesting to get lawyers to have a second look on the bill.
The draft Federal Constitution was handed over to the Government in October 2018 after 10 years of consultation throughout the country.
It aims to change the British’s unitary system to a Republic system.
