THE Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) Pensioners has appealed to the Constitution Commission for justice for pensioners whose legally agreed monthly payments were severely reduced.
Ken Giblin, who made the submission on behalf of the FNPF Pensioners, said their primary concern stemmed from the fact that a significant number of pensioners had been deliberately victimised and effectively denied the right of access to the courts to seek redress for injustices and discrimination inflicted by the new decrees. "As a result thousands of pensioners suffered reductions to their monthly pensions," he said.
Mr Giblin said the decrees enacted specifically to deal with them, denied the fundamental right of redress.
"This was a great act of legal betrayal and discrimination."
He said they also agreed that the voting system should be based on one-person one-vote.
"The mere adoption of this will not end ethnic /communal voting patterns, it is too early for this to happen in this young nation.
"It will only happen over time, therefore we ask the commission to recommend measures to ensure ethnic balance in a parliament elected by a common franchise," he said.