FIJI Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama told his fellow islanders yesterday that they will get the opportunity to design a new flag as the country prepares to dump Britain’s Union flag.

Mr Bainimarama announced that the Pacific island nation was launching a two-month competition starting on Monday to find the best replacement flag. A panel of citizens will choose the best designs.

He said the winning designer will get to hoist the new flag on October 10 — the 45th anniversary of the nation’s independence.

Fiji’s current flag features the Union flag in one corner.

In a speech earlier this month, Mr Bainimarama noted that the flag was part of the colonial past.

“They are the symbols of the coloniser, Britain, a country with whom we are friends and will continue to be so,” he said. 

“But they are not relevant to any Fijian in the 21st century and they should go.”