JAMAICA-POLITICS-Government disappointed as Jamaica sets up initiatives to move towards a republic.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Legal and Constitutional Affairs Minister Marlene Malahoo Forte has expressed the Government’s “disappointment” at the failure to name the high-level committee on constitutional reform, blaming the prominent opposition People’s National Party (PNP) for holding up the start of the process of Jamaica’s move towards becoming a republican state.

Malahoo Forte told Parliament that while a referendum is necessary for Jamaica to move away from having the British monarch as its head of state, the process must involve cross-isle collaboration, consultation, and collaboration with ordinary Jamaicans.

She said it was the Andrew Holness government’s intention to name the high-level committee members on Tuesday, “but I regret to advise the people of Jamaica that we are not able to do so….

“I regret that I will have to say some of what I have to say without having a follow-up conversation with the Leader of the Opposition (Mark Golding). Madam Speaker, we understand that you know, there comes a time when we must come together despite our political differences and come together and arrive at a consensus.

“We know that it is not easy to build consensus. We know that there are matters that both sides of the parliamentary aisle feel passionate about. Still, for those matters where we do not now have a consensus and for which a referendum is not required, it was the Prime Minister’s and my hope that we would have been able to come together, Government and Opposition, to move forward. At the same time, we work on the differences”.

Malahoo Forte told legislators that there had been a desire to “focus attention on those matters on which we have reached consensus.”

She said those matters involve the vote of the ordinary Jamaicans in the form of a referendum to make the change.

“Sadly, Madam Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition, has advised that the concerns he has are such that he will not be naming the members of the Opposition to sit on the committee at this time.

“I don’t think I can express sufficiently to the people of Jamaica how disappointed I am with this position. It has not surprised me that there are matters that the parliamentary Opposition feels strongly about, particularly the issue of the final court for Jamaica”.

While Jamaica is a signatory to the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as a replacement for the London-based Privy Council, the island has only signed on to the Original Jurisdiction of the Court that also acts as an international tribunal interpreting the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas that governs the regional integration movement CARICOM. It is not a signatory to the CCJ’s Appellate Jurisdiction.

Golding defended the Opposition’s position on the situation, noting that the circumstances were not that simple as Malahoo Forte had only last Thursday replied to a letter that he wrote to her in June 2022 requesting information on the intended amendments to the Jamaica Constitution and concerns regarding the Privy Council remaining as Jamaica’s final appellate court.

“I’ve asked the minister to disclose thoroughly and transparently the specific changes to the Charter [of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms] which the Government intends to pursue before we begin reviewing.

“It is not a question that I am refusing to nominate members of the Opposition to sit on this committee, but I am asking, and I expect to receive the clarity, transparency, and disclosure that we want and that the Jamaican people deserve, as to where the government intends to go on these important matters,” Golding told Parliament.

He said that there might be non-legal issues, such as matters of principle, which affect the political system and democracy that require resolving outside of the committee:

“I expect a response, giving the information we have reasonably required, and I hope that reply will take less than six months. It’s not that we are unwilling, but we want to do so with a full understanding of the direction that you intend to take us.”

Malahoo Forte, in her statement to Parliament, said that the Government is ready to go ahead with discussions towards doing away with the constitutional monarchy and making Jamaica a republic, with or without the participation of the parliamentary Opposition.

She read the committee’s terms of reference, even as she advised that the Holness government intends to have a referendum early next year on establishing a republic and all deeply entrenched provisions of the constitution.

“It will take nine to 12 months, ambitiously, to pass the Bill, then amend the constitution to establish the Republic of Jamaica. Some of what the Opposition Leader wishes to have discussed the committee was supposed to help us with. We are ready to go, and I hope we will not be forced to go without the Opposition, but we are ready to go.”

Malahoo Forte said indicative timelines had been sent out to the committee and background documents compiled.

She said the committee’s purpose is to trash out differences and ensure that the parliamentary Opposition’s perspectives are included.

“What I’m hearing is that, unless you do it the way we want to do it, we are not prepared to go along with it,” she said, adding, “why hold up something that you don’t need the referendum for, instead of going forward while we work out the differences.”

Malahoo Forte told the committee that would also help to build consensus in areas in which it has been eroded or needs to be revised on essential matters related to the process.

The committee will advise on the steps to be taken toward further implementing the 1995 Joint Select Committee on Constitutional and Electoral Reform recommendations and assess how the passage of time has impacted those recommendations.

Malahoo Forte said it would also advise on fresh perspectives that should be considered in the light of national, regional, or international developments since the 1990s and recommend necessary modifications to update the recommendations for implementation.

The committee will also examine the recommendations on the establishment of a president and advise on the nature, qualification, and tenure of the people who hold that office and the ceremonial powers.

Malahoo Forte said that phase two, which follows the referendum phase of the process, will involve the wording and provisions of the charter. In contrast, the third phase will thoroughly assess the country’s legal and constitutional infrastructure to facilitate the drafting of the new constitution.