Jamaica LANDS
Left Alliance for National Democracy and Socialism

Constitutional Reform News

This is a timeline of developments surrounding Jamaica’s transition to a republic and the other causes attached to it.

 

Constitutional Reform News

This is a collection of articles and other public information, showing news and updates about Jamaica’s constitutional reform in general. To see our own work on constitutional reform, click here.

March 2023

  • “Jamaica’s constitutional reform process is designed to be deliberately slow, to allow citizens time to think about the kind of changes they want.” - JIS

  • The Prime Minister appointed 14 persons to the Constitutional Reform Committee. A majority of the appointees are lawyers, and one of the appointees is a foreigner. - Gleaner

April 2023

  • The Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs, who also serves as the co-chair of the Constitutional Reform Committee, claimed that every issue is “discussed widely, taking into account views in the public domain, taking into account experience at the table, and also where we would like to go.” - JIS

  • The Constitutional Reform Committee was reportedly considering a “non-political president” who would “be above the cut and trust of the everyday politics” and possibly have a 7-year term. - Observer

  • The Constitutional Reform Committee “announced progress on what they say are key aspects of Phase One of the country’s constitutional reform agenda. Minister Malahoo Forte says King Charles will be abolished as Jamaica’s Head of State and a native Jamaican appointed to the Office of President of the new Republic of Jamaica." Bruce Golding, a former Prime Minister, said that the Constitutional Reform Committee had broken no new ground with its consensus on replacing the British monarch with a non-executive president. He said these things were already agreed on in the 90s. - Nationwide

  • The government’s Constitutional Reform Committee reportedly reached consensus on the method of election for the president; they propose that the Prime Minister would nominate someone for president and then the houses of parliament would have a joint sitting where two-thirds of the votes are required to confirm the president. The PNP, on the other hand, wants the houses of parliament to vote separately. - RJR

  • The government announced that it intended to table legislation in May to begin the transition to a republic. This was amid concerns that there would not be enough public consultation before the process begins. - Gleaner

  • The government was “staunchly defending its preference for a ceremonial head of state” in April. Nadeen Spence claimed that “Jamaican democracy is stable.” Even members of the Constitutional Reform Committee who were affiliated with the parliamentary opposition were in support of a ceremonial presidency. Hugh Small claimed that “there is no chance of a snowball in hell that we're going to get approval by the Jamaican people for the creation of an executive president” and complained that “we would have to revamp the whole constitution” if we wanted something other than a ceremonial president. Anthony Hylton and Donna Scott-Mottley, the representatives of the parliamentary opposition, “expressed support for the proposed method of appointment of the president as head of State for a Jamaican republic” in terms of having the president appointed by parliament rather than elected by the people. Donna Scott-Mottley noted the only contention was the specifics of how the parliament appoints the president, saying that the PNP wants the appointment to require the support of two-thirds of the members of each house rather than two-thirds of a joint sitting of the houses. - Observer

May 2023

  • The Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs, who also serves as the co-chair of the Constitutional Reform Committee, expressed that Jamaica should have “a non-executive president as opposed to an executive president” according to the government’s information service. - JIS

  • LANDS made a presentation to the Constitutional Reform Committee, in which we outlined our proposed political system for the republic. We called for the President and the Senate to be directly-elected rather than appointed. We said that the President should neither be a ceremonial figurehead nor a member of the cabinet, and we outlined the roles and some of the powers that the President would have. - MLCA, Nationwide

  • The government initially intended to table constitutional reform bills in the parliament by May 2023, but delayed doing so in order to consult LANDS and other organisations. - Gleaner

  • The Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs, who also serves as the co-chair of the Constitutional Reform Committee, said that consensus within the committee does not mean that its ideas are set in stone. She said that the committee is merely seeking to put recommendations to the people so that they can comment on it. - Gleaner

June 2023

  • The Constitutional Reform Committee met with church leaders. There was mention of “an appointed executive president.” One church leader called for public education. - JIS

  • The Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs sought to assure “the religious community” that it “did not intend to disturb any savings law clauses in the Constitution or repeal pre-existing laws that would go against fundamental beliefs held by the Church. The savings provisions in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms protects the buggery law and the law prohibiting abortion from being challenged under the Charter of Rights.” - Gleaner

  • The government claimed that “work to advance reform of the Constitution has progressed significantly.” The Opposition Leader asked the Prime Minister “to commit to the reform process regardless of who is in power.” - JIS

  • At a town hall meeting in Savanna-La-Mar, one of the members of the panel attracted cheers as he gave his views on the constitutional reform process. He criticised the idea of a ceremonial presidency as a continuation of the old colonial system and said that he is not interested in a republic where the people cannot get to choose their president. He said that the people should be able to elect our president and the president should be able to appoint an executive that is accountable to the parliament. He said that someone should not be able to be a Member of Parliament and a cabinet minister at the same time. - Gleaner

  • The Constitutional Reform Committee was reportedly considering having a “hybrid” model for the presidency, just “two months after staunchly defending the Government's preference for a ceremonial president” before. - Observer

  • The Minister of Legal and Constitutional Legal Affairs, who also serves as the co-chair of the Constitutional Reform Committee, said that the committee was “leaning towards a hybrid presidency” which she said is “not a ceremonial president but a president that will exercise a set of powers” and claimed that the committee is “tailor-making something for the Jamaican people.” - JIS

  • After the government announced that the Constitutional Reform Committee was leaning towards a hybrid presidency, members of the public asked how the president would get office, whether by election or appointment, the Minister of Legal and Constitutional Legal Affairs, who also serves as the co-chair of the Constitutional Reform Committee, responded “That is the million-dollar question that we’re hearing from the people. We’re hearing the views of Jamaicans on that.” - Gleaner

July 2023

  • The Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs says that the referendum for constitutional reform would not happen at the same time as general elections or local government elections. She also added that it is possible for the constitutional reform process to be started in one parliamentary term and continued in another, with the parliament being able to pass necessary legislation in its current term while leaving some work to be done by the next term. - Gleaner

  • The government had amended the constitution to change the retirement age of 2 public officials. This angered the opposition as it says it was not consulted. As a result, the Leader of the Opposition “warned that the Opposition would be reconsidering their participation on the Constitutional Reform Committee” and its members boycotted some of the committee’s meetings. - Observer

August 2023

  • A member of the Constitutional Reform Committee “accused civil society bodies of trying to bully members of the committee into accepting their recommendations for constitutional reform.” - Observer

  • During a panel discussion on the constitutional reform process, a representative of LANDS called for the Constitutional Reform Committee to put its proposals together in a single document so that people could know what they are discussing in consultation meetings. A representative of the Constitutional Reform Committee claimed that the committee does not have proposals of its own and that others have “imposed” that on them, despite statements by the co-chair of the committee and the government’s own information service that the committee reached consensus on specific proposals. - TVJ

 
 

September 2023

  • The Leader of the Opposition said that the PNP would not support a transition to a republic without simultaneously changing Jamaica’s final court of appeal from the UK Privy Council to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). Media reported that “The PNP has consistently voiced support for the CCJ to become Jamaica's final court, but the ruling Jamaica Labour Party has indicated that its position is still being decided on.” - Gleaner

  • Lloyd Barnett, a member of the Constitutional Reform Committee, expressed concern about the PNP’s stance on the transition to a republic being tied to the transition from the UK’s Privy Council to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). He believes that the British monarchy, the status of the current constitution, and the retention of the UK Privy Council are all vestiges of colonialism but believes that changing at least 1 or 2 of those things is better than changing none. - RJR

  • In response to the Opposition being adamant that the transition to a republic must be accompanied by switching from the Privy Council to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the Minister of Legal and Constitutional Legal Affairs said that the matter of the final court of appeal will be dealt with in the second phase of constitutional reform rather than the first. - Observer

  • Polls show that nearly 60% of Jamaicans support a removal of the UK’s Privy Council as Jamaica’s final court of appeal, while less than 25% of Jamaicans support retaining the Privy Council. - RJR

  • Polls show that over 75% of Jamaicans want term limits for politicians; this applies to both the political leader of the country and the Member of Parliament of each constituency. - Gleaner

  • Jamaicans were polled about their views on whether they prefer a ceremonial presidency or an executive presidency; a semi-presidential model was not a poll option. 36.1% of Jamaicans favoured having “a president with wide powers” while 30.1% support having a ceremonial president; 22% have no preference, and another 11.4% reported either not understanding or not caring about the difference. - Gleaner

  • Polls show that people want a say in who serves as president if Jamaica becomes a republic. If Jamaica has an executive president, 79% of Jamaicans want direct elections for the president while only 9% believe that the executive president should be chosen by the parliament; another 12% were unsure or indifferent. Even if Jamaica has a ceremonial president, 70% of Jamaicans believe that the people should have a say in who gets appointed, as opposed to only 7% said that the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader must agree on an appointment and 6% that said the Opposition Leader should at least be consulted. - RJR

  • Polling done from late August to mid-September shows that 45% of Jamaicans want to transition to a republic, while only 26% want to retain the British monarchy; 29% were undecided. However, these numbers represent a decline from the findings in 2022 when polling showed that 56% of Jamaicans favoured a transition to a republic. - RJR

October 2023

  • Polls done in August and September in 2023 show that over 88% of Jamaicans want the right to recall unpopular Members of Parliament. It also showed that over 45% of Jamaicans believe that the Prime Minister has too much power, while 37% disagree. Many people also complained that they do not see their Members of Parliament or local government councillors. - Gleaner

  • Polls done in August and September in 2023 show that more people find the leaders of the 2 main political parties to be unlikeable than those who find them to be likeable. A political commentator said that this showed “the general level of apathy among Jamaicans towards not only the political parties but their leadership. He argued that a considerable size of the electorate continues to be disenchanted by the political process in Jamaica.” Don Anderson, who led the process of conducting the polls, cautioned against conflating likeability with electability. - Gleaner

  • The Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs says that the “the government is paying close attention to the poll results on the matter concerning the final court as well as all of the matters relating to a constitutional reform.” - RJR

  • Politicians want people to temper their expectations of them. They claim that the people have unrealistically expectations of them. They admit that this is a problem that they themselves cause because they are not honest about their limitations when seeking votes, but they complain about fatigue. These sentiments were expressed in a parliamentary committee that is tasked with reviewing the Prime Minister’s proposed job descriptions for Members of Parliament and cabinet ministers. - Observer

  • The Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs and the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) have entered an agreement to conduct public education about constitutional reform for a period of 2 years. The Minister claims that “engagements with members of the public have revealed a high level of ignorance among the people about the Constitution and basic governance concepts, as well as a lack of understanding of the structure of government,” noting that there have been town hall meetings and stakeholder group meetings across the island. The Minister noted that the Constitutional Reform Committee has received submissions, including from LANDS, that have raised issues that need to be deliberated on. - JIS

  • Despite stating that “there is greater need for clarity on” the different types of presidency, the Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs declared that the Constitutional Reform Committee has already settled on a method for appointing the President. The President would be appointed by the parliament rather than elected by the people, and the ministry’s press release said that the President would be “above the political fray.” - MLCA