JUST at the time that a public debate between the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition over the process of appointing governors-general has been sparked, Parliament’s Joint Select Committee on the Charter of Rights has suddenly found a new lease on life.

After failing to convene for several months, the committee met at Gordon House on Wednesday and are scheduled to meet again this Wednesday.

The issue of constitutional reform – including Jamaica’s move from dominion status with the Queen, or her representative, as the Head of State, to republication status, in which a president, elected or selected, would replace her – has been in focus since the late 1970s.

The whole issue was originally referred to simply as constitutional reform and was sent to a joint select committee in 1999.

However, that bill met with widespread criticism for departing, substantially, from the recommendations of the Constitutional Commission and the report of the committee which was approved by Parliament.

So, in an effort to speed up the process, the PJ Patterson administration decided to table a new Bill in 2002 which dealt purely with the proposals emanating from the previous select committee report, relating to the guarantee, preservation and protection of fundamental rights and freedoms by the state.

The bill then became known as An Act to Amend the Constitution of Jamaica to provide for a Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

But, since its tabling, it has been bogged down by constitutional differences.

So far, Parliament has neither been able to decide on the proposals for republicanism nor the bill providing protection of the rights and the freedoms of the people.

And, from what we saw last week, neither has there been agreement on consultations and consensus on appointments to such solemn positions as that of the Head of State of Jamaica.