AN Associated Press report out of Cuba on Sunday described President Raul Castro’s proposal of term limits for Cuba’s leaders as “a remarkable statement on an island run by him and his brother for more than a half-century”.

The report went further to state that the discussion about the need for political rejuvenation — coming from one of the Castro brothers — “was stunning, and the talk of the town on Sunday”.

The AP also told us that many Cubans praised the move, though they also asked why it has taken so long to come about.

It is obvious that President Raul Castro and his retired brother Fidel have accepted the fact that they need to have a succession plan in place for Cuba. Hopefully, they will see the wisdom of tapping a younger politician who will continue and expand the reforms President Raul Castro has already made since formally taking over from his brother in 2008.

Under President Castro’s plan, politicians and other important officials, including the president, will be restricted to two consecutive five-year terms.

According to the Associated Press report, depending on how the law is written, the term limit would not affect President Castro until at least 2018. By then he would be 86 years old.

How he will be able to cope with the demands of his office at that age is left to be seen. What is important, though, is the fact that he is committed to what he describes as a “systematic rejuvenation” of the government.

President Castro’s commendable proposal has revived for us a similar position articulated by Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

In December last year, Mr Golding, in opening a debate on a Bill he tabled on term limits for the office of prime minister, explained that the thinking behind the provision was the need for renewal in the political system, as well as the need to facilitate succession planning and the infusion of new blood.

Prime Minister Golding was keeping a promise published in the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) manifesto for the 2007 general elections to implement a two-term limit on anyone holding the office of prime minister.

In that debate in December, Prime Minister Golding had argued that while term limits was not a feature of the Westminster parliamentary system to which Jamaica subscribes, there was no reason it could not be adopted here.

He had also pointed out that the section of the Constitution which the Bill would amend was not an entrenched provision, quite unlike the amendment being proposed to give Jamaica status as a republic.

However, the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has flatly refused to support the Bill, with Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller putting forward a most nebulous argument that it “would be ineffective and unnecessary”.

Outside of her demand that the Bill needs to have the benefit of wide consultation among the Jamaican people, a position with which the Government agrees, Mrs Simpson Miller’s rejection smacks of opposition for opposition’s sake.

There is no justifiable reason for the PNP to oppose this Bill if, as it claims, it has the interest of the country at heart. For the infusion of new thinking from younger minds can only benefit our political and governance systems.

President Castro has obviously grasped the wisdom of that position. Maybe he could educate Mrs Simpson Miller and her party.