Dear Editor,

I am truly glad and really excited that a man of the calibre of former Prime Minister Percival James Patterson has tried to give Prime Minister Andrew Holness some directives on how to approach the shedding of The Queen and transition Jamaica to a republic State.

Jamaicans no longer want to be linked to the British monarchy because of its insignificant contribution to our development.

The Westminster model of governance also needs to be removed. Now is the time to adopt the proportional representation system of voting, which would benefit us tremendously. We need to be totally free from the bondage of the English system, which has kept us poor all along. Frankly, there is no longer a need to take directives from our mother country or for them to intervene in our internal affairs, especially since we need to have visas to go to Britain, but they can come here without hassle.

It is only natural that we should want to free ourselves from the monarchy because there are many social issues that are hurting Third World countries which the Group of Eight (G8) countries — of which Britain is a part — have failed to address.

One such problem is climate change, which has been having a significant impact on small island developing states, and little to no help has been provided from First World countries with the necessary resources to make a difference.

The other issue is the hoarding of vaccines by powerful nations which are aligned with the multinational pharmaceutical companies.

Third World countries must, at some point, seek to move away from their former colonisers to chart their own path and align themelves with other countries to facilitate growth and development.

In our case, Britain has become far too complacent in its efforts to offer aid to Jamaica. Our problems are not being addressed in the manner we would have expected, given our status as a former colony — which still maintains The Queen as its head of State.

Therefore, there is no need for us to hold on to the last vestiges of colonialism as Britain is the only party benefiting from this relationship.

Paris Taylor

paristaylor82@hotmail.com