PROMINENT Jamaican attorney, King’s Counsel Michael Hylton, in noting Monday’s indication by the Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC) that it has completed the first phase of its work to move Jamaica to republic status, has mounted a six-point “wish list” with a heavy focus on fettering the powers of the prime minister.

Addressing a virtual meeting of the Rotary Club of St Andrew on constitutional reform issues on Tuesday, the experienced jurist, in batting firstly for “a fixed election date”, described as “undesirable” the present arrangement which leaves the calling of general elections “almost totally at the discretion of the prime minister”.

He noted that various Opposition leaders have promised to address this issue but have defaulted on taking office.

Hylton, who said he was aware his “recommendations” would not be reflected in any of those made by the CRC, is proposing that the Judicial Service Commission, instead of the prime minister, decides who should be appointed chief justice and Court of Appeal president. Those two appointments, he said, are the only exceptions under the constitution which provide that judges of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal are appointed by an independent commission. These judges retire automatically on becoming 70 years old and cannot be removed from office except for misconduct and by a detailed process which the politicians do not control.

“This is fundamentally wrong; the appointment of these positions should not be in the hand of the political directorate,” Hylton declared.

“The Government of Jamaica and governments generally under the Westminster model — and more specifically the prime minister — have a great deal of power over every aspect of the lives of citizens. In some countries the structure of government provides a check and balance… however in our system the prime minister always controls both the House of Representatives and the Senate and so, for example, he or she can decide what laws are passed; who is appointed to or removed from most positions; what taxes to impose and how to spend it. Left unchecked, those powers can be abused,” Hylton argued.

He also said there should be a revocation of the dual citizenship requirements where political representatives are concerned.

“The effect of this provision is that citizens of non-Commonwealth countries are disqualified from sitting in the Parliament but not those of Commonwealth countries which, in my view, is a historical, colonial anomaly,” he noted.

In yet another recommendation Hylton called for entrenchment of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica and the Integrity Commission.

“The difficulty is, these bodies exist and are governed by ordinary legislation, meaning the party in government can control them,” he said, noting that the only way to avoid this is to give the entities constitutional status on an entrenched basis.

Mooting term limits for future Jamaican prime ministers, Hylton said that while he does not “feel strongly about this” it should be done, as currently prime ministers can serve multiple terms.

On the issue of direct elections for an executive president who essentially would occupy the office now accorded to the governor general, Hylton said any such move would “require a total overhaul of our system”.

Lastly, he advocated a “fixed retirement date for the director of public prosecutions (DPP), with no power to extend it”. According to Hylton, who maintained that he was not targeting any individual by his observation, the power to extend the tenure of the DPP “may lend itself to abuse”.

Noting that some individuals view the DPP as “the most powerful person in Jamaica” — given the enormous powers invested in the office under the constitution to decide who to charge with an offence and its ability to overrule the decision by anyone else to charge someone, including the police and the Integrity Commission — Hylton said the constitution similarly seeks to prevent “improper influence” by the office holder by dictating how a DPP is appointed, fixing the retirement age, and giving security of tenure to the individual similar to that given to judges.

“There is no consensus on these issues. There is consensus, for decades, on moving from monarchy to republic, but that has not happened… so it is unlikely that those matters I just listed, on which there has been no consensus, are likely to happen in the short term,” Hylton said.

There are 138 sections in The Jamaica Constitution. Approximately 58 of them can only be amended by an Act which is supported by the vote of a two-thirds majority of all members of each House (entrenched). It also builds in certain delays, insisting on a three-month period between the introduction of the Bill in the House and the commencement of the first debate, and a further three months between the conclusion of the debate and the passing of the Bill.

Eleven sections require a referendum and a two-thirds majority as well as the built-in delays (deeply entrenched). The remaining sections are not entrenched and may be altered by a vote of the majority of members of each House.

The constitution has been amended 12 times since Independence.

On March 22 last year, Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced the 14-member CRC. The primary mandate of this committee is to transition Jamaica from being subjects of England to being a republic. The CRC’s work will be done in phases, with phase one involving the abolition of the constitutional monarchy and the establishment of the Republic of Jamaica, and related matters.