YOUTH parliamentarian Nashae Baker, in a spirited presentation on Monday, insisted that young people have not been given sufficient opportunities to be more involved with the constitutional reform process, and suggested the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology to get youth more interested and engaged.

He charged that many youth, including the 70 comprising the National Youth Parliament, through an on-the-spot vote, are not fully aware and engaged with the contents and recommendations of the Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC) report on constitutional reform; and that the website dedicated to constitutional reform is ill-equipped to deal with inquiring thoughts of the youth population as it only has one section for questions, with 12 frequently asked questions (FAQs) to cover 138 sections of the constitution.

“I must advise the House that current efforts at engaging young people on constitutional reform, while well-intentioned, have not gone far enough. I say it’s time for a constitutional revolution,” he said as he opened the debate on constitutional reform and the reform process, during the 15th sitting of the National Youth Parliament at Gordon House.

Baker, who hails from St Thomas Eastern and also has the title Junior Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs, stressed that it is time to unlock the untapped potential of AI to engage the youth.

“As the field of AI continues to evolve with its potential application in various domains, I strongly believe that this should now include the constitutional reform process. I hearby propose the introduction of a constitutional reform AI called Yardie Republic to be used not only to give quick answers to youth on the constitution, but also the recommendations of the CRC and the way forward as a republic,” he said.

Baker said that Yardie Republic can be used within town halls to gain real time feedback and for public opinion voting so as to gain the perspective of young people, especially those not reached by the efforts of the CRC.

The CRC, which comprises 15 members, is intended to help guide the constitutional reform process throughout all three phases of the work, with the charge to produce a modern and new constitution which reflects an appreciation and understanding of Jamaica’s cultural heritage, governance challenges, and development aspirations, and which embodies the will of the people of Jamaica.

The CRC’s report focused on recommendations under phase one of the work which entails the patriation of the constitution, abolition of the Constitutional Monarchy, establishment of the Republic of Jamaica, and all matters within the deeply entrenched provisions of the constitution for which a referendum is required to amend.

“Yardie Republic will be able to understand and respond in patois, also to verbally receive and provide all your responses in both patois and English for youth visually impaired and literally challenged. We already use AI daily — from Siri to Chat GPT to Google Assistant. With the introduction of this new constitutional reform AI, youth interest will peak, allowing them to use five minutes of the vast amount of time they spend on their phones to interact with Yardie AI,” he said.

He further argued that this technology would allow the CRC to gain valuable feedback that would have otherwise been expensive and challenging to secure.

“With this AI we’ll be able to ‘skate on the toll’ of the constitutional reform on the road to our republic. The implementation and adoption will be revolutionary. Imagine the constitutional reform process just a tap away, a tap of the screen — we’re on the road to fi wi republic,” he said.

Delving into another aspect of the constitutional reform matter, junior Opposition spokesperson, Kimberly Simms said she is yet to see any recommendation in the CRC’s report addressing the repeal of colonial laws, or any mention of the removal of the modified savings law clause that continues to safeguard the Crown’s agenda.

“We the youth say; ‘Take it out, let us write our freedom,’ ” she declared.

“Because of the modified savings law clause we are slow to remove the colonial laws written before Independence by the colonisers — regardless of whether or not they infringe on citizens’ rights. The process to do so is so highly convoluted. Jamaica, the white man is still controlling our constitution,” she further stated.

She said what is worse is that the savings law clause has been sitting in the constitution since Independence, “protecting problematic colonial laws, stopping us from getting rid of them”.

“Let me be categorically clear: The modified savings law clause must go. It reflects the colonial mindset that sought to demonise indigenous groups like the Rastafari, Maroons and more. While the Act is no longer actively enforced, its very presence on the statute books sends a dangerous message that freedom of religion is not fully realised and that we are still bound by foreign laws that were designed to suppress black identity. This member would propose the repeal of this law and full removal of the savings clause,’ ” she said.

Junior Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Akeem Campbell, representing St Andrew East Central, and Opposition spokesperson Rysha Brown, from Manchester Southern, also contributed to the constitutional reform debate.

The youth parliamentarians also debated the topics focusing on digital transformation in the context of public policy, social justice matters, and addressing noncommunicable diseases among youth.