MINISTER of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte says the promulgation process of the Bill to amend the Jamaican Constitution is far advanced and is likely to be tabled as early as next week before Parliament’s Christmas break.

In a statement to Parliament on Tuesday, Malahoo Forte noted that the draft legislation — the Constitution (Amendment) (Republic of Jamaica Bill) — has gone through several revisions since it was dispatched by the chief parliamentary counsel (CPC) to the legal and constitutional affairs ministry on July 22, 2024.

“Since then, six revised drafts of the Bill were dispatched by the CPC on August 27, September 16, November 13, November 22, November 29, and December 2, 2024 following further drafting instructions after reviews by the drafting strategy sub-committee of the Constitutional Reform Committee as well as the internal ministry team and the attorney general,” she said.

The draft law, which has 36 clauses, seeks to amend the constitution to, among other things, effect its patriation and Jamaicanisation as well as the establishment of Jamaica as a republic.

“The Bill is intended to achieve national goals about which there is no dispute on either side of the parliamentary aisles or within the political parties, to the best of my knowledge. When passed into law, the Bill will allow for the Constitution of Jamaica to be put in proper form as the supreme law of the land,” Malahoo Forte said.

She further noted that when passed into law, the Bill will also abolish the constitutional monarchy and replace the hereditary monarch of England with a Jamaican president as Jamaica’s formal head of State, thereby, transitioning Jamaica to a republic. This, again, she said, “has no dispute anywhere, to the best of my knowledge, about the attainment of this national goal.

“Additionally, the Bill proposes to strengthen the alteration mechanism of the constitution to enable more efficient use of legislative time, and greater ease in achieving other agreed reform goals without compromising the guardrails. Administration after Administration has lamented the tight belt that is around the constitution and the deliberate slow pace at which constitutional reform moves,” she said, adding that the Bill, when passed, will enable greater ease of reform going forward.

She, however, pointed out that there were challenges with the process as was later highlighted by Opposition Leader Mark Golding regarding amending Section 49 of the constitution, which is a very complex provision, and would involve the holding of a referendum.

To accommodate this, the CPC had also drafted Referendum Bill 2024 to provide for the votes of electors to be taken with respect to those amendments that are required to be submitted to the electors pursuant to Section 49 (3) of the constitution, commonly known as the referendum.

She noted that Section 49 of the constitution prescribes the manner in which the law is to be altered.

“By way of reminder, a Bill for an Act of Parliament, seeking to alter the provisions that we are seeking to alter in this phase of the reform work must be tabled in the House of Representatives and a period of three months must elapse between the introduction of the Bill in the House and the commencement of the first debate on the whole text of the Bill in the House,” Malahoo Forte said.

She said a further three months must elapse between the conclusion of the debate and the passing of the Bill by the House. The Bill must be passed in each House by the votes of not less than two-thirds of all members of the House.

“Thereafter, the Bill must be submitted to the electors qualified to vote for the election of members of the House of Representatives, not less than two nor more than six months after its passage through both Houses, and it must be approved by the majority of the electors voting,” she said.

The constitutional affairs minister further lamented that there has not been a referendum in independent Jamaica and there are talks of the challenges that the holding of a referendum pose.

“But there is no escaping the approval of the people in order to make the changes to achieve the agreed national goals,” she said.

Legal and Constitutional Affairs Minister Marlene Malahoo Forte telling the House of Representatives on Tuesday that the promulgation process of the Bill to amend the Jamaican Constitution is far advanced and is likely to be tabled as early as next week.