KINGSTON, Jamaica- As she promised a week ago, the Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Marlene Malahoo Forte, on Tuesday tabled the Constitution (Amendment) Republic Act 2024 in the House of Representatives, in what she described as a “historic moment” that signals the start of attempts to abolish the monarchy.

The Bill will now lay on the table of the House until March 2025 before it can be read a second time, signaling the start of the debate.

The Bill contains 36 clauses, a new Chapter 9(A), a proposed section 134 (A) and a Fourth Schedule for National Items.
“It is intended to achieve national goals about which there is no dispute on either side of the parliamentary aisle… When passed into law, it will put the Constitution of Jamaica in proper form, as the supreme law of the land,” Malahoo Forte told the House on December 3.

It will abolish the constitutional monarchy and replace the Monarch of England with a Jamaican president as Jamaica’s formal Head of State, thereby transitioning Jamaica to a republic. It will also entrench the Electoral Commission of Jamaica in the Constitution, “thereby giving it a permanent place in our laws”. And it will incorporate in the constitution and provide for treatment of National Items, including National Symbols and Emblems.

The Bill also provides for greater clarity on: citizenship; qualification and disqualification from the Parliament; and the appointment of senators independent of the political parties represented in the House of Representatives after General Elections.

Acting Leader of Opposition Business, Anthony Hylton, who is also a member of the Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC), was the only member of the Opposition present when the Bill was tabled.
He too described the tabling of the Bill as historic, but reminded that there were still differences to be sorted out between the Government and opposition.

“It is to be acknowledged that today is an important day, it marks a landmark in a journey that was started many years ago but, in this latest iteration, in March of last year,” said Hylton.

Like, Malahoo Forte, Hylton acknowledged the work of the members of the CRC and others, describing it as a “tremendous effort which we believe will redound to the benefit of the nation as a whole”.
With the Opposition already stating that it will not support the amendments unless the government moves to make the Caribbean Court of Justice Jamaica’s final appellate court in the first phase of the reform process, Hylton on Tuesday said he hoped both sides “could find the common ground that would enable us to make the critical steps needed”.

He noted that the differences, in the main, are not contentious. “They are issues and areas of concern but the goals and objectives are not contentious. There are different timelines and how to proceed but I believe, and I still hope that in the discussions to come, we can find the common ground on which to move forward in unity and in unison in the way that the entrenched positions in the constitution require,” Hylton said.