There is hardly any surprise in the inability of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) to reach agreement on the key elements of the constitutional reform process leading to republic status.

Indeed, had we not been so naïve as a country, we would not have accepted the belief — in June 2022 when the Government announced Jamaica would become a republic — that the necessary arrangements would have been in place in time for the next general election due this September.

Of course, it would be much less costly to hold the mandatory referendum on republic status at the same time as the election. But where the thinking is flawed is in believing that voters would be able to separate party support from its position on Jamaica becoming a republic.

The charges and counter charges between the party leaders over who is to be blamed for the process being impossibly stuck five months before the polls is clear indication now that a referendum and an election should be kept separate.

Political parties are always going to disagree on issues whether great or small. It’s the unchangeable nature of the beast. It gets worse when neither of the parties is willing to budge on any of their positions.

For example, notice how the Vale Royal Talks on crime have been completely abandoned. If the parties can’t agree on a subject which literally means life and death, what will they agree on?

At the level of the current Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC) leading the republic process, the Opposition has stubbornly refused to abandon its position that republic status can only be achieved with the acceptance of the appellate jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), that is dropping the UK Privy Council as our final court of appeal.

It is pressing the Government side to state “upfront” its position on the CCJ and has withdrawn itself from the CRC in order to pressure the Government to speak.

We in this space find it necessary to agree with the prime minister when he said last year in his Independence message to the Diaspora that, “Moving to republic status, even without immediately resolving the question of the final court of appeal, is a practical and sensible approach to constitutional reform.”

The major political parties have been wrangling over the issue since 1970, at least. It is a matter that preceded the republic negotiations and might never be resolved between them. Leaving the Privy Council is a sentiment of an old political order and has little to do with the quality of a republic.

With way more weighty matters facing the nation, such as trade wars and tariff threats, Jamaica going republic seems a luxury that need not detain our efforts to steady the ship of State in such turbulent seas.

In any event, both sides seem to have resigned themselves to the fact that there will be no agreement on the CCJ matter before the 2025 elections. We suggest that even if it were possible for them to agree, it would not come in an election year, lest any of the parties can claim credit.

The Government should decide whether to continue the work of the CRC, hoping that the Opposition would see the light after the elections. We are aware that is a difficult decision because an entire Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs has been devoted to the portfolio.