Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Delroy Chuck on Thursday urged Opposition Leader Mark Golding to resume bipartisan discussions on constitutional reform, saying that the issues dividing both sides need to be resolved by the end of the current parliamentary term.

“I’m publicly calling on Mark; let us get the changes that we require in the constitution going… If it is not done next year, we are going to have difficulty getting it done in this term of the present Parliament,” Chuck stated while delivering the keynote address at the commissioning of justices of the peace at Kingston Bookshop’s Leslie Ridout Hall, downtown Kingston.

Chuck told his audience that he had previously expressed willingness to work with Golding on the matter, but his attempt was rejected by the Opposition leader who is also People’s National Party (PNP) president.

His reference was to a letter Golding sent to Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness early October declining to meet with Chuck, as proposed by Holness, to discuss the next steps in the Opposition’s collaboration with the Government on the move to make Jamaica a republic.

In his letter dated October 3, 2025, Golding pointed to Holness’s invitation, made during his swearing-in address, to resume the Vale Royal Talks to discuss constitutional reform, specifically the transition to a republic.

Golding said he welcomed the invitation, as they are consistent with the reality that the Government does not now have a two-thirds majority in either House of Parliament, further re-enforcing the imperative of partnership between the two major political parties if progress is to be made in reforming the constitution.

He said he was expecting an invitation to meet with Holness himself to discuss the way forward as a first step.

However, in response to Golding’s letter, Holness explained that he had considered it courteous and practical, as a preliminary step, for the minister with responsibility for the portfolio that Golding shadows to brief him and his team before resumption of the Vale Royal Talks.

“To be clear, this invitation to meet with Minister Chuck is not a substitute for us meeting directly as political and parliamentary leaders of our country,” Holness said.

“During the swearing-in ceremony, I asked for a partnership between us to transition Jamaica to a republic. The Vale Royal Talks have proven useful in the past in providing a space for frank dialogue and principled compromise. I therefore propose that we return to this mechanism as a platform to move forward constructively,” Holness wrote.

On Thursday, Chuck said that both political parties have shared the vision of Jamaica becoming a republic for decades. However, several disagreements have hindered the process moving forward.

He pointed to the PNP’s insistence that the move to republic status must be tied to the country replacing the United Kingdom Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as Jamaica’s final appeal court.

However, Holness and the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) have said that they prefer Jamaica having its own final court, and are insisting that the final decision should be made by the Jamaican people in a referendum.

They have also suggested that the transition should be done in three phases.

The issue of the final court was the sticking point that led the PNP in January this year to boycott the meetings of the joint select committee of the Parliament examining the Constitution (Amendment) Republic Bill tabled by then Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte.

Chuck urged Golding to reconsider his stance, saying that there are many other pressing constitutional matters that would be addressed in the second phase of Jamaica’s journey to becoming a republic. He also said that disagreements on the CCJ should not continue to slow the process.

“Sure, when it comes to other changes in the constitution, including what should be the final court for Jamaica, we can debate that too, but let us start out with what we have agreed on. Let us try to tell the people of Jamaica why we are doing it and why, when the referendum comes, they should support it. That should start early next year,” Chuck said.

“There are many other matters to be considered: Should we have fixed terms? Should we have fixed dates of elections? All of these changes need to be looked at for the people to assist the Government in making a determination,” he said.

Chuck pointed to the risk of the issue dragging into the period of campaigning for another general election.

“If 2028 comes and we don’t do it, no Government, including this one, is going to have a referendum before the general election, because whatever happens it will send the wrong signal,” he said.

“Let us settle and remove the monarchy within the next two years so we can change to a republican status within a parliamentary system of government, and while we change the Bill in Parliament, hopefully early next year, we can have the referendum by 2027 where the people of the country will make that decision,” he said.