WITH Jamaica on the cusp of its 64th Independence celebrations, constitutional reform advocate Robert Stephens is urging the political directorate to end the politicisation of the country’s constitutional reform and establish an independent committee, headed by civil society, to chart the course towards Jamaica becoming a republic.

His call comes as the Government continues to blame the parliamentary Opposition for stalling the constitutional reform process, while Opposition Leader Mark Golding maintains that Jamaica’s transition to a republic should not proceed unless the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) replaces the United Kingdom-based Privy Council as the country’s final appellate court.

Stephens, a member of the Advocates Network, said the failure of the previous constitutional reform process indicates that a new committee needs to be established.

“It [the Constitutional Reform Committee] shouldn’t be led by a politician. It should be led by somebody from civil society, preferably a judge, and it should have members from the two major political parties, but also from civil society. Let us seriously move now towards establishing consensus on a new approach to a new constitution, which has to include the fact that we become far more independent from the king and the queen and the monarchy. The time has come for us to get serious because that last attempt…was totally unsuccessful,” said Stephens.

He stressed that when two political parties have differences of opinion, those differences cannot be easily resolved by having someone who is a member of one party head the committee.

“What you need is some independence, and there needs to be serious dialogue about how we’re going to move towards being a republic, and that requires public education and discussion, and involving the people of every parish of the island. The approach that was taken before was definitely not the right way to do it, where a politician was, as a minister, in charge of the whole committee, and then you had selected members, which were packed with people who were mainly government appointees. I think what you need is a far more independent group that is going to seriously address all of the shortcomings of our current constitution,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

He also questioned the value taxpayers have received from the constitutional reform exercise, pointing to the millions of dollars already allocated to the process despite little tangible progress.

“That’s unacceptable. The other thing is the headquarters for the previous ministry is sitting there locked up. Now, are we paying rent for that still? Taxpayers’ money is not something to be spent idly. Really and truly, we need far more responsive and responsible governance in terms of the way that our money is being handled,” said Stephens.

Weighing in on the topic, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Delroy Chuck argued that the Opposition is responsible for delaying the process after refusing to support the Constitution (Amendment) (Republic) Bill, 2024, unless it also includes provisions to replace the Privy Council with the CCJ. He called on the leader of the Opposition to resume the process.

Chuck said the Government had already conducted extensive public consultations through islandwide town hall meetings and believed there had been agreement on removing the British monarch before the Opposition altered its position.

“At the very last moment, the Opposition decided that they would not proceed unless the CCJ was decided on; that is what is holding up the process. There is no need to go back into any further discussion islandwide. As far as we are concerned, it’s a decision that has been held up by the Opposition.

“There might be a bit of tweaking as to how that president should be nominated and selected and approved. A Bill was put in Parliament, and all that is necessary is for it to be debated, and we move forward. Moving towards a republic has been decided on, but it has been inordinately delayed by the position of the Opposition,” Chuck told the Sunday Observer.

Providing an update on the progress made, Chuck said, “We are nowhere” as it relates to making Jamaica a republic.

“We have not moved for over a year now, so nothing really has been done. Everything is at a standstill because the Opposition is not prepared to move forward until the Government commits to joining the CCJ, which in my mind is most unfortunate on their part,” said the minister.

“There is no doubt that once we move forward with the republic, then we can again put a constitutional commission together to look at other areas of the constitution; that is not a problem. But, remember, we have just come out of a broad-based constitutional commission. Yes, you might not support everything they did, but at least there was consensus on moving forward with the republic, so let’s do that and not allow the work of the last constitutional commission to be totally wasted.

“If you don’t allow something to come out of it, then we may have another constitutional commission and nothing comes out of it,” Chuck stressed.

The Opposition leader has argued in several public statements and interviews that replacing the king as head of State without simultaneously adopting the CCJ would amount to only partial decolonisation.

“The Opposition’s position has been consistent. We are not in favour of a piecemeal approach to decolonisation at this stage of our nation’s journey of national development. We support full decolonisation now,” Golding told the Sunday Observer.

He recalled that last year September he wrote to Prime Minister Andrew Holness requesting to meet with him to see how the process could move forward, but that request was not granted.

“That is a counterproductive approach, given that these reforms will require bipartisan support in order to proceed…It is the Government, not the Opposition, that is delaying the process,” insisted the Opposition leader.

He stressed that it would be an anomaly for Jamaica to move away from the British monarch as our head of State but retain the British monarch’s court as our final court, and that anomaly would also perpetuate the existing system which has, for centuries, denied the vast majority of Jamaicans access to their final court.

“Because of the legislative history of this matter over the past two decades, we would only support the two things being done separately if the adoption of the CCJ as our final court is the first step of an agreed pathway to full decolonisation and Jamaica becoming a republic. However, our preference would be to pass the legislation for both things simultaneously, followed by the required referendum on the UK monarch being replaced as head of State by a Jamaican president,” said Golding.

He added that the Opposition also has concerns about the proposed manner of appointing the president, and the proposed changes to the composition and voting of the Senate. Additionally, he said there needs to be a consensus on term limits; fixed election dates; a procedure for the recall of delinquent MPs; a procedure for the impeachment of parliamentarians who bring their office into disrepute; a different arrangement for the appointment of the Speaker of the House to ensure greater independence and fairness; and the resumption of the convention whereby parliamentary committees are chaired by the Opposition.

“It will be important for there to be both public education and public consultations on these matters, and on any other constitutional reforms for which there is significant public support,” said Golding.

He further urged Jamaicans to put pressure on the Government to commence authentic dialogue with the Opposition as to a pathway for achieving full decolonisation.

Constitutional reform has been talked about for decades in Jamaica, across different political administrations.

Different committees have been established by both parties, with the most recent being the Constitutional Reform Committee established by the Andrew Holness-led Government in 2023.