Jamaica has entered a fresh round of debates about replacing the British monarch and implementing a republican system of Government after Barbados last Monday night declared itself a republic, ending England’s centuries of influence, including more than 200 years of slavery until 1834.

On Thursday, former Prime Minister PJ Patterson brought the weight of his knowledge, experience, and internationally respected voice to the discussion as he appealed to current Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Opposition Leader Mark Golding to work together to have Jamaica sever colonial ties with Britain next year when the island marks its 60th anniversary of political Independence.

The elder statesman pointed out that Jamaica has been actively engaged in discussions about moving towards a republican system for some time before the country marked its 40th anniversary of Independence.

Since then, he said, both the Jamaica Labour Party and the People’s National Party have repeatedly accepted the institution of our own indigenous president as head of State, and this has been reflected in the election manifestos of both political parties since 2002.

“Successive prime ministers have reiterated that firm intention at their inaugural installations and also reaffirmed their policy positions in numerous throne speeches from the dawn of this millennium,” Patterson said in his letter addressed to both Holness and Golding.

In January 2012, then Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller’s announcement of Jamaica’s intention, given that the island would be marking its 50th anniversary of Independence that year, made headlines and triggered intense debate in England, and Buckingham Palace was reported by the BBC as saying, “The issue of the Jamaican head of State was entirely a matter for the Jamaican Government and people.”

At the time the Jamaica Observer turned to respected protocol expert and consultant Merrick Needham for an idea of some of what would need to be done to effect the change.

Needham, who holds both British and Jamaican citizenship, said he supported the planned move to sever colonial ties to Britain and is in favour of the island having a ceremonial rather than an executive president. However, he raised an important issue that will impact on the decision — cost.

“In the short term, and our present serious financial circumstances, has anyone thought of the costs?” he asked.

He said that, in a discussion with “someone of considerable standing” just the week before he spoke with the Sunday Observer, the person stated that “such a major undertaking must be executed properly or not at all”.

According to Needham, apart from the more obvious legal and associated costs, “one of the major other items is, perhaps surprisingly to civilians, the headdress badges and rank insignia of all the personnel of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), Jamaica Combined Cadet Force (JCCF), and others. This could probably amount to the better part of 20,000 uniformed personnel”.

He said that, when Hong Kong reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997, he recalled hearing that the cost of changing the forage cap badges and shoulder strap rank insignia of the police was somewhere between US$2.5 million and US$4 million.

Needham also posited that, even the lower figure of US$2.5 million at the exchange rate at that time would be in the order of $217 million.

“In the JCF, apart from all cap badges, from which the St Edward’s Crown must be removed, the rank insignia for all gazetted officers will need to be replaced as all of them contain British royal emblematic factors. Similarly, in the JDF, headdress badges for both caps and berets (ie double the JCF cost per person), as well as rank insignia for all ranks above sergeant will need replacement, except for some coast guard personnel. The same applies to the six battalions of the JCCF,” added Needham.

He also pointed to other items that would need to be changed, notably The Queen’s and regimental colours of each of the three JDF infantry battalions.

“And don’t say that these flag-like emblems are not necessary, unless you feel the same way about a preacher’s Bible,” said Needham.

He said he had heard of acceptable quality, but less expensive alternatives. However, “the last time I knew costs from the traditional UK suppliers of these complex, hand-crafted, silk-embroidered items, the six replacements for The Jamaica Regiment would, at that time, have cost about £60,000 or,” at the exchange rate that year, “about $8 million”.

“All these costs are just lead examples,” he said, adding that “there are obviously others elsewhere”.

Those other costs could include legal bills incurred in what he described as a “massive constitutional change” that is easier said than done.

“My layman’s understanding is that at least a six-month parliamentary timetable is required in addition to the holding of a national referendum — and all that after the Government has fully formulated the proposed new republican constitution and presented it to Parliament for debate,” he said.

That point was made by Patterson in his letter on Thursday.

He pointed out that the requirements to amend deeply entrenched provisions of the constitution would, according to Section 49, need a period of three months between the introduction of the Bill and the commencement of the first debate on the whole text of the Bill, and a further period of three months between the conclusion of that debate and its passage.

Thereafter, according to Section 49(ii), the Bill has to be submitted not less than two months nor more than six months after its passage through both Houses to the electorate.

“This means a referendum,” Patterson said.

Despite that, Needham, in the 2012 interview, was optimistic about the decision which, he pointed out, had been discussed since the 1970s.

“If our new prime minister can at least really get things moving, well fine,” he said at the time. “However, she has far more immediate priorities as she has rightly indicated.”