No time for poll
Any lingering hopes that Jamaicans had that the island would soon become a republic like some of its Caribbean neighbors have been sorely dashed with the governing Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) saying a key referendum vote to change the constitution will not be held alongside general elections scheduled for later this year.
Minister of Legal Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte said that there is no chance that a referendum can be held in time for elections scheduled by late September because a referendum bill setting out details of the procedure must be first tabled in and approved by parliament to allow for the switch from an independent nation to a republic with its own ceremonial president. Apparently, there is no time for that.
Speaking at a public ceremony at the weekend, the minister stated that after the bill is drafted, debated in parliament “before we get to the actual holding of the referendum we will have to design questions for the people to answer in the vote and that is not yet done because we are paying very close attention to attempts by other countries, what has worked and what has not worked well.”
The announcement comes as the JLP and the main opposition People’s National Party (PNP) continues bitter public feuding over making the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as the island’s final appeals court rather than the British Privy Council.
The PNP argues that the full circle of independence would not be complete if the island becomes a republic, has its own native president but still allows white, bewigged judges in London to preside over civil and criminal appeals as has been the case for decades.
The JLP has countered by saying that the plan is to complete the process in phases with the switch to the regional court being done in phases. The road to republicanism is a legally complex one with votes being required by two thirds of the lower house as well as the senate in addition to a referendum. For many political watchers on the island, this is a long shot. The JLP has also not hidden its preference for the Privy Council, while the PNP has said it prefers an executive president but its stance is not proverbially cast in stone on this issue.
Elaborating on the way forward, the minister stated that the elections commission is the final arbiter on elections and processes like a referendum, noting that “that will not change, because the referendum is similar to a vote, except that you are not voting for people, you are choosing Jamaica. By choosing changes to the constitution, that will see a Jamaican as the head of state and the other changes being made.”
So far, in the 15-nation CARICOM bloc, Guyana, Trinidad, Dominica and Barbados are republics. Of these only Guyana and Barbados are signatories to the regional court as the others are tied up in constitutional knots similar to Jamaica.
