Opposition Leader Mark Golding has reiterated his position on Jamaica severing ties with the Privy Council and adopting the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as its final court of appeal as part of the country’s transition to a republic.

“Our position is that time has come to leave the British Monarchy in full once and for all. When Jamaica is moving out of the king’s yard, we cannot have one foot in and one foot out of the yard. That will leave us neither fish nor cows in another man’s yard; that can’t work. We will not support a phased approach in dealing with the matter of full decolonisation, because the phased approach does not guarantee its attainment; it may never happen if we do it that way,” Golding said.

He was speaking at a press conference this morning (May 14) at the People’s National Party (PNP) headquarters on Old Hope Road.

Golding last week instructed the two PNP representatives on the Constitution Reform Committee (CRC), Senator Donna Scott Mottley and Anthony Hylton, not to sign off on a report by the CRC to be tabled in Parliament due to concerns he raised about the need for Jamaica to separate from the Privy Council.

Having raised his concern to Prime Minister Andrew Holness on several occasions, the PNP leader indicated that he has yet to hear the prime minister clarify his position on the matter.

“Three weeks ago, I discussed the matter with Mr Holness behind the Speaker’s chair in Parliament. He said he would be considering the matter, which he understood would be of great importance to us, and he would let us know where he stands. I didn’t hear from him. I wrote to him a week ago, once again asking him to make his position known. Jamaica still has not heard from its prime minister on this fundamental issue. Ladies and gentlemen, the PNP cannot sign off on a report that does not facilitate us moving forward with a bipartisan approach based on the consensus surrounding the new constitution,” Golding said.

Despite the lack of support from the opposition, the report was submitted to Cabinet on Monday, May 13, for the review process to commence on the recommendations submitted by the CRC.

Golding says appealing to the Privy Council attracts exorbitant costs to taxpayers, which he believes is unsustainable.

“We need to get away from the exorbitant cost of appealing to the final court in London. Ladies and gentlemen, an appeal to the final court can cost taxpayers in Jamaica over $130 million for one year. That is unsustainable and a waste of taxpayers’ resources, given where we are in terms of our institutional arrangements regionally.

We must move away from having our constitution interpreted by a colonial-era court comprised of judges in the UK [United Kingdom] who have no first-hand knowledge of Jamaica’s culture and tradition. We must move forward with full confidence in the CCJ. It is an institution of excellence that has been designed to be both independent of political influence and accessible to our people at an affordable cost. It is a regional institution that Jamaica helped to design and establish. It is fully funded by a trust fund to ensure its protection from external influences, and our people, the Jamaican people, help pay for that trust fund,” Golding noted.

Meanwhile, Golding has raised concerns about some of the recommendations in the CRC report.

“As it stands, the report will make the government of the day; this is not about the current government or a future government, any government; the report will enable the government to use its majority in Parliament to install a president or head of state of the governments of its choosing in circumstances where there is no consensus by the opposition as to the appointment of that individual as president. This is unacceptable, the president has important powers, making appointments to sensitive positions within the government and the state and also ceremonial duties, as differing national unity. It is vital that the president must be someone who enjoys the trust and confidence of both political parties and the wider public,” he said.

Another gap in the report, according to Golding, is the lack of recognition of the rights of indigenous groups such as the Maroon and Rastafari communities.

Senator Donna Scott-Mottley highlighted the need for discussions to reach a consensus on the matter at hand.

“My consistent request is, let’s talk about it; let Jamaica understand why it is that you are so fixed on that position that you don’t want to talk about the CCJ, which has been in existence for 13 years. It has an excellent reputation, and its judgements have stood all kinds of scrutiny. There has been no allegation of any impropriety on the part of any judge,” she said.

Scott-Mottley further noted that the report should have been made available for Jamaicans to scrutinize before going to Parliament.