By Durrant Pate/Contributor

Jamaica is advancing the process of transitioning to a republic with the submission of two draft Bills to attain this objective.

The Chief Parliamentary Counsel has dispatched two draft Bills, the first of which is titled A Billed Entitled An Act to Repeal the Jamaica (Constitution) Order in Counsel 1962; to provide for the recognition of the Constitution of Jamaica, as an Act of the Parliament and people of Jamaica. This Bill, referred to as the Constitution (Amendment) (Republic of Jamaica) Bill, 2024, will also amend the Constitution of Jamaica to provide for a non-monarchical head of State, thereby establishing Jamaica as a republic.

The second bill is required to be submitted to electors pursuant to section 49(3) of the Constitution (commonly known as a referendum). This is the Referendum Bill, 2024.

Legal and Constitutional Affairs Minister Marlene Malahoo Forte gave an update on the Constitutional Reform process to the House of Representatives yesterday. She disclosed that an expert committee, which she established, has generated a draft preamble to the new Constitution. 

The goal of including this preamble is towards the Jamaicanisation of the Constitution, inserting our National Emblems and Symbols, adoption of provisions of the Jamaica Interpretation Act, as relevant and appropriate to replace the UK Interpretation Act, 1889 to interpret the new Constitution.

She advised, “The Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC) considered eight preambles in total, of which five were appended to the 1995 Report of the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional and Electoral Reform and an additional three were received from stakeholders. However, we were unable to arrive at a consensus on the preamble to be adopted, hence the recommendation for the establishment of an expert committee to consider the matter.”

The Committee last met on Monday, September 23, and has generated this draft Preamble.

Mahaloo Forte explained that the decision of the Cabinet to retain the Parliamentary Cabinet System was the clearest indication that Jamaica will not be moving to the executive presidential system, and that the British monarch will be replaced with a non-executive president, as the formal head of State of the Republic of Jamaica. 

In justifying this move, she referred to other experiences globally, noting, “…the executive presidential system often results in dictatorial, corrupt and unfair governments. Even in countries with long histories of democracies, notably the United States of America, there has been evidence of instability and unjust and corrupt governments. In any comparative assessment of the history of countries throughout the world, the countries with parliamentary cabinet systems have been well and better positioned to preserve human rights and achieve democratic stability and economic welfare compared to those with executive presidential systems.”

The Legal and Constitutional Affairs Minister posited that transitioning to a non-executive presidency within the parliamentary system will allow for the preservation of stability and better enable the establishment of a more just and equitable society. She further stated that after the review of the first Bill is complete, it will go to the Legislation Committee of Cabinet and then to the Cabinet for approval for tabling in Parliament.

A Joint Select Committee will be established to review the Bill and report to Parliament. The process to debate and pass the Bill is set out in section 49(3).

Malahoo Forte emphasised that since the establishment of the CRC and the tabling of its report of recommendations, her ministry has been working to educate and engage the people, stressing that the lack of sufficient knowledge of the Constitution has been repeatedly highlighted as a risk to be managed to achieve the approval of the people for the change.

“A series of community engagement sessions will be implemented to deepen and broaden our education and engagement strategy, thereby enabling us to further reach the ‘man in the street’. A new round of initiatives will run from September 27, 2024, to April 3, 2025,” she said. 

The minister committed to providing periodic updates to Parliament and the people of Jamaica on the progress of the constitutional reform programme.