When tourism paradise Barbados switched from an independent nation to a full-fledged republic in late 2021, its sister Caribbean community nation, Jamaica, made little effort to avoid being labeled as jealous of its Eastern Caribbean neighbor.
Calls rose up from many sections of society for Jamaica to do likewise, and reports of previous studies about republicanism were dusted off and debated. Caribbean pride swelled as the change- over ceremony was broadcast globally, but there was perhaps no place else in the region where the urge to do likewise was felt more than in Jamaica.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness was so politically motivated by the Barbados move that he brazenly told visiting British royals Prince William and his wife Kate last year that “Jamaica is as you would see a country that is very proud. We’re moving on. And we intend to fulfill our true ambition of being an independent, fully developed and prosperous country.”
But the government’s efforts to move the legislative process along to effect the switch has run into a major snag, with the governing Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) blaming the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) for stymieing efforts for parliamentary approval for changes to key constitutional clauses.
Legal Affairs Minister Marlene Malahoo says the PNP is basically sabotaging efforts to move the process along by refusing to name its two delegates to the reform commission. The PNP is also, at the proverbial 11th hour, demanding that Jamaica does away with the British Privy Council as its final appeals court, and moves to the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) model. For the PNP, this would complete the entire dismissal of the British colonial system and its ways of doing things.
But Ms. Malahoo also vowed that the cabinet will go ahead ”with or without the participation of the parliamentary opposition.” She even says that the whole process, including a planned referendum next year, will take at least a year to complete. The original goal was to have Jamaica become a republic in time for its 60th independence anniversary last year, but that constitutional ship has already sailed.
“We consider it unfortunate that the parliamentary opposition is twinning accession to the appellate jurisdiction of the CCJ to the move to abolish the constitutional monarchy and establish the republic of Jamaica. I thought that when they said that we should complete the move that they meant it, but clearly it was plain talk. Plain talk,” Malahoo said.
“On the main issue on the table, in terms of constitutional reform, which is for Jamaica to move from being ruled with a head of state, if not governed by a monarch based in the UK, to having a Jamaican head of state—a president—as part of that process. We don’t do it in a piecemeal way, but we complete our decolonisation, achieve full sovereignty and political independence by moving away from the Privy Council as our final court and acceding to the jurisdiction of the CCJ as our final court,” Mark Golding, opposition leader, shot back. Golding even said he had written to the minister mid last year and only received a reply in 2023.
Of the 12 former British colonies in the 15-nation Caricom block, only Guyana, Trinidad, Dominica and Barbados are republics. Antigua and the Bahamas have indicated an interest in decolonizing..
Jamaica has, since the 90’s, been debating whether to move to a republic. The referendum will try to repeal entrenched clauses in the constitution concerning how to become a republic, among other issues.
“It will take nine to 12 months, ambitiously, to pass the bill, then amend the constitution to establish the republic of Jamaica. Some of what the opposition leader wishes to have discussed, the committee was supposed to help us with. We are ready to go, and it is my hope that we will not be forced to go without the opposition, but we are ready to go,” Ms. Malahoo stated.