Apparently still motivated by the ease with which Barbados transitioned to a republic nearly a year and a half ago, authorities in Jamaica are pushing the acceleration button on joining its Caribbean neighbors that have already done so in recent decades, starting with Guyana back in 1970.
A lawyer-heavy constitutional reform commission has been going over the post-independence document in recent weeks and has already agreed to tell the government to get rid of the white, British king and other monarchical trappings and appoint a Black or brown local as a ceremonial or titular president who would function as the island’s non-executive head of state.
Legal Affairs Minister Marlene Malahoo Forte told Parliament in the past week that the committee has already wrapped up that aspect of its work and has also deliberated on the process of selecting who will be nominated as president.
But the way forward is littered with some major constitutional and political hoops because such changes are rooted as entrenched clauses in the independence constitution and can only be removed by a people’s referendum vote. The committee has met five times so far and plans to continue sitting, seeking to do a comprehensive overhaul of the document to modernize it and look to the future.
“Once we have abolished the monarchy from the make-up of our form of government, it will be replaced by the office of president of the republic of Jamaica. The president of the republic of Jamaica is to be a separate office from the head of government of Jamaica,” the minister told reporters.
She said the prime minister or head of government would be the one to nominate the president after consultation with the leader of the opposition. Parliament will later confirm the nomination.
“It is our intention to legislate that the two houses (Assembly and Senate) will sit together to make this determination on a special vote,” Malahoo Forte said. Any country other than Jamaica will be considered foreign, she said of the committee.
When Barbados made the switch at the end of November 2021 to dump the British monarchy, Jamaican authorities had clearly signaled and determined that such would have provided the perfect excuse and time to sell the idea to the public. When England’s Prince William and his wife visited Jamaica last year as part of a mini Caribbean tour, Prime Minister Andrew Holness dropped the political bomb on the royals, telling them of the country’s intention to become a republic.
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“Jamaica is, as you would see, a country that is very proud of our history and very proud of what we have achieved,” Holness said. “And we are moving on and we intend to attain, in short order, our development goals and fulfil our true ambitions and destiny as an independent, developed, prosperous country.”
Of the 15 nations in the Caricom trade bloc, Guyana, Trinidad, Dominica, and Barbados are republics with their own presidents. In the case of Guyana, its president is both head of state and government as of a constitutional amendment in 1980.
The Bahamas, Antigua, St. Vincent, and a few others have made political rumblings about ditching the British, but no serious or concrete steps have been taken so far. Of these, Antigua seems to be the most determined.
What is still not clear or determined in Jamaica, meanwhile, is whether the referendum will be held simultaneously with general elections scheduled for late 2025.
“It is too early to provide an answer on whether the country will vote in a general election and vote on the referendum on the British monarch at the same time,” Malahoo Forte said recently. “We are taking advice, we are assessing the matter, and what I promise you is that I will give the nation a timely update on where we are.”
