Prime Minister Andrew Holness is accusing the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) of sabotaging the process of Jamaica becoming a republic, claiming they have politicized the process to prevent the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) from securing credit for a historic constitutional change.
Speaking to a large crowd at the Jamaica Labour Party’s East Central St. Catherine constituency conference on Sunday, Holness said the long-standing dream of removing the British monarch as Jamaica’s head of state has been derailed by partisan motives.
“You can’t take what the PNP says because they only act in their convenience. So the dream of many Jamaicans of our country becoming a republic has been dashed at the altar of PNP selfishness,” Holness declared. “Primarily because they don’t want the Jamaica Labour Party to be credited with making Jamaica a republic. They don’t want that because they know that we would go down in the annals of history as a party that repatriated our sovereignty. They don’t want that.”
The Prime Minister also accused Opposition Leader Mark Golding of backpedaling on previous commitments to support the transition.
“The leader of the opposition stood up in Parliament and he said, I support it. Yes, I believe we should move ahead forthwith because the support is on our side as well for Jamaica to become a republic,” Holness said. “And I said, well, I have to take him at his word and put in place a process to move Jamaica towards becoming a republic. Only to hear after a long period of review and study and a report was prepared, only to hear that they change of mind. They no longer want it.”
Holness also took issue with the opposition’s insistence on tying the move to a republic with Jamaica’s withdrawal from the UK-based Privy Council.
“Now they say that they are going to tie it to the removal of the Privy Council, when that was never a part of the discussion. And we were very clear that these matters have to move in a process.”
Jamaica’s transition to a republic — replacing the British monarch with a Jamaican head of state — has received bipartisan support in principle, but the political divide has emerged over the sequencing of the changes.
In January, Golding made clear that the PNP would not back the constitutional reform unless the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) replaces the Privy Council as Jamaica’s final court of appeal. Speaking during the first meeting of the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Reform, he posed four public questions to the Prime Minister, challenging why the two reforms — ditching the monarchy and leaving the Privy Council — could not move forward together.
Golding reaffirmed the PNP’s support for becoming a republic, “delinking from the British Monarchy and more,” but criticized the JLP for never publicly supporting withdrawal from the Privy Council. He noted that the Government’s current bill shows an intention to leave the monarchy but stay with the UK court. “It should be two, instead of one,” he argued, adding that “time come for full decolonisation.”
“How can the vast majority of the Jamaican people be left behind, particularly in a process of decolonisation, having already been made less fortunate by colonisation in the first place?” Golding asked.
Meanwhile, Legal and Constitutional Affairs Minister Marlene Malahoo Forte recently confirmed that the transition process is more than halfway complete. Speaking at a JIS Think Tank on March 19, she said the Constitution (Amendment) (Republic) Bill, 2024 is currently under review by a Joint Select Committee of Parliament.
“With the Bill in Parliament, we are more than 50 percent along the way,” she said. “Once the review is complete, the next step is debating and passing the Bill in the House of Representatives.”
However, the final step — a national referendum — will not coincide with the upcoming general election.
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