Dahlia Walker-Huntington | Is Jamaica a borderless country ...?

When the list of members of the Jamaica Constitutional Reform Committee was named, numerous Jamaicans overseas and I were disappointed. Stupefied is more like it when we learned that no member of the Jamaican Diaspora had been named to the committee. Without commenting on the members of the committee, the fact that the Government did not see it fit to include at least one Jamaican living overseas is a serious oversight the likes of which does not appear to have hit home to the Government.

I read with interest reports in the media in October 2023 of a “terse” exchange at a public gathering between the Minister of Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte and Steven Golding, the president of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), over the exclusion of the Maroons in the constitution-reform process.

That exchange and the silence from the committee co-chairs reignited my outrage at the Government’s lack of concern for the members of the Jamaican Diaspora. We who live in non-Commonwealth countries are severely negatively affected by the current Constitution in the most significant way by being unable to serve in any constitutional role in Jamaica, including serving in the Jamaican Parliament. A person who is born in, say, Bangladesh can serve in the Jamaican Parliament, but a born Jamaican who is also a United States citizen cannot. Something nuh sit right with that at all.

It is full time for the appointments of diaspora senators – one from each party – to represent the interests of the members of the diaspora and to participate in the legislative framework of the country.

I know that some Jamaicans in Jamaica hold the position that once a Jamaican leaves the Rock to live outside of Jamaica, they forfeit all rights to participate in Jamaican affairs. I distinctly remember the deputy mayor of Montego Bay in 2022 labelling Jamaicans who leave the island “cowards” but au contraire mon frère.

NOT LESS JAMAICAN

An equal number of Jamaicans live outside of Jamaica. It is, therefore, physically impossible for the country to absorb every Jamaican who lives overseas. Economic, familial, and business opportunities are among the main reasons why people leave the country to live overseas. Living outside the geographic space does not make anyone less of a Jamaican.

The oft cited and rightfully so financial contributions made by Jamaicans overseas to Jamaica by way of remittances is an integral part of the country’s survival. Equally so in my mind are the donations – financial and in kind – that the diaspora makes to Jamaica in the form of alumni support, medical missions and volunteerism, etc, to the country. Notwithstanding the minister of health’s unfortunate proclamation and broad sweep in October 2023 that diaspora dental missions to Jamaica are performing unnecessary dental extractions and are practising on Jamaicans, members of the diaspora will continue to provide what is often the only access to medical and dental care to some Jamaicans. Do we not know which mission(s) performed any unnecessary extractions on unsuspecting Jamaicans?

Likewise, when the prime minister in March 2022 proclaimed that the diaspora must stop sending guns to Jamaica in barrels, it made me wonder. Do we not know who is sending and receiving these illicit shipments without broad-brushing the entire hard-working diaspora and the persons sending barrels to their families and friends in Jamaica?

From the home health aide working in the United Kingdom to the mechanic working in New York city who are from small districts across the length and breadth of Jamaica who save their own funds and reach out to co-workers and family members to be able to host a back-to-school or Christmas treat in their home towns to the nurses and doctors who encourage their co-workers to accompany them on medical missions to serve the people of Jamaica, the diaspora is an integral part of Jamaica. From the 1970s when my mother would send a postal order to a friend in St. Elizabeth to the now instant transfer of funds to a bank account, Jamaicans in the diaspora are always thinking about home.

WANT TO CONTRIBUTE

Many in the diaspora do not have family to send remittances to in Jamaica but want to contribute and participate in the development of the country. The diaspora is in a unique position many of whom possess working knowledge of Jamaica and what they have learned and mastered in their adopted countries and want to share that combined knowledge and experience with the land of their birth. At every level of Jamaica’s national development – legislative, executive, statutory boards, members of the diaspora should be engaged to share their knowledge for the betterment of Jamaica.

There has been a recent tit for tat in the media over who speaks for the diaspora. While I won’t get into that now, suffice it to say, in my humble opinion, no one group, not even the Diaspora Advisory Council speaks, for the diaspora. That fact is on us who live in the diaspora, but that is for another discussion at another time.

2024 is slated for the biannual diaspora conference, and so there is a lot of movement and talk about diaspora affairs. I have said it before, and I will say it again, a biannual diaspora conference hosted by the Government of the day is not engagement. Having a Diaspora Advisory Council, the majority of whom are appointed by the Government, is not engagement. Members of government making trips to the diaspora and asking for direct investment in Jamaica is not engagement. An excellent step in showing that you honour and respect your diaspora and are interested in meaningful engagement is to make room for the voices from the diaspora in this constitutional-reform process and the framework of a better Jamaica.

Dahlia Walker-Huntington is a Jamaican-American attorney who practises immigration law in the United States. Send feedback to info@walkerhuntington.com.