Public buy-in key in constitutional reform – Malahoo Forte
Minister says Jamaica’s transition to republic cannot be rushed
Published:Friday | April 28, 2023 | 1:07 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
MINISTER OF Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte says that while the Government is examining the the possibility of making Jamaica a republic, care is being taken to avoid implementing sudden changes that will disrupt the existing governance structure.
Malahoo Forte was addressing Wednesday evening’s town hall meeting at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre in St James, which discussed the first phase of the constitutional reform process.
She noted that the process cannot be hurried because there are many important issues to be addressed.
“We will have to consider, do Jamaicans want a head of state? There is a whole system that will require the uprooting of our current structure, and even if we agree that it should be uprooted, do we do it all at once, or do we do it in stages?” she said.
“If we do it all at once, the displacement that will result is going to be great,” she added.
“Jamaica is a democracy, and it is true that we have a lot of problems, but when we make this change, what are we going to put in place?” questioned Malahoo Forte.
“The approach taken by the Government is to look at those recommendations of the past, not just to pick them up and implement them, but to consider with the passage of time between 1995 when the report with the recommendations went to Parliament, and now in 2023, what else we will need to take into account,” she explained.
According to Malahoo Forte, the Constitutional Reform Committee, which she currently heads, will have to consider whether the new system of government will be led by an executive head of state, who is unquestionably in charge of the political system, or if there will be non-executive leadership, where the head of state only has a ceremonial or symbolic role.
“For the office of president, how do we select and put the new president in place? Will we have the executive or non-executive leadership, or something in between, where you give important executive power to the president while you still have a separate head of government that comes through our election process?” asked Malahoo Forte, in outlining some of the issues her committee must resolve.
As it relates to the Constitution, which will be approved under the new system of governance, Malahoo Forte said the matter of what input the people of Jamaica have is an important consideration that will have to be resolved.
“For this part of the consultation, we are ‘Jamaicanising’ the Constitution. What that means is that we want the Constitution to be passed by the Parliament of Jamaica and approved by the people of Jamaica because what we have now was not approved by the people of Jamaica and it did not come into effect by the Parliament of Jamaica,” said Malahoo Forte.
“These are the things we are consulting on because there are specific items that the people have to approve,” added Malahoo Forte.
The Constitutional Reform Committee, which was named by Prime Minister Andrew Holness on March 22 this year, will serve between March 2023 and the end of the constitutional life of this Parliament.