Town hall participants unhappy with non-executive president reform plan
Published:Monday | July 29, 2024 | 12:06 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
When the Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs held its Road to Republic Kingston Town Hall Meeting inside the iconic Emancipation Park last Thursday, it came under fire from members of the public for pushing forward with the desire to establish a non-executive president in law.
According to several concerned citizens in attendance for the town hall, both young and old, the way in which the government wants the nation to operate as a republic, is not only costly, but foolish.
At the same time, many members of the audience recommended the establishment of an executive president as in several countries where the president operates as both head of state and head of government.
A non-executive president is the symbolic leader of a state who performs a representative and civic role at ceremonial functions but does not hold or exercise policy-making power. The non-executive president is however entrusted with certain discretionary powers, while an executive president is the head of state who exercises authority over the governance of the state.
After Marlene Malahoo Forte, minister of legal and constitutional affairs and co-chairman of the Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC) made her presentation, at least three people, one of whom travelled from the western end of the island to Kingston for the event, went to the public microphone to air their grouses.
Haile Mikael Cujo, parliamentary caretaker for Westmoreland Eastern, from the Belmont district of Bluefields in Westmoreland and author of We The People Propose Constitution of Republic Jamaica – which celebrated its third anniversary on Friday – was among the group of Malahoo Forte critics, determinedly asking her to state the sum her ministry has already spent since it started operations.
“Madam minister, how much money has been spent on and by the Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs since its formation in January 2022 up to the CRC’s report in May 2024? Whether you can do it now or some other time, I still would like to know. We would like to know,” Cujo said.
In her response, Malahoo Forte stated, “All ministries are given a budget. We go through a process. We spend or not spend what is given. I am not the one who spends the ministry’s money. The principal financial officer is in the office of the permanent secretary. All matters relating to our expenditure can be had. We were in Parliament when we were going through the Budget process. We answered. I don’t know the figures off the top of my head.”
She added, “But, be assured, we have nothing to hide ... There is a process and there [are] laws for every spend, but I’m not the minister that deals with the money, so don’t ask the question and think seh if I don’t answer it, and I don’t have it to my head, something wrong wit dat.”
‘We don’t need a referendum’
Cujo then responded that, as the head of the stream, he expected her to have an answer and that a referendum is not needed during the process of making Jamaica into a republic.
“I have repeatedly said at town hall meetings across Jamaica that I’ve been going, and putting out YouTube videos, we don’t need a referendum. We had one in 1961, where the people voted for us not to be in the West Indian Federation, but to be in an independent situation. Our leaders chose to have this corrupt document placed on us which we are trying to get rid of,” Cujo said.
“I told the CRC already, if we use the terms of reference of this corrupt document, to change it, we’re going to end up with another corrupt document,” he said.
He was then referred to Jamaica’s legal instrument, the Constitution, by the moderator, and was, in response, pressed by Malahoo Forte.
“If you are telling the people that a referendum is not required, that is false and misleading information,” Malahoo Forte said.
Of this Cujo asked, “You’re basing on the requirements of this 1962 Constitution to change it? That’s it? That’s what you’re saying?”
Cujo said he wrote a comparison between We The People Propose Constitution of Republic Jamaica and the CRC report in May 2024, and sent a copy to the minister. She said however that she had not read the document.
‘Wrong and strong’
Andre Thomas, a citizen who followed with questions, was upset that Malahoo Forte addressed the concerned persons at the town hall meeting as “wrong and strong”.
He said it was unconscionable to push to the people that the country keep a non-executive president, while so many other issues need to be addressed.
“It is known that young people don’t vote. People really and truly don’t turn out to vote, because the current system that we have now, the young people don’t believe in it, because it’s one or the other, no accountability and the same thing rotates over and over. What is apparent to me, being a young person here tonight, is that we are not about to change the fact that we need to have elected leaders, whether it’s going to be a president or it is going to be a prime minister, a directly elected leader,” Thomas said.
One of the questions Thomas had was, ‘If it is that we the Jamaican populous will be allowed to vote in a referendum, [to determine] whether or not we have an executive president or [will] we have a non-executive president?’”
He said, “Now, Madam Minister, I know you mentioned tonight that we will have to disagree, but with a constitution that is being reformed for us the people, we will not disagree tonight. We have to agree for the people, that what is best is for the people to decide, and we are about to decide that we want an executive president,” he said.
Thomas noted that the governor general’s office costs Jamaicans millions, possibly over $400 million, while teachers and police personnel want increases to their compensation and the nation needs roads.
Heru Ishakamusa Menelik, president of the Marcus Garvey People’s Political Party, said that, from the minister’s presentation, he was wondering if he heard correctly that “answers cannot be found outside of Parliament” that relate to the road to Jamaica becoming a republic.
“The people must be involved! Because it is the people who had gone at election time to put you the politicians in office. You are our representative! You [are] supposed to represent the voice of the people! An important matter as going towards becoming a republic, the people must be involved; intimately involved in the process, because you are representatives of the will of the people,” Menelik said before asking, “Why are you suggesting that the answers lie in the 63 persons in Parliament?”
Responding, Malahoo Forte said, “Accuracy matters. I don’t think you heard correctly, because that is not what I said. I said the process of passing law is in the Parliament. I said the changes that we desire to make will not happen by us just talking about it, so it’s really important that you go away hearing correctly what I said.
“We are trying to make changes that we all can agree on, and all does not mean it’s going to be 100 per cent; that the majority of us will agree on, because we all have different views.”
Malahoo Forte said the changes the government is seeking to make have to be approved by the voting people.
She said there are many questions to be answered as the Government pursues the change in the form of government.
Malahoo Forte said the Constitution was in fact made in Jamaica within the colonial context, but was clogged with an imperial status when it was appended a schedule to an order in council that was passed pursuant to the West Indies Act after the West Indies Federation experiment.
“And so we have the highest law in a form that is more in keeping with subordinate law, and we believe that it is important to correct that,” Malahoo Forte said.
“But this is a goal many don’t fully understand and say that it’s only the lawyers that are really excited about it. But forms matter as much as substance and symbols matter, so that’s the first goal that we are seeking to achieve,” she said.
She said having the Constitution of Jamaica passed by Parliament and approved by the people of Jamaica is paramount and the first goal, and the people said they wanted the office of president.
The second goal being sought is to change Jamaica’s form of government from a constitutional monarchy which has the head of state embodied in the person of King Charles III/King of England/King of Jamaica to a Jamaican head of State, who will represent ‘Jamaican-ness’, Jamaican identity, Jamaican nationality and be a symbol of unity in the nation.
The aim is to have the monarchy replaced with an office of president and ultimately establishing the Republic of Jamaica.
“You would know by now that the Constitutional Reform Committee was set up to provide expert guidance, oversight, during the reform and has recommended after consultation with the people of Jamaica, a non-executive form of president,” Malahoo Forte said.
“I’m aware that even among members of the audience, recommendations were made for an executive president. The fact that we have recommended a non-executive president does not mean that we didn’t hear or analyse or assess the recommendations made by the those who called for an executive form of presidency,” she said.
She said the committee listened very carefully and much time was spent deliberating in order to gain an understanding of what the people were asking for.
“As we assessed the arguments presented, we concluded that the call was really a call that related more to the head of government that deals with the day-to-day running of government, as opposed to the head of state,” she said.
The difference between the executive presidential system and the non-executive presidential system is that the state is viewed and arranged separately from Government which is elected in the democratic process.
“As we assess concerns raised by many citizens, about concentration of power in a single office [where the president is both the head of state and head of government] and issues of accountability, it became clear that at this stage, an executive presidency would not satisfy the calls,” Malahoo Forte said.
“I know that we will agree to disagree with some who are maintaining that this time, in our transition, we move directly to an executive presidency where we have a single person as the head of state and the head of government,” she said.