Put aside ‘strife’

Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding are being encouraged to put aside their “animosity” and engage in further Vale Royal Talks to resolve the current impasse in the constitutional-reform process.

The Vale Royal Talks, a means by which members of the two major political parties have bipartisan discussions on critical issues of national importance, is the “only viable option” to move the constitutional-reform process forward, political commentator Lloyd B. Smith told The Gleaner.

“The mechanism that governs the Vale Royal Talks could, perhaps, help to resolve whatever issues that may exist because in the very final analysis, based on the constitutional requirements, the Government, by itself, cannot carry out certain legislative procedures without some level of cooperation from the Opposition,” he said.

Golding has warned that the report from the Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC), which is being reviewed by Cabinet, will not get consensus in Parliament, where entrenched provisions require the votes of opposition members.

He had instructed opposition members of the committee not to sign the document after concerns were raised about several matters, fundamental among them a decision on the country’s final court.

The opposition leader has been resolute in his position on making the Caribbean Court of Justice Jamaica’s apex court.

Further, he said the reform process should have had a single phase, insisting that Jamaica’s severance from the British monarchy must be twinned with a departure from the United Kingdom-based Privy Council as its final court.

Smith noted that Vale Royal Talks have been very effective in the past to settle variance between the two major political parties, stressing that there was a certain level of collaboration between former prime ministers and opposition leaders.

Stating that there “seems to be some amount of dislike between Mr Holness and Mr Golding”, Smith urged both men to move beyond this.

“I think there is too much animosity between Mr Golding and the prime minister for whatever reason. They are two big men, and they should be able to disagree without being disagreeable. It is not doing well for the country at this time,” he said.

Beyond political parties

Golding told The Gleaner that the Opposition is willing to have Vale Royal discussions with the Government on this matter “and indeed, on any other matters of mutual concern”.

But Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) Executive Director Mickel Jackson believes that the process should go “beyond the two political parties negotiating amongst themselves”.

She stressed the need for consensus from citizens, and in the same breath, admonished the CRC for not embarking on comprehensive consultation with the public.

“The engagement from the CRC with respective sectors has been lacking in any real engagement, and public education has been inadequate. This is a national discourse on our supreme law, and the public is expected to vote, yet knowledge of the powers, structures, and authority of the Government is not readily understood by many, so public education is needed there.

“It is essential to recognise that consensus based on the will of the people is critical in constitutional matters, and every step of the process must include public participation,” she told The Gleaner.

Vale Royal understanding

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, at a post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday, told journalists that it was after the Vale Royal Talks held in February that the Opposition, after initially refusing to name members to the CRC, relented.

“We came to an understanding that the process would be a phased process, that we would move on the matters on which we agree, which would be Jamaica becoming a republic. The other matters which were a little more complex and which consensus ought to be fully realised, that would come in the second phase of the process,” he said.

Holness also said he had “a reasonable expectation” that the review process was proceeding in “good faith” after the talks.

But Jackson contends that the phased approach “will lead to failure and that a holistic review is needed first.

The JFJ head also called on both political parties to publicly state their positions on key areas, not only on the CCJ, but also on the removal of the savings law, which she said has implications for abortion and buggery, and any other area on which there may be a difference of opinions.

But Holness, who was addressing the reform process for the first time yesterday, did not state the Government’s position on the contentious issue of the removal of the Privy Council as the country’s final court of appeal despite a commitment from Marlene Malahoo Forte, minister of legal and constitutional affairs and co-chair of the CRC, in October last year that Holness would address the issue in “short order”.

“Many have bought into the narrative that the Government has been unclear about it. The Government has not been unclear about it. The Government has said that as part of the move to make Jamaica a republic, we will decide on a final court,” Malahoo Forte said at the post-Cabinet press briefing.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com