Constitutional Reform Process Must Build Consensus

Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC) member and Attorney-at-Law, Dr. Lloyd Barnett, is reminding Jamaicans that the constitutional reform process must be built on consensus, for the Republic to become a reality.

Jamaica’s constitutional reform process involves moving from a constitutional monarchy, where the country’s Head of State is a Monarch.

Usually that implies that the position of Head of State is not based on merit, but on blood, where there is some hereditary succession to the Throne.

Dr. Barnett says not all persons understand the constitutional reform process and its implications, especially as it relates to the involvement and importance of the people.

“Constitutional reform is almost impossible without consensus, and in the Jamaican case where the amendment procedures are so complex and difficult, it is even more important to have consensus,” he argues.

“We have had lots of experiences in the world, the Commonwealth and in the Caribbean, because attempts at constitutional reform had failed because there was no consensus. And consensus doesn’t really mean only the existence of opposition to a measure, but the nonsupport. Because there have been cases in which a national party does not support and the people see this as a negative and vote negatively,” he adds.

Dr. Barnett who was speaking in a recent JIS ‘Get the Facts’ interview, says Jamaica is one of the few Commonwealth countries in which the monarchical form is deeply entrenched.

This means that the monarchical form can only be removed by conforming with the most difficult amendment procedure.

“Special majorities in Parliament and a referendum [are required]. The people have to be consulted… educated and inspired in relation to that move. In order to make that change and become a Republic, we have to have a referendum. It can’t be done by Parliament alone,” Dr. Barnett explains.

The reform process also has specific time factors built in, such as the three-month period between the introduction of the measure in Parliament and its debate.

Dr. Barnett says at this stage, the Bill has not yet been tabled, as there is a compulsory period for consultation.

“What we have been having is a consultation process before the formulation of the new Constitution, so to speak, so we are doing a pre-legislative process consultation. But it doesn’t end there. There has to be debates in Parliament and people will be entitled to make submissions and make representation to any parliamentary committee that is established,” he points out.

Continued dialogue between the Government and the people is necessary to building the needed consensus, for completing the reform process.

This consensus-building effort is one of the main focuses of the Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC).

“There had been a measure of consensus in the earlier efforts to reform the Constitution. There were reports which made recommendations and there were parliamentary committees that affirmed the recommendations, so that certain things were agreed on, like the establishment of the Republic and the ‘Jamaicanisation’ of the Constitution,” Dr. Barnett says.

The Jamaicanisation of the Constitution involves ensuring that the country’s supreme law is a Jamaican instrument, “made by Jamaicans in Jamaica and signed in the end by Jamaicans instead of signed by a clerk in the privy council in London. The Jamaicanisation is something that was virtually agreed across the board,” he adds.

Decisions, including the type of President a Republic of Jamaica would have, also form part of securing consensus in the reform process.

The CRC, through its consultations, concluded that the performance of the parliamentary Cabinet system was the one that offered the better prospect of sustaining democracy and good government.

“Once you decide you are going to have a Republic, the next step is what type of President you are going to have, and what type of Head of State you are going to have. Having decided on that, now you had to also decide what are the powers that this formal President is going to exercise.

Essentially, what we said is that they would be the same powers as the Governor General now exercises, but he will now be doing it not as a representative of the English monarch, but as the representative of the people of Jamaica,” Dr. Barnett explains.

These decisions where consensus is crucial will also matter in areas such as the choice of Jamaica’s final appellate court.

Dr. Barnett is encouraging Jamaicans to remain focused on the goal of reform by carefully working through differences that can become major stumbling blocks on the journey.

“We have laboured under the yolk of colonialism and we have to stand and work together to ensure that we establish Jamaica as our own without any imperial throne to look up to, and we must, therefore, be friendly in expressing our differences and resolute in our determination to solve those differences,” he says.