Gov’t, Opposition spar over constitutional reform process

Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte yesterday suggested that Opposition Leader Mark Golding has backtracked on his original pronouncement of moving forward with the constitutional reform process with the things both sides of the parliamentary divide agree on.

However, in a response last evening, Golding indicated that context matters, noting that when he commented on the issue at the time, he could not have envisaged that both sides would not agree on full decolonisation.

In her contribution to the Sectoral Debate in Parliament yesterday, Malahoo Forte suggested that the Opposition leader changed his approach to the issue.

In two video clips presented by Malahoo Forte, the Opposition leader had said, among other things, “let us begin with the things that we can agree on and move forward”.

She then played the second video with Golding speaking at a press conference indicating that the Opposition was not willing to support a phased approach to dealing with the matter of full decolonization.

“On this matter, I don’t believe it is going to come from people who say one thing when it suits them and then move away to something else when it suits them,” she said.

The minister, who has been given the task to advance the constitutional reform process, said: “What is required to go forward is a different exercise of leadership and I don’t think it is going to come from the Opposition”.

But Golding has accused Malahoo Forte of “playing games by running voice clips without the context”.

According to Golding, when he said “let us proceed with what we could agree”, his assumption was that both parties would have agreed on decolonisation.

“I didn’t envisage that we could not reach that agreement because we had some discussions and they never said definitively that they weren’t prepared to proceed with abandoning the Privy Council and moving to the CCJ (Caribbean Court of Justice). They said it was under discussion and they had some internal work to do,” he added.

GIVE J’CANS A REAL FINAL COURT

Golding said it was “bizarre and unthinkable” that lawmakers would proceed in a piecemeal manner towards decolonisation now, when the country gained Independence in 1962.

“If we are talking about sovereignty, it must be full sovereignty and this necessitates moving away from the King’s court as our final court, and giving the Jamaican people a real final court that they have access to,” he said.

The Opposition leader said up to this point, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has not stated his position on a final court for Jamaica even though Malahoo Forte told Parliament that he would do so by November 2023.

A joint select committee chaired by Malahoo Forte is now reviewing The Constitution (Amendment) (Republic) Act, 2024.

However, members of the Opposition who previously sat on the committee have stayed away from the sittings until Holness explains why his government has yet to commit to the Caribbean Court of Justice over the UK-based Privy Council.

“We are not boycotting that committee but until the prime minister, who has been promising for over a year to say what his position is on his issue, comes to the Jamaican people and explains his position, we are pausing our participation with that committee,” Golding had said.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com