IF CURRENT PLANS materialize in time, then it is more than likely that Jamaica’s 50th independence anniversary this coming August could coincide with advanced arrangements for that CARICOM partner state to soon become a constitutional republic and also move towards accessing the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as its final appellate institution.
Hopes for such significant political developments came with separate statements from new Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and former Attorney General A J Nicholson following the overwhelming 43-20 parliamentary victory by the People’s National Party (PNP) at the December 29, 2011 general election.
Consistent with her election campaign declaration that it was time for a Jamaican “Queen” as head of state, Simpson Miller took the opportunity last Thursday at her swearing-in as Prime Minister to reaffirm that the time had come to say “goodbye” to a British monarchical system.
Earlier Nicholson, now Minister of Foreign Affairs, had raised the bar on Jamaica’s relations with the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) by declaring that the government would like to end the colonial link with the Privy Council in London and access the regional court as its appellate institution of last resort.
Until the outcome of last month’s election, both issues had remained unsettled in view of lingering disagreements by the Jamaica Labour Party, in particular its position for a referendum to determine access to the regional court as institution of last resort.
This past weekend, therefore, a statement by the JLP’s former General Secretary Karl Samuda, who remains one of the most experienced and influential voices in the party, would have been good news for the PNP’s move to access the CCJ both as a court of original jurisdiction (on disputes settlement) as well as its final appeal court.
Samuda was quoted by the Jamaica Observer as saying that the JLP stood “ready” to support the new government’s bid to have the CCJ as the country’s final court of appeal.
He said that though he was “a little concerned that there aren’t more members . . . I have no problems with the CCJ because we have to come to grips with the realization that, as a people in the region, we must be self-determined in terms of establishing an appellate court that will govern the affairs of the respective territories . . . .”
Such a definitive position suggests that the JLP is now prepared to also be supportive of arrangements to have Jamaica as a constitutional republic with a national as head of state.
This emerging consensual approach on proposed significant constitutional changes augurs well for bi-partisan cooperation as Jamaica pushes ahead with plans to celebrate the nation’s 50th birthday of independence from Britain on August 6, 1962.
