Jamaican Diaspora might be asked to fund new Parliament building

The Government of Jamaica is promising that action will be taken soon on the construction of  a new Parliament building, with the possibility of funding from the Jamaican Diaspora, being among the options being considered for the project. 

The matter has been on the agenda for years, with both main political parties agreeing that a new building is needed with modern facilities. A lack of funding has often been cited, however, as an obstacle to the start of the project.

Despite the continuing financial constraint, particularly with Jamaica being under the strictures of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, Phillip Paulwell, the Minister who has responsibility for parliamentary affairs, has declared that the matter is being seriously pursued and that a bipartisan agreement was reached to construct the new building at National Heroe's Circle in Kingston.

Paulwell, speaking Monday on RJR’s Beyond the Headlines, acknowledged that innovative ways of financing the project would have to be found, and to that end, he said discussions on “other opportunities” would be held with the Opposition.

Pressed on how the money might be secured, given the obvious constraints, Paulwell, explained that "somebody made a suggestion in terms of a creative way to get the Diaspora to fund it." He did not elaborate, however, on what that "creative way" might be.

Consultations have already been held with the Opposition to consider a design for the new building, he disclosed.

Longstanding problem

Jamaica has not had a purpose designed Parliament building in its 52 years of political independence. At the time of Independence in 1962, the country’s legislators moved out of their Headquarters House location on Duke Street, into the newly constructed Gordon House, situated immediately beside the old structure. But Gordon House was designed and built for meetings of the municipal council – the Kingston & St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC), which has never been able to occupy the building.

Jamaica has a bicameral legislature, but Gordon House has only one chamber, and so the House of Representatives and the Senate use the same space, alternately.

In November 2003, the Oliver Clarke chaired Parliamentary Salaries Committee presented its report which recommended, among other things, that “a new Parliament Building be constructed to allow for parliamentarians to perform their work efficiently. The Committee is of the view that the Legislature cannot continue to carry out their work within the limited and inadequate space of the existing Parliament building.”

Diaspora's influence

The idea of asking the Jamaican Dispora to assist with the financing of a new Parliament building has come at a time of heightened awareness of the influence of the extended Jamaican population overseas.

Successive administrations have been reaching out to the overseas community, with a special office established in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Foreign Trade for that purpose.

Some Diaspora representatives have been lobbying for at least one Senate seat to be allocated to a member of that interest group.

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