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By Halshane Burke
Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte says the government does not intend for the referendum on moving to a republic to be merged with either general or local government elections.
The local government elections were postponed until next year and general elections are constitutionally due in 2025.
Mrs Malahoo Forte, who is also co-chair of the Constitutional Reform Committee, was responding to a question in relation to the timeline for the holding of the referendum to move the country to a republic.
She said the committee is pushing to have a bill brought to Parliament during this legislative year.
"So we have two outer dates for two sets of elections, which must be had. That's February 2024 and December 2025. The Constitution contemplated all of this. It's quite permissible to have the referendum in another Parliament. So we can pass the law in this Parliament and carry the referendum over to the next Parliament," she explained.
"The makers of the Constitution had a high level of wisdom about the political space and the length of time that it would take. Having said that, we are working to get a bill in the Parliament to enable it to be passed in the life of this Parliament, subject of course to our completing our consultation and public education."
The Constitutional Reform Committee is holding public consultations on removing the British Monarch as head of state and replacing him with a president.
Co-Chair of the Constitutional Reform Committee Lieutenant General Rocky Meade said the process of achieving republic status will not be rushed.
Ambassador Meade reiterated that a critical component of the process is to garner the sentiments of the public before moving forward.
"To complete our work and to report to Cabinet and then have a bill done, we want to complete this process of hearing from the people. We may not be able to get to every individual Jamaican, but we're going around the country so that we can get a sense that we have heard the voice of the people," he said.
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