Move forward with making Jamaica a republic, says CRC youth rep

   

Youth representative on the Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC), Sujae Boswell, is urging the government and opposition to move forward on issues on which they both agree.

 

Mr. Boswell says, in canvassing the views of young people on the current stalemate, it has been suggested that the parties proceed with the removal of the British Monarch as Jamaica's head of state, while dialogue continues on the transition from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

 

He says young people are supportive of the transition to republic status. 

 

"Well, based on the views that I have been canvassing, the thought primarily is do not throw out the baby with the bath water. And a lot of work has been done over decades to get to where we are.... And so where we are now, we are really at a crossroads. And the truth is, when it gets to a point of divergence and difference as we are now, the answer is not to draw a red line or to say that, 'We deh yah suh and you deh over deh suh and we nah move until somebody moves.' What the country needs right now is leadership," he urged. 

 

Mr. Boswell insisted this is an opportunity for Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Opposition Leader Mark Golding to show true leadership if constitutional reform is of national importance. 

 

"To say, or to take a position that you don't want a gradualist approach, it is essentially saying that you are for...decolonisation or full colonisation. And a step-by-step process is something that can help in moving away from it," he said, adding that he believes Jamaicans would love to celebrate a 'republic day', marking the country's move away from the British Monarch as head of state.

 

"So our leaders really have an opportunity now to show that when we have misunderstandings and disputes of this nature, we can solve them without drawing a red line."

 

Mr. Boswell, who was a guest Thursday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106, has also suggested a consultative referendum on whether the Caribbean Court of Justice should be adopted as the country's final appellate court.

 

He argued that the outcome of the murder appeal of dancehall entertainer Vybz Kartel and three co-accused may have changed the views of some Jamaicans on whether the country should leave the UK-based Privy Council.