Opposition demanding answers on reparations mission to UK

Opposition Spokesperson on Culture Nekeisha Burchell is demanding a full explanation of the planning, purpose, cost and outcome of the Government's recent mission to the United Kingdom concerning reparatory justice.

Ms Burchell says, while the Opposition fully supports Jamaica's pursuit of reparatory justice and the use of every credible legal and diplomatic avenue to advance that cause, the issue of reparations must be pursued with rigorous preparation, disciplined diplomacy, transparency and clear objectives.

“Minister Grange announced the initiative months ago and constantly promoted it as a historical and pivotal engagement,” she noted.

She argued that by presenting the trip as a mission to petition the King, “the government created a reasonable public expectation that the delegation would engage him, personally. Yet, according to Buckingham Palace, the Jamaican Government requested a meeting with the King only the week commencing August 24, for an engagement around September 7. That provided barely two weeks notice to arrange a meeting with the King of the United Kingdom and the Head of the Commonwealth, whose annual summer vacation at Balmoral was already publicly known.”

She said, given advice from Buckingham Palace that petitions of this nature are not served personally on the King, but are instead coordinated through the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the action highlights what she characterized as an “extraordinary failure of planning.”

That failure was particularly stark, she contended, given that the Government had had months to make the necessary diplomatic and administrative preparations. 

The Opposition is now demanding answers to several questions: “If the petition was not going to be delivered personally to the King, why was it necessary to send a delegation from Jamaica? Could it not have been lodged through Jamaica’s high commission in London; the attorney-general’s office or retained legal counsel? Who travelled? What was the role of each person, and what was the total cost to the Jamaican taxpayer?”

“These are legitimate accountability questions. They must not be misrepresented as opposition to reparations,” Burchell said, adding that the Opposition had not been consulted on any aspect of this matter.