CORAL SPRING, Trelawny — For the first time since Barbados severed colonial ties with Britain on November 30, Prime Minister Andrew Holness yesterday commented publicly about calls for Jamaica to follow suit. The move, he said, must not be “empty symbolism”.
“One thing that I have reflected on and that is the nation is as the nation does. There are some people who want to speak prosperity into being, speak sovereignty and independence into being. My philosophy is that we must do these things into being. We must make them happen. It must not be empty symbolism. It must be genuine, it must be borne of action that what we say, we are; it is what we are in our actions and in our achievements and in what we have done,” Holness said cryptically.
He was speaking at the official opening of the 444-suite, all-inclusive Ocean Eden Bay by H10 in Trelawny.
“I am building towards the aspiration… I spend my time not arguing over these things, I spend my time doing; because the greatest frustration is a dream not achieved,” the prime minister added.
He hinted that discussions are under way, promising to say more at the appropriate time.
“I’m certain those who have ears to hear those vague terms will understand them until it is time to have that full and direct discourse, which that process has started,” Holness said.
The issue has been discussed for years, with the 40th anniversary of independence touted as one of the earlier target dates for Jamaica to become a republic. Almost 20 years on, the debate is just as fierce.
“ …It’s just amazing the potential that exists, 60 years of independence and the 60th year has generated much interest in our status as a nation and those questions will be addressed shortly,” Holness noted yesterday.
Former Prime Minister PJ Patterson is among those who waded into the recent debate, calling on Holness and Opposition Leader Mark Golding to sit and discuss the way forward in moving Jamaica to republic status.
On Sunday, Attorney General Marlene Malahoo Forte told the Jamaica Observer that an announcement is expected by the end of the second quarter of next year. Holness, she said, had already given instructions for the constitution to be amended.
“The work had actually commenced before, and it is going to be done. It is going to be an involved process, but I am happy that it will begin in earnest,” said the attorney general.
The last major review of the constitution took place in 2010. At that time, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was amended.
