NewzYOUTH representative on the former Constitutional Reform Committee Sujae Boswell is adamant that greater bipartisan cooperation and sustained momentum are needed to prevent further delays in Jamaica’s transition to a republic. Boswell’s comments came during an interview with the Jamaica Observer as the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) continue to point fingers at each other over the stalled constitutional reform process. He argued that constitutional reform should never become a contest between political parties.
“It is one of the few nation-building projects that belongs equally to every Jamaican. Jamaica has always achieved its greatest progress when we have been willing to place the national interest above partisan interests. Constitutional reform presents another opportunity to do exactly that,” Boswell told the Observer.
“The political credit need not belong to one party or one Administration. It can and should be shared, because the beneficiaries will not be today’s politicians but generations of Jamaicans yet to come. If history remembers anything about this moment, I hope it remembers that we came together to complete one of the final chapters of Jamaica’s constitutional journey,” he added.
Boswell said the greatest value of constitutional reform is that it encourages us to think more deliberately about the kind of country we want to build and the institutions we need to get there as constitutions are not simply legal documents. “They are the rules by which a nation governs itself. Periodically examining those rules is a healthy exercise for any mature democracy because it forces us to ask difficult but necessary questions: Do our institutions still serve the public well? Are there opportunities to strengthen accountability?
Do Jamaicans understand their rights and responsibilities? Are we preparing our constitutional framework for the challenges of the future?” “In many respects, that national conversation is just as important as the legal changes themselves. A constitution should be a living document that people understand, value, and feel ownership of.
If this process leaves Jamaica with a more constitutionally aware and civically engaged population, that will be one of its greatest achievements,” declared Boswell. He argued that transition to a republic is not simply about changing who occupi…
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