‘Send Jess’

Political commentator Clyde Williams is advising Opposition Leader Mark Golding to send Zuleika Jess, the People’s National Party’s (PNP) justice spokesperson, to meet with Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck for discussions on the next steps in the Opposition’s collaboration with the Government on Jamaica’s constitutional reform.

Williams told The Gleaner that this is necessary to move forward as Golding has indicated that he will not meet with Chuck, and would prefer to hold talks with Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness.

“Since we want to get this thing done, I think what the PNP should do is to accept the meeting with Chuck and then deputise Zuleika Jess to go and represent Golding,” he said. “Because if he (Golding) doesn’t yield or do something, then we’ll have a stalemate.”

In a letter to Holness, dated October 3, 2025, Golding rebuffed the prime minister’s proposal that he should meet with Chuck, stating that he was expecting an invitation to meet with Holness himself to discuss the way forward as a first step.

In his letter, Golding pointed to Holness’ speech at his swearing in as prime minister in which Holness said, “Mark, let us partner together to complete the work we started in making Jamaica a republic”.

Golding said he welcomed those words, as they are consistent with the reality that the government does not now have a two-thirds majority in either House of Parliament, further re-enforcing the imperative of partnership between Jamaica’s two major political parties if progress is to be made in reforming the Constitution.

However, he said Holness’ proposal that he meet with Chuck “will not initiate the required partnership of which we speak”.

“I therefore invite you to reconsider the matter in light of what I am suggesting in this letter, and look forward to hearing from you presently,” he stated.

Golding said the letter, which he made public, was a response to a September 30 letter from Holness. The letter from Holness was not released.

In February of this year, the Opposition paused its participation in the Constitutional Reform Committee, citing a lack of clarity from the Government on the issue of Jamaica’s final appellate court.

CONTENTIOUS ISSUE

The issue of leaving the Privy Council has been a contentious one between both main political parties. The Government has proposed delaying the issue until a later phase of the constitutional reform, but the Opposition insists it must be done in the first phase, in tandem with removing the King of England as Jamaica’s head of state.

The Opposition is also in favour of Jamaica joining the Caribbean Court of Justice’s appellate jurisdiction, while Holness has said he would prefer a Jamaican final court and for Jamaicans to have the final say on the matter, through a referendum.

While sharing that he understands Golding’s stipulation to meet with the prime minister, Williams pointed out that he expects further meetings with the leadership of the two main political parties to take place as the reform process advances.

“This constitutional change is going to be a long process and since the JLP no longer has two thirds in the lower house, everything is going to have to be by agreement,” he said.

Meanwhile, emphasising the far reaching economic, socio-cultural and political implications of the constitutional reform for all Jamaicans, political analyst Damion Gordon stressed that genuine bipartisanship support and multi stakeholders engagement are necessary to ensure the success of the process.

To this end, he said the leadership of the Government and parliamentary opposition ought to set the tone in terms of articulating the vision, framing of the key debates or goals and legitimising the process to achieve consensus on key matters.

“So, even if not consistently, the prime minister and opposition leader must engage directly with other key stakeholders in joint forums or spaces to actively show their commitment to the task at hand. This is what we call leading at the forefront,” he said.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com