Letter of the Day | Hold referendum on term limits

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I am writing this letter with reference to the article ‘Term Limits’, published in The Gleaner on September 28. I am requesting that one of the Government’s proposals on the ballots for the Constitutional (Amendment) Bills is term limits for elected officials (politicians). This is the will of the people.

Jamaica and England do not have fixed term limits for members of parliament, regarding how many terms they can be re-elected to serve in parliament.

The prime ministers of Jamaica and the United Kingdom (UK) do not have term limits.

Maybe the UK prime minister does not need term limits. For example, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned in 2022 for a character issue, Theresa May resigned in 2019 over issues of draft withdrawal agreement, and David Cameron resigned in 2016 “to fulfil a manifesto pledge”.

Grenada and St Kitts and Nevis had referenda for Constitutional (Amendment) Bills. The voters of Grenada rejected the government’s proposal for three term limits to re-elect prime ministers to serve in parliament, despite the constitution only requiring a simple majority to pass the prime ministers’ term limits.

St Kitts and Nevis, on the other hand, was successful in their referendum, with the voters accepting “a proposal for two term limits” for prime minister, one term less than Grenada’s proposal for their prime minister to serve in Parliament.

So, based on the above information, that is why a term-limits referendum is necessary.

CARGILL KELLY