CARICOM says no uniformed position on removing Queen as head of states

CARICOM Secretary-General Dr Carla Barnett says the regional bloc does not have a uniform position on replacing the Queen as head of state, noting that it is a decision for individual countries to consider and act upon. 

Barbados cut ties with the British Monarchy two weeks ago, joining Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Dominica, Haiti, and Suriname as republican states. 

That decision has triggered a regional debate on whether or not other CARICOM countries should follow suit by shedding the last major vestige of a collective colonial past.

“That is something that countries themselves have to work through. We've never had a uniformed process across the CARICOM region,” Barnett told journalists Tuesday at a virtual CARICOM end-of-year press conference. 

She said Barbados' decision to change its status was something the Government felt was the right thing to do. 

On Friday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness declared that Jamaica will become a republic. 

He said persons now arguing a point for Jamaica to change course, should have done so decades ago. 

Former prime ministers P.J. Patterson and Bruce Golding are among those urging action.

Holness said his Government is putting together a plan to “move towards” republican status in a meaningful and substantial way.

“That is what we are going to do,” he said.

Earlier this month, St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves declared his desire to see other member states adopt a republic form of government.

Barnett has supported the idea but suggested that it must be in the best interest of the country.

“I am expecting that other countries in the region will consider and do what they feel is right within their own national considerations,” she said.

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