Jamaica’s journey to Independence incomplete, says Duncan Sutherland
Published:Thursday | August 8, 2024 | 12:08 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
On Tuesday, as Jamaica toasted another year of Independence, Patricia Duncan Sutherland, shadow minister for social transformation and protection, raised the question of whether the nation is truly independent as she batted for the establishment of an executive president.
Speaking with The Gleaner after participating in a flag-raising ceremony for the Mona Heights Neighbourhood Watch at the local community centre, which formed part of islandwide celebrations in recognition of Jamaica’s 62nd year of Independence, Duncan Sutherland said, “Ultimately, I believe we need to have an executive president, where we directly elect our president. But I do recognise there are steps to get there, in terms of how we change our Constitution and the level of changes required to make it effective.”
Duncan Sutherland was responding to a query about what kind of president she believed Jamaica should have, days after Marlene Malahoo Forte, minister of legal and constitutional affairs and co-chairman of the Constitutional Reform Committee, came under fire during a town hall meeting held inside Emancipation Park. During that event Jamaicans, both young and old, advocated for the island to have an executive president.
As PNP caretaker for Eastern St Andrew, Duncan Sutherland delivered a message on behalf of Opposition Leader Mark Golding at the event.
An executive president is a head of state who exercises authority over the governance of the state, while a non-executive president is the symbolic leader of a state who performs a representative and civic role at ceremonial functions, but does not hold or exercise policymaking power. The non-executive president is, however, entrusted with certain discretionary powers.
The Government is currently pushing forward with a proposal to establish a non-executive president in law through the reform plan.
Some Jamaicans, in recent weeks, have been expressing dissatisfaction with such an approach.
They say the establishment of an executive president, as in several countries where the president operates as both head of state and head of government, is what would be beneficial to Jamaica.
Adding more to the ongoing debate, Duncan Sutherland also said on Tuesday during her presentation that Jamaica’s journey to Independence is incomplete.
“Our head of state is the King of England and our final court – the United Kingdom Privy Council – is a colonial institution in England that makes orders in the name of the King and is inaccessible to ordinary Jamaicans,” Duncan Sutherland said as she presented Golding’s views.
“It is time to reaffirm our national identity and assert the confidence to shape our own destiny. Time come to sever ties with the British monarchy and become a fully sovereign nation, with the executive and judicial branches of our State being institutions of our own creation, in keeping with our vision of the future as a proud and independent people,” she said.
Duncan Sutherland said that, on August 6, 1962, the nation made a bold step when the Union Jack was lowered and replaced with the black, green and gold as the island entered a new chapter in its history.
“It did not start in 1962 [though]. The seeds of our Independence were sewn much earlier in the 1900s, when workers began organising themselves to advocate for better pay and working conditions. Out of that labour movement came the emergence of political parties and leaders to lead us forward out of our colonial past,” Duncan Sutherland said.
“In 1932, the Right Excellent Marcus Garvey advocated for self-governance and what he called the ‘new Jamaican’, expressing ideas about a Jamaican identity that transcended the shackles of colonialism. The labour uprising of 1938 provided the impetus for fundamental change, with the Right Excellent Alexander Bustamante and the Right Excellent Norman Washington Manley emerging as the workers’ champions,” she said.
Duncan Sutherland also noted that Manley spearheaded the struggle for universal adult suffrage, which meant the right to vote for a government of the people’s choice, and negotiated for Jamaica’s political independence. This, in turn, led the development of the Independence Constitution, culminating in Jamaica taking up the mantle of full statehood on August 6, 1962.