Reasonings
From Cyberlaw
Jamaica's outgoing prime minister, P J Patterson, in his final appeal to the political leaders before leaving Gordon House, called for bipartisan consensus on at least two of three issues of full sovereignty facing Jamaica. The three issues are:
. the entrenchment in the Jamaican Constitution of the Charter of Fundamental Rights;
. completion of the process of "decolonisation", by creating a Republican system of government, with a president as the head of state, with authority derived directly from the people of Jamaica; and
. completing the process of the Caribbean Court of Justice becoming the Jamaica's final appellate court.
"These are changes which signify the maturing of a people and symbolise the unity and identity of the Jamaican nation," Patterson said. "I challenge the new leaders, on both sides of the House, to commit to having at least two of these changes taking place before the next general elections are constitutionally due." The next general election is constitutionally due by October 2007.
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Contents |
REASONINGS as CyberStrategy
Development of identity in cyberspace requires a media-generating process which (1) includes all points of view bearing on core issues of independence in a manner that reaches emotion; (2) integrates viewpoints and opposed emotions by leading people to see and feel their issues of independence from opposing viewpoints; and (3) projection of the process to public integrated media space with a feedback loop that invites participation and support.
REASONINGS can be a core strategy to accomplish Jamaica's move to true independence.
REASONINGS can be a key driver toward linking the Jamaican Diaspora in integrated media space.
REASONINGS can offer a model to the world of a Jamaican way of moderating conflict.
Proposal
1. PBCJ in association with SET Foundation and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, presents;
2. REASONINGS, a series of moderated discussions addressing Jamaica's most fundamental issues;
3. produced by Destiny Productions and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard;
4. hosted and moderated by Professor Charles Nesson and Kevin Wallen
5. overall series and individual program issues introduced by Professor Nesson, P.J. Patterson and Edward Seaga
6. recorded at Destiny Studios, 48 Constance Spring Road, Kingston Jamaica,
7. series aired as part of the inauguration of PBCJ
8. individual programs dealing with
- (1) Should Jamaica Adopt the Charter of Fundamental Rights;
- (2) Should Jamaica place final authority in the Caribbean Court of Justice
- (3) Should Jamaica adopt a Republican Form of Government
9. program format in three parts
- (1) introduction to the issue and sub-issues with P.J. Patterson, Edward Seaga and Charles Nesson;
- (2) round table Socratic discussion of the issues and sub-issues with articulate participants from differing points of interest and concern, hosted and moderated by Kevin Wallen;
- (3) audience response by polls conducted in a variety of ways.
constitutional reform
Caribbean constitutional reform
published: Monday | December 16, 2002
Stephen Vasciannie
IN VARIOUS parts of the Caribbean, the question of constitutional reform hovers as an important part of the background to day-to-day politics. Thus, in Jamaica, for instance, the draft Charter of Rights is to be considered as a means of changing the current formulation of our fundamental rights and freedoms set out in Chapter III of the Constitution.
Similarly, in Barbados, the Constitution was recently amended to reflect the perceived need to overturn the main implications of the Pratt and Morgan ruling of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council -- and there is every likelihood that other Caribbean Governments will follow the Barbadian approach with respect to the death penalty.
At the same time, most Commonwealth Caribbean countries are in the process of contemplating constitutional changes which will result in the termination of appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The debate on this issue has apparently been more pronounced in some jurisdictions than in others, but all indications are that most, if not all, Commonwealth Caribbean Attorneys-General now view the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (in place of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council) largely as a matter of course.
In recent years, then, matters of constitutional reform have been on the Caribbean agenda, and, bearing this in mind, the publication of Simeon McIntosh's new book, Caribbean Constitutional Reform: Rethinking the West Indian Polity, must be a cause for celebration. But it is not to be believed that excellent timing of publication is the main virtue of this book. On the contrary, even upon first reading, it should be readily apparent that this is a major work of scholarship by a Caribbean intellectual at the height of his powers. Rather in the manner, say, of George Beckford's Persistent Poverty or Rex Nettleford's Mirror Mirror, Professor McIntosh's latest contribution could become a text for future generations; it is challenging for the reader, but every hour spent considering and perhaps unravelling the text will be intellectually rewarding.
MAIN PRINCIPLES
Caribbean Constitutional Reform is not a review of the constitutional law of Caribbean countries as a group; nor does it concern itself unduly with particular constitutional formulations in individual jurisdictions. It is, instead, a broad assessment of the main principles that should inform discussions about the nature of Caribbean constitutions given our socio-political, cultural and economic realities, and bearing in mind the fundamental purposes ascribed to constitutions in legal and political theory.
Starting, then, with the premise that our respective constitutions should reflect Caribbean values and aspirations and should, in fact, seek to promote these values and aspirations, McIntosh, the Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, emphasises that most current Caribbean constitutions are deficient instruments of policy.
More specifically, building on his well-known essays, Constitutional Reform and the Quest for a West Indian Hermeneutics (1997) and West Indian Constitutional Discourse: A Poetics of Reconstruction (1993), McIntosh demonstrates that given their imperial origins, most Commonwealth Caribbean constitutions incorporate British assumptions about the way society should be organised. For McIntosh, our constitutions were flawed from the very outset. They are not our own, and by express reference to Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago, he reminds us that some leaders in the independence movement were prepared to accept constitutional rules without serious consultation with the people, and certainly without a constitutional convention at which divergent conceptions of the place of State power and individual rights could have been advanced.
Our constitutions, then, cannot be said to have emanated from the people, and as a result, the typical Caribbean national tends to see our constitutional rules as the business of other people. Our constitutional rules are not perceived as guiding principles for which we would fight, and, indeed, for some people they are merely theoretical pronouncements that may be abandoned as soon as they become inconvenient obstacles to state objectives.
So, for example, in Jamaica there has been a continuing debate on the 'need' for us to give up some of our fundamental rights and freedoms in order to facilitate crime-fighting. Those arguing for an abandonment of our rights hardly ever explain why we should give up these rights; nor do they demonstrate how the abandonment of rights will help the police force. In short, the supporters of the abandonment of rights thesis attach very little value to the fundamental character of these rights. By emphasising the historical background to our constitutional arrangements, McIntosh's book helps us to understand why even some of our leading intellectuals feel no strong attachment to constitutional freedoms. We just do not see the constitution as part of our national identity.
GOVERNMENTAL STRUCTURES
As its name implies, Caribbean Constitutional Reform is also about ways in which we may amend our constitutions so that they become more important elements of national discourse. Accordingly, McIntosh assesses different structures of government in the light of Caribbean needs: though he is critical of our prevailing first-past-the post, parliamentary system, his amendments, if implemented, would hardly amount to a scorched earth policy for current constitutional arrangements.
To elaborate: Professor McIntosh would like us to retain a republican style of government, jettison the Queen as our Head of State, keep the parliamentary system in preference to the presidential approach, and eschew proportional representation. It should not be thought, however, that McIntosh supports the main outlines of the present arrangements concerning the structure of government simply on the grounds of conservatism.
His perspective on this issue is, in fact, partly informed by the "human disposition to cling to that which is the more familiar", but, with respect to each issue of controversy concerning governmental structure, McIntosh carefully sets out the perceived advantages and disadvantages of alternative approaches before drawing his conclusions. His position, therefore, is almost invariably based on principle, and while we may disagree with some of his strictures, we may well find ourselves disarmed by the fact that McIntosh has weighed our arguments in the balance even though he disagrees with us.
This last point -- concerning the even-handedness of Professor McIntosh's analysis -- is brought home quite forcefully in Chapter 3 of the book on the vexed question of the Caribbean Court of Justice. McIntosh is a firm supporter of the need for us to abolish appeals to the Privy Council, and includes among the reasons for his position the desirability of creating our own jurisprudence, and the notion that our sovereignty and our sense of self-definition, require us to have our cases decided by our judges.
This is no doubt correct in principle; but, while making the case for what he calls the Caribbean Supreme Court, McIntosh also pauses to consider some of the practical points raised on the other side of the debate. He notes, inter alia, the problem of financing the establishment and maintenance of the court, as well as the risk that local judges could be susceptible to political control. But, shortly thereafter, as is his style, McIntosh also proposes means of overcoming these difficulties. He envisages, for instance, the establishment of an Endowment Fund of "approximately US$25,000,000,000" to finance the court, and counsels reliance on the Regional Judicial Service Commission, Prime Ministers and Leaders of the Opposition, for the appointment of judges.
The 357 pages in Caribbean Constitutional Reform are a blueprint for constitutional scholars, students and laypersons who wish to think through the many issues concerning governmental structure and human rights that remain topical in various Caribbean jurisdictions. There is no shortage of scholarly references to established and current writers from the field of legal theory, but still, we always hear Professor McIntosh's distinctive voice, urging us to respect our own views and challenging us to assess social, political and legal issues with reference to our own needs and realities.
- Stephen Vasciannie is Professor of International Law, University of the West Indies, Mona.
Portia Pushes Forward
'No major obstacle to agree on constitutional reform, says PM'
Jamaica Observer
Saturday, May 13, 2006
PRIME Minister Portia Simpson Miller says that there is no major obstacle to arriving at an agreement for constitutional reform.
"For my part, there is now no major obstacle standing in the way of the agreement necessary to change the Constitution to a republican form of Parliamentary government," Simpson Miller told the House, while making her contribution in the 2006/07 budget debate in the House of Representatives.
The prime minister pointed out that there were three main elements that have been on the agenda since the establishment in 1992 of the Constitutional Reform Commission, headed by the late Justice James Kerr.
These elements are:
- The establishment of Jamaica as a republic within the Commonwealth.
- The substitution of a regional court as the country's final court of appeal, in place of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which will sit in Jamaica to hear appeals from the Jamaican Court of Appeal.
- The recasting of the country's Charter of Rights in the Constitution, so as to bring its provisions more in line with international developments in respect to human rights and enable the island to respond effectively in this critical area of national life.
"The president, who would be selected in such a way as to make the office a symbol of national unity, would have the responsibility of making certain sensitive appointments which should not appear to be in any way partisan," the prime minister said.
"Concerning the substitution of the Caribbean Court of Justice for the Privy Council, we recall that such an idea was first introduced to Jamaica some 36 years ago by the then prime minister, the Most Honourable Hugh Lawson Shearer. A number of hurdles have been placed in the way over these many years. Discussions between the attorney-general and the parliamentary Opposition members, who speak on legal affairs in this House and the Senate, have now arrived at a point where a formula acceptable to both sides could be reached," she added.
With respect to the third element of constitutional reform, the prime minister said the revised Charter of Rights has been the subject of the most careful and painstaking discussions over several years, adding that the Report of a Select Committee of Parliament was expected to be presented to the House and the Senate before the Independence celebrations this year.
email correspondence
Charles Nesson - nesson@law.harvard.edu - wrote:
Dear Reverend Callam,
i am a harvard professor and formerly a moderator on the PBS series, The Constitution, That Delicate Balance (among many others). i have been working for some time with Kevin Wallen of Destiny Productions in Jamaica. We would like to produce a series of programs for PBCJ in a format similar to the PBS series, specifically using the format to address fundamental issues facing Jamaica. How should i approach PBCJ about this?
Please see:
http://hcs.harvard.edu/~cyberlaw/wiki/index.php/Reasonings#Jamaica_Seminars
Sincerely,
Charles Nesson
Weld Professor of Law
Berkman Center
Harvard University
email with me may show up on my blog
unless privacy requested
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu
Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 14:49:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Neville Callam
Subject: Re: Reasonings
To: Charles Nesson
Dear Dr Nesson
I am forwarding your letter to Dr Grace Turner, the CEO of the PBCJ. You should contact her for further discussion of your proposal. Her telephone number is 754-9123 or 906-0435.
Neville Callam
Dear Dr. Turner,
Here is the url for our development page:
http://hcs.harvard.edu/~cyberlaw/wiki/index.php/Reasonings
The link to Eye on the Media should allow you to see an example of the Socratic method in action. i am a good deal older now.
- <(
Kevin D. Wallen
Destiny Productions
40 Constance Spring Rd.
Kingston, Jamaica
Fellow and Director of S=SET CyberSchool
Tel: 876 960 1715
cel: 876 371 4510
kdw@kevinwallen.com
http://set.civiblog.org
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/CyberSchool
A pleasure to be in touch with you.
-charles
From: "Grace Turner" - pbcj@cwjamaica.com
To: nesson@law.harvard.edu
Subject: Very promising possibilities
Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 16:55:50 -0400
Greetings Professor,
I am at once giving you this correct email address while acknowledging receipt of your emails.
We are delighted at the prospects and await contact from your jamaican "Moderator".
Regards,
GTurner PhD
PBCJ
Public station advises against politically tinged broadcasts
published: Gleaner, Friday | May 5, 2006
Joseph Cunningham, Gleaner Writer
The Rev. Neville Callam, chairman of the Public Broadcasting Corporation, addresses the Lions Club of Kingston's luncheon at the Jamaica Pegasus on Wednesday. At left is President Maurice Anderson. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
CHAIRMAN OF the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (PBCJ), the Reverend Neville Callam, on Wednesday challenged the electronic media to broadcast programmes which were free of political interference.
The PBCJ chairman made the comment while speaking at the Lions Club of Kingston luncheon at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston.
The first of its kind in Jamaica, the PBCJ is expected to promote and broadcast national issues, including values and attitudes within the society, culture, educational programmes, national activities such as state and official events, national campaigns, church services, civic activities, public debates, and spiritual and motivational activities.
Rev. Callam asserted that the PBCJ must be free of political interference. He said, "It must be neither an agency nor an establishment of the Government. It must be a free-standing institution created to serve the public interest."
MANDATE
The PBCJ was launched on March 29 by former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, with a mandate to serve the public interest.
It is located at the former home of the defunct Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) at 5-9 South Odeon Avenue, Kingston. The facilities have been refurbished and the studio has been renamed Studio National.
According to Rev. Callam, "A medium that is perceived as being partisan has absolutely no credibility whatsoever. Public broadcasting must serve the people."
He pointed to the 1967 Carnegie Commission on Educational Television, as being a major factor contributing to the development of a wide appreciation for public radio and television broadcasting in the Americas and the Caribbean.
The influential report des-cribed public television as including "all that is of interest and importance which is not at the moment appropriate or available for support by advertising, and which is not arranged for formal instruction."
The PBCJ was established by statute in 2002 as a system for public service broadcasting, offering public education, information and entertainment, to be funded by private sector and civic organisations.
Some $140 million from the divestment of the JBC was contributed to the PBCJ.
New public media entity to begin transmitting next month
published: Friday | March 31, 2006
A NEW member was inducted into the media fraternity on Tuesday. The 'new kid on the block' is the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (PBCJ). The broadcast entity is scheduled to begin transmission next month on several cable channels across the island.
The facilities of the new entity occupy the former home of the now defunct Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) at 5-9 South Odeon Avenue, St. Andrew.
Financing for PBCJ will be provided through the private sector, non-governmental organisations, programme sponsorship and cable licence fees.
NATIONAL FOCUS
Outgoing Prime Minister P. J. Patterson, who was a guest at the function, stressed that the station, which is expected to transmit a variety of cultural and educational programming, will have a national focus as opposed to government.
PBCJ is expected to promote synergy at all levels ... PBCJ should be operating in inclusionary fashion and a truly national player and facilitator within an industry that is still good," said Mr. Patterson.
PHASED BASIS
In the interim, Reverend Neville Callam, chairman of the PBCJ board of directors, said that transmission would begin on a phased basis with television services.
"Testing of the technology solutions for channels already assigned has begun. The phased rollout of television will take place over a period of three months and will include a rich variety of programming," he said.
The programmes will come in various forms, such as documentaries, dramatic productions and discussion programmes, among other genres.
Rev. Callam also announced that the CEO of PBCJ is Dr. Grace Turner, who will join the team next month "to pilot this national endeavour".
Rev. Callam also stated that the nation has waited long enough for an entity with the nature and mandate of PBCJ. "For a long time, the people of Jamaica have been waiting for the PBCJ - a national broadcast entity, which is distinct from a government information organ," he said.
He also mentioned that the PBCJ welcomes "all voices and opinions from across Jamaica." The only requirements, he said, "are that material provided by the public is of national relevance and interest, meet stringent production standards and reflects a culture of respect for others."
Diaspora Conference
'Expanded network of delegates for second Jamaican Diaspora Conference'
Gleaner: Wednesday | April 26, 2006
DOUGLAS ORANE, the chairman of the Diaspora Conference organising committee, said this year's event is expected to be bigger and better than its first staging.
The second Jamaican Diaspora Conference, which is being held under the same theme as the first, 'Unleashing the Potential', will be held at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston, from June 15 - 16.
Speaking at a JIS Think Tank, Mr. Orane said that, whereas the inaugural forum involved 250 participants representing several Jamaican organisations and communities in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, this year's conference would see 500 representatives coming not only from these three countries, but also from Central America, Africa and the Caribbean.
BREAKDOWN OF PARTICIPANTS
Providing a breakdown of the participants for the conference, State Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Delano Franklyn, said 150 delegates are expected from the United States, 100 from the United Kingdom, 100 from Canada and 50 from the Caribbean, Africa and Central America combined.
The decision to broaden the network of delegates for the conference was deliberate, said Senator Franklyn, as the Government of Jamaica recognised that "in order to organise the Jamaican community overseas, we need to do it in a very systematic and incremental fashion, and, therefore, we build slowly."
Further Focus Issues
Nested within the three issues of sovereignty raised by outgoing Prime Minister P J Patterson are further issues that must be confronted if Jamaica is to achieve full sovereignty.
Charter of Fundamental Rights
[http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060216/lead/lead3.html No same sex unions says Government of Jamaica}
JLP position on charter
[1]
'Unholy union' - Charter could sanction gay marriage in Jamaica - Christian lawyers
Gleaner: Wednesday | February 15, 2006
LaTonya Linton, Gleaner Writer
Yvonne Coke (right), founder and director of Hands Across Jamaica for Righteousness, in conversation with an animated Shirley Richards, attorney-at-law and president of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship, during a press conference yesterday to discuss the Charter of Rights Bill currently being debated in Parliament, at Family Life Ministries in St. Andrew. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
A GROUP of Christian attorneys and church leaders is fearful that proposed amendments to the Jamaican Constitution could, potentially, ban devotions in schools as well as permit homosexual marriage.
Accordingly, the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship has written to the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General A.J. Nicholson, requesting that their concerns be heard by the Joint Select Committee of Parliament that is reviewing the Charter of Rights Bill.
This piece of legislation seeks to provide members of the public with a list of fundamental rights and privileges that will be enshrined in or deeply protected by the Constitution.
But committee chairman, Senator Nicholson, is unwilling to prolong the sitting of the committee, complaining that the Charter of Rights measure has been debated on and off for 25 years and it was now time to conclude the matter.
"If it comes back to us, I can tell you I won't be the chairman," said an annoyed Senator Nicholson during last week's meeting of the committee.
The concerned church leaders and the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship are insisting that their concerns be heard, and have outlined a plan of action:
Prayer by the Christian community about the issue.
Christians are encouraged to sit in the public gallery at Gordon House during the Charter of Rights committee meeting on Thursday afternoon.
Christians and pastors are being encouraged to write to their various Members of Parliament expressing their concerns over the proposed constitutional amendments.
"The rights pertaining to freedom of conscience, which is currently granted under Section 21 of the current Constitution, have not been fully repeated in the charter," noted Shirley Richards, president of Lawyers' Christian Fellowship.
She added that Sub-section Four of the Constitution currently allows a religious body to provide religious instruction to, for example, students in the course of any education, even though that body may be recipient of financial assistance from Government funds.
"We have searched the Charter of Rights desperately to find the explicit inclusion of this provision but we have not found it," said Mrs Richards. "It, therefore, means that if this Charter of Rights is passed, we can say goodbye to devotions in schools, to Christmas plays and carol services and to any type of religious instructions to students."
The religious groups are also concerned about the inclusion of a privacy clause in Section 13, Subsection 3 of the Charter of Rights, with the words 'respect for private and family life, privacy of the home'.
"Our concern," said Richards, "is that these words, as innocuously sounding as they are, can be interpreted to allow for adult consensual homosexual conduct in private," said Richards. She added that once homosexual acts are decriminalised, there would be no basis to bar to gay marriage. Mrs. Richards added that the concept of privacy also deals with abortion rights.
"If the government wants to decriminalise either homosexuality or abortion then it must do so squarely. Don't tell us that this will never happen under your watch and then allow for a few choice words in the charter which you know are capable of having this meaning," said Mrs. Richards.
Charter of Rights fears
Pastors could be exposed to personal risk and liability for preaching the Gospel.
The preaching of the Gospel could be described as hate speech.
Homosexuality could be made legal without the buggery law being repealed by Parliament.
Judges could be forced to make homosexual marriage legal.
The new Charter of Rights will allow the judiciary to take activists' positions and create policy without public accountability.
Could create conditions under which the preaching of the Gospel could be severely curtailed.
Caribbean Court of Justice
Edmund Seaga speaks, Professor Nesson's questions interspersed.
Michael de la Bastide
Barbados chooses CCJ
background from Observer
Clayton Morgan - excellent layout of issues
Republican Form of Government
- Completion of the process of "decolonisation", by creating a Republican system of government, with a president as the head of state, with authority derived directly from the people of Jamaica.
- Presidential power in a republican system of government
Although the PNP and JLP both support conversion to a republican form of government, JLP has expressed discomfort at the idea of a political or powerful president. In particular, on its website, the JLP states:
"Support a referendum to determine whether Jamaica is to adopt a Republican form of Government. If the referendum decides on a Republican-type structure of government with a President as Head of State, the JLP would support a President selected by the Prime Minister subject to confirmation by two-thirds of the members of each House of Parliament. This would ensure that the President would be a non-partisan figure."
Similarly, former Prime Minister and JLP leader Edward Seaga stated to the Gleaner:
"The change to a republic means nothing more than appointing a Jamaican President to replace a Jamaican Governor-General with no more powers to do anything other than perform the same set of ceremonial duties presently carried out by the present Governor-General."
Numerous questions arise regarding the scope of presidential power under republican government (see here for a detailed discussion):- How should the President be selected? [Jamaica's Joint Parliamentary Report on Constitutional and Electroal Reform stated that the President should be elected by Parliament.]
- What powers should the President have? [Jamaica's JPRCER also stated that the president should have a more indepndent role in appointing the COntractor-General, Independent Members of the Electoral Commission, Members of service commissions, the Chief Justice and the President of the Court of Appeal.]
- Should the President have the right to nominate some number of Senators?
- Should the President command the armed forces?
- How can impariality be maintained while giving the President appointment powers?
- Republican status as a "smoke screen"
In the past, the JLP has charged that Prime Minister Patterson's push for adoption of a republican form of government is a mere smoke screen for depriving the Jamaican people of the opportunity to vote on adoption of the Caribbean Court of Justice as the final Court of Appeal in Jamaica. Former Prime Minister and JLP leader Seaga stated:
"[T]he critical importance of maintaining in place the safeguard of access to the Privy Council as our final Court of Appeal is paramount [to establishing a republican government]. In these circumstances, the JLP would not be willing to sacrifice this safeguard to our system of justice in order to enable the establishment of a republic without consultation with the people through an appropriate referendum."
- Corruption and republican status
As suggested in the Gleaner, an independent, nonpartisan President with a meaningful role in rebuilding and regulating the Jamaican state would have an opportunity to fight against corruption. In the absence of allegence to either the PNP or JLP, a President could potentially target and seek to eliminate corruption.
- Reparations and republican status
Once Jamaica frees itself from the vestiges of colonial rule, will the Jamaican government seek reparations for slavery? As Betrarm Scott states in an articulate letter to the Gleaner:
"One issue not addressed [in the discussion of whether Jamaica should adopt a republican system of government], however, is the inevitable legal action by the republic of Jamaica on behalf of its citizens of African descent for reparations from the British Monarchy and government. A similar movement is presently gaining momentum in the United States, and promises to be the most important legal battle of any millennium.... Will the republic of Jamaica be courageous enough to embark on such a course of action?"
- Presidential power in a republican system of government
