Assignment task:
There are currently four states that have become republics in the English-Speaking Caribbean, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana and Trinidad. Of the four, only Guyana has an executive president who is directly elected by the electorate and the other three with presidents that are largely ceremonial. Guyana has also made substantive changes to its electoral systems.
According to Derek O'Brien, 'the year 2016....witnessed one of the most significant constitutional referendums to be held in the region since independence as voters in Grenada were asked to vote on seven separate Constitution (Amendment) Bills, which sought variously to: limit the number of terms of office a Prime Minister can serve; enhance the integrity of the electoral process; guarantee gender equality; and vest ultimate legal sovereignty in a regional appellate court, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), to replace the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC)'.
In 2021, Jamaica established a Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs that is tasked to lead the country towards republic status and broad constitutional reform. Some of the issues of concern in Jamaica and across the Caribbean is the removal of savings law clauses to remove death penalty, abortion restrictions, for example, from the books. Like Grenada, other jurisdictions are also seeking to make changes to the final court of appeal, term limits, election dates and overall electoral process.
With reference to the statements above, and the critical areas 'constitutional monarchy & Governance structure, and relationships between branches of government', discuss the following reasons why constitutional reform is necessary for the Caribbean region.
- several states in the region have become republics, while only one state has an executive president that is directly elected by the electorate.
- changes to the electoral systems have been made in some states which have caused concern among citizens.
- some countries have established ministries of legal and constitutional affairs to lead the country toward republic status and broad constitutional reform while others have not.