Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

PRIME MINISTER Bruce Golding's pronouncement that he is committed to amending the constitution to address the issues surrounding who is allowed to sit in Parliament has been scoffed at by the parliamentary opposition.

A.J. Nicholson, legal adviser to the People's National Party (PNP), says the track record of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) with regard to constitutional reform does not give him much confidence that the issue will be addressed expeditiously.

"Their history does not show me that they are serious about constitutional reform-pure words," Nicholson told The Sunday Gleaner.

At present, the constitution disqualifies persons who have pledged allegiance to a foreign power from being a senator or member of Parliament.

Commonwealth citizenship

Court of Appeal President Justice Seymore Panton, in the written judgement on the Daryl Vaz-Abe Dabdoub case, said: "The framers of the constitution clearly intended that Jamaicans who by their own act sought and received non-Commonwealth citizenship, or having not so sought it, nevertheless voluntarily acknowledged allegiance to such countries, should not sit in the House of Representatives.

"It does not matter that they were born in Jamaica. It is a notorious fact that over the years many Jamaicans have acquired foreign citizenship, and many others are constantly in the process of seeking such status. If they choose a distant autocratic, unfriendly Commonwealth country for citizenship status, they can still serve in the House of Representatives.

"If, however, they choose to acquire such status in the United States of America, their friendly and accommodating neighbour to the north, they are disqualified. That may seem an oddity given the fact that many Jamaicans seek United States citizenship and are more likely to be accommodated in that country compared with the level of accommodation they would receive in many Commonwealth countries. However, that is the constitution," Justice Panton wrote.

That is a concern shared by Golding who has described the provisions as absurd and in need of urgent attention. However, Golding has not yet given instructions to his justice minister to start the process to amend the Constitution.

Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne told The Sunday Gleaner: "I have had no such instructions. I don't know what the prime minister has in mind, but let's wait and see."

Should Golding follow through with his pronouncement of addressing the 'absurdity' in the constitution, it could form part of broader constitutional reform that has been discussed by successive administrations since 1977.

Constitutional lawyer, Dr Lloyd Barnett, told The Sunday Gleaner that he remains unconvinced that governments have been serious about constitutional reform.

"It has been forty years that we have been talking about constitutional reform ... . The history speaks for itself."

Of the various proposed amendments to the constitution there have been but few changes to the document. One such amendment was the move to place women on an equal footing with men in relation to their children. The amendment made it possible for children born to Jamaican women to automatically gain citizenship through descent. The constitution had ignored women in that regard.

Despite recommendations

The Charter of Rights, which is now before Parliament, is another example of the long-awaited constitutional reform that has not been implemented despite recommendations from the Constitutional Commission of Jamaica being put before Parliament in 1993.

The bill, which is to replace section (3) of the constitution, which deals with fundamental rights and freedoms, has been tabled in Parliament but will fall off the Order paper when the current Parliament year ends on March 31.

However, Lightbourne told The Sunday Gleaner that the Golding administration was committed to having this amendment made.

"It is such a pity that it will have to be re-tabled and that the three months will have to run again, but we are committed to having it passed," Lightbourne said.

According to Lightbourne, the Charter of Rights was tabled late because the government had to get the debate on whether to retain the death penalty out of the way before the bill could be tabled.

Prime Minister Golding has said that after the Charter of Rights is passed, his administration will tackle all the other aspects of constitutional reform.

These would include possibly replacing the Queen as head of state, appointment to the Senate and appointment of key public offices, such as the office of the director of public prosecutions.

Charter of Rights debates

Meanwhile, Nicholson has said that the PNP was always and still is committed to constitutional reform.

"We are always ready to move forward with it; we are ready now," Nicholson said.

He added: "Anytime the Government is ready to move on constitutional reform, the Opposition is ready to move."

Nicholson said, however, that when the debates begin on the Charter of Rights the question of the Caribbean Court of Justice will again arise.

"We are not happy about the provision of the Charter of Rights being adjudicated upon by the Privy Council. We would want some guarantees about moving towards the Caribbean Court of Justice," Nicholson said.