In Jamaica, minister of legal and constitutional affairs insists privy council issue to be decided in second phase of reform

Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte has doubled down on the Government's position that the severing of ties with the UK Privy Council will be done in the second phase of the constitutional reform now underway. "The issue of the final court of appeal is an important issue. It is set for phase two of the work which is to commence immediately after we table the Bill to amend the deeply entrenched provisions," she told journalists in Montego Bay on [21 September]. The minister was responding to requests for a reaction to Opposition Leader Mark Golding's assertion that the People's National Party (PNP) will not support a move away from the British monarchy without a simultaneous severing of ties from the Privy Council. "Constitutional reform work is complex and it is lengthy. We can't do it all at once, and it makes sense to proceed on the matters on which we have consensus," said Malahoo Forte. She argued that trying to solve both matters simultaneously could have the unwanted result of further delays to the process.
Read the full article here: Jamaica Observer