Andrew Holness: A Potential Monarchist?

In last week’s post I wrote about what it was like being at the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Conference and the speeches given by some of the party executives, this time I would like to zero in on something that was said by party leader Andrew Holness which really caught my attention , he made his position on the proposed constitutional reforms currently on the table by the government with this following quote

“ Republic and CCJ will not make us more independent, the only way Jamaica can truly achieve true political independence and stand with the other nations of the world is when we achieve economic independence” , it was second time this year  that I heard him utter such sentiments having done so during the budget debate in May, at the time  Holness chastised the government for the burdensome tax package they had released the week earlier and urged them to do something to fix our economic problems and not waste time trying to distract the population with talk of a republic or a new final court.

I must say I admire the bold stance taken by the Leader of the Opposition, for a number of years now  various Prime Ministers from Manley to Patterson and Now Simpson Miller have tried  to use anti-monarchism as a political football to  gain popular support when in truth and in fact majority of Jamaicans do not go to bed wondering whether we have a Governor-General in King’s House or some guy who calls himself President. There are many who  seem not to care either way  whether we are a Constitutional Monarchy or a Presidential Republic however I do and as a staunch royalist I make no apologies for openly declaring my loyalty to Her Majesty the Queen of Jamaica and any counter revolutionary move to halt creeping republicanism and to preserve that part of our heritage and our constitution will certainly have my support therefore I must applaud Holness as it is quite clear that he has no intention of cooperating with the government on any discussion regarding the future of the monarchy.

I really don’t want to jump the gun here but I cannot help but wonder if his stance of a true monarchist or does he have an ulterior motive only time will tell where his loyalty lies, while I will not be naive and simply assume that he is a royalist because of what he said I would not want to rule out the possibility either, he did not seem to have a  problem supporting the plans of the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) to alter the rules of succession which they claim promotes gender bias and religious discrimination (personally I prefer the Act of Settlement remaining exactly as it is now) nor was he heard criticizing the government on the 3 million dollars spent for Prince Harry’s visit even when others were doing so.

Historically speaking the JLP has always been less enthused by the idea of a republic than the People’s National Party, Sir Alexander Bustamante the father of independent Jamaica and our first Prime Minister was quite happy to be knighted and be the first Jamaican ever to serve as Privy Councilor to Her Majesty , in the late 1970s while then Prime Minister Michael Manley started a propaganda campaign to turn Jamaica into a socialist republic  based on the Cuban model it was Edward Seaga who led the charge to preserve our constitution from being subverted or altered, early in the 2000’s when P.J. Patterson wanted to have the Queen’s name removed from the oath of allegiance it was Seaga again along with other members of the JLP who bitterly opposed him. While former Prime Minister Bruce Golding did in fact flirt with the idea of a republic he dropped those plans soon after seeing a Bill Johnson poll published in the Gleaner  on June 28 last year in which the result stated that many Jamaicans prefer the constitution the way it is, some even went as far as to call to for us to return to being ruled from London (I’m not so sure I can support that ), I even once heard  several rumors that he had considered becoming Governor-General after Sir Kenneth Hall had retired in 2009

The standpoint taken by Mr. Holness seems to be following in that great tradition of the Jamaica Labour Party which promotes patriotism, loyalty to the Crown and service to the people of this country, establishing real independence for Jamaica not by idle talk of a republic (which would probably make us worse off anyway), but by forging a future for our people, fostering industry and providingng the means for our people to create their own wealth and prosperity , this is the reason why I am proud to call myself a monarchist, a labourite and real Jamaican patriot