Jamaica - Government
The Jamaica (Constitution) Order in Council 1962, or the Constitution, is the supreme law of Jamaica and sets forth the basic framework and legal underpinnings for governmental activity in Jamaica. The Constitution came into effect when Jamaica became an independent country on August 6, 1962, and includes provisions that safeguard the fundamental freedoms of the individual. While a simple majority of Parliament can enact amendments to the Constitution, certain amendments require ratification by a two-thirds majority in both houses of Parliament, and amendments altering fundamental rights and freedoms require the additional approval of a national referendum.
The 1962 constitution established a parliamentary system based on the U.K. model. As chief of state, Queen Elizabeth II appoints a governor general, on the advice of the prime minister, as her representative in Jamaica. The governor general's role is largely ceremonial. Executive power is vested in the cabinet, led by the prime minister.
Under Chapter 6 of the Constitution, the Governor-General is required to appoint as Prime Minister the member of the House of Representatives who is best able to "command the support" of a majority of the members of that House. The Prime Minister selects the Ministers, Ministers of State and Parliamentary Secretaries to be appointed by the Governor-General. He forms the Cabinet and presides over it. The Prime Minister advises the Queen on the appointment of the Governor-General. He has the power to advise the Governor-General to dissolve Parliament and to name the date of a general election at any time within the five years of the life of a Parliament.
The Cabinet is responsible for the general direction and control of government. It consists of the Prime Minister and not less than 11 other Ministers (there is no maximum). All Cabinet Ministers must be members of one of the two Houses of Parliament but not more than four from Senate. Each Cabinet Minister is assigned one or more areas of responsibility (e.g. "agriculture", "health" or "housing") sometimes called portfolios. The Cabinet as a whole must account to the people through Parliament for its actions. Each Cabinet Minister is also individually responsible for the subject/subjects assigned to him/her.
Cabinet Ministers are assisted by Ministers of Senate and Parliamentary Secretaries. However, the day-to-day work of each Ministry is administered and supervised by a senior civil servant called a Permanent Secretary is assisted by the staff of the Ministry who are civil servants.
Parliament is composed of an appointed Senate and an elected House of Representatives. Thirteen Senators are nominated on the advice of the prime minister and eight on the advice of the leader of the opposition. General elections must be held within 5 years of the forming of a new government. The prime minister may ask the governor general to call elections sooner, however. The Senate may submit bills, and it also reviews legislation submitted by the House. It may not delay budget bills for more than 1 month or other bills for more than 7 months. The prime minister and the cabinet are selected from the Parliament. No fewer than two or more than four members of the cabinet must be selected from the Senate.
The Jamaican Parliament has its history in the House of Assembly that first met on January 20, 1664 in Spanish Town, then called St. Jago de la Vega. At that time, Spanish Town was the capital of Jamaica and the seat of the Government. However, since 1960, the official meeting place of the Government has been the George William Gordon House, more popularly called Gordon House, located on Duke Street in downtown Kingston. Gordon House is named in honour of one of Jamaica’s National Heroes.
The Parliament is comprised of the Upper House and the Lower House, together they are known as the House of Assembly (or Assembly). The Upper House is the Senate which is made up of 21 senators who are appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Prime Minister (13) or the Leader of Opposition (8). Of the 21 appointed officials, no more than four (4) can be members of the Cabinet The Lower House is also called the House of Representatives. It is comprised of the elected representatives, known as Members of Parliament (MP), of the 63 constituencies in Jamaica.
Both Houses of Parliament must elect leaders upon first sitting or when there is a vacancy. The Senate is led by a President and a Deputy President. The House of Representatives has a Speaker who ensures that members observe the rules of the House, the rights of the Opposition are protected, and that every member gets a fair hearing. The maximum life of a Parliament is five years, at the end of which it must be dissolved and a General Election held. Parliament can also be dissolved by the Governor-General at any time, upon the advice of the Prime Minister.
The Constitution secures the office of Leader of the Opposition. The Leader of the Opposition, appointed by the Governor-General, is the member of the House of Representatives who commands the support of a majority of those members who do not support the Government. The Leader of the Opposition must be consulted on a number of important matters such as appointments of the Chief Justice, the President of the Court of Appeal and members of the Services Commissions. The Opposition Leader nominates eight of the 21 Senators.
The judiciary also is modeled on the U.K. system. The Court of Appeals is the highest appellate court in Jamaica. Under certain circumstances, cases may be appealed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. A network of courts, ranging from Petty sessions of the Court of Appeal, and even beyond, to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, is responsible for the administration of justice in Jamaica. The head of the judicial is the Chief Justice whose office, like that of all judges, is made secure by the Constitution.
The judges' salaries and conditions of service are secured by the Constitution and judges can be removed from office on the advice of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. Any person dissatisfied with a judgement by any of the courts (except Petty Sessions) can appeal to the Court of Appeal. Petty Sessions are heard by judge in chambers.
The Supreme Court administers both criminal and civil law. Its criminal cases are handled by Circuit Courts after committal by Resident Magistrates. The Supreme Court deals with civil actions involving negligence, breach of contract, slander, trespass, divorce, equity, guardianship of infants, and estates of lunatics. It also issues writs and summonses. There are special courts dealing with revenues, gun crimes, and traffic offenses and family matters.
Judges are appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of a Judicial Service Commission, which includes among its members the Chief Justice, who is its Chairman, and the President of the Court of Appeal. The Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister appoints the Chief Justice and the President of the Court of Appeal, after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition.
The Supreme Court tries serious criminal offenses, including all murder cases. Citizens’ reluctance to serve as jurors resulted in a persistent problem of seating jurors, which contributed to the judicial backlog. Trials are often delayed for years, and at times cases are dismissed due to delay tactics, including no-shows by witnesses, challenges in impaneling juries, antiquated rules of evidence, and lack of equipment for collecting and storing evidence, among other reasons. For example, drug evidence collected in an arrest must be stored in its entirety; samples or photographs are not acceptable. Storage facilities were inadequate and understaffed, and evidence occasionally disappeared, deteriorated in the warehouse, or could not be located when needed.
The profound nature of the crisis is expressed not simply in the extraordinarily murder rate and rate of violent crimes more generally, or the declining level of confidence in the police force and criminal justice system, but in the development of alternate institutions for dealing with the acute problems of social violence, including self-policing and informal ‘community courts’ that exercise a wide range of punishment options.
At the community level, the dependence on the don for social welfare has grown exponentially. At the level of justice, the disconnection from the formal justice system takes two forms: For those living in the downtown ghettoes, the justice of the dons is increasingly more available and reliable. For those living in the fortress-like middle-class townhouse complexes a similar reliability is to be found in the justice and efficiency of the fast-response guard services. This disconnection from the law and from official society accelerates the “downward spiral”.
In Jamaica, the history of local government dates back to the late 1600s when the then British Colonial Administration introduced parish-level local authorities with the promise that the decentralization of the specified resources and responsibilities would strengthen political representation and streamline the delivery of certain local services. By the turn of the twentieth century, however, there was substantial growth in the Jamaican population overall which was accompanied by a significant expansion in the eligible voting citizenry, occasioned to a great extent by advent of universal adult suffrage in 1944. It was therefore necessary to further sub-divide each parish authority into smaller parochial divisions in order to maintain a citizen-to-elected official ratio that would facilitate the best quality of political representation possible. This development marked the birth of the local ‘Parish Council’ system, as currently exists in Jamaica today.
Jamaica's parishes have elected councils that exercise limited powers of local government. The island is divided into three counties – Cornwall, Middlesex and Surrey – which are subdivided into 14 parishes: Kingston, St. Andrew, St. Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester, St. Elizabeth, Westmoreland, Hanover, St. James, Trelawny, St. Ann, St. Mary, Portland and St. Thomas. Each parish has a capital town, which is typically the center of commerce and two parish capitals, Montego Bay in St. James and Kingston, have city status. Kingston, located on the island’s southeast end, is Jamaica’s capital.
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