Jamaica makes first move towards removing King Charles as Head of State

The Jamaican government has made a move towards removing King Charles as its ceremonial head of state in order to become a republic. 

On Dec. 10, Jamaica’s Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte tabled the Constitution (Amendment) Republic Act 2024 in the House of Representatives, the Lower House of Parliament, introducing the legislation to start the process of replacing King Charles with a Jamaican president. 

Jamaica is one of 14 realms where the King, 76, is head of state, and Forte previously said that Jamaica would move to become a republic by the next general election in 2025, according to the BBC.  

Forte called the step a “historic moment,” the Jamaica Observer reported. 

The outlet said the bill will now lay on the table of the House until March 2025 before it can be read for a second time. 

“The tabling of the bill marks the greatest progress made so far in our effort to reform the Constitution of Jamaica to achieve the national goals of having a Jamaican as head of state instead of the hereditary British monarch and also having our supreme law taken out from under the cloak of the imperial Order in Council and placed in proper form,” Forte said, according to the Jamaica Gleaner. 

The lawmaker pointed out how the bill was introduced on International Human Rights Day and the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late Michael Manley, former Jamaican Prime Minister, anti-imperalist and social justice advocate. 

Forte told The Guardian that the bill was introduced to meet the mood in Jamaica, where people want to change the constitution. 

“Every year when we celebrate independence on August 6, the nation is invited to reflect on its achievements since independence and what remains to be done, and every year the question is asked when are we going to abolish the monarchy and have a Jamaican head of state,” the politician said in a piece published on Dec. 13. 

Jamaica became independent in 1962 after over 300 years of British colonial control, but the country opted to retain Queen Elizabeth as head of state.