Dear Editor,

I did not imagine that this would need to be stated, but there’s more to running a country beyond managing crime and boosting the economy.

I say this because of the recent suggestion that a conversation about whether Jamaica remains a constitutional monarchy with The Queen of England as our head of State or become a republic like our Caribbean sister, Barbados, should be reduced to questions about the impact it may have on crime or the economy. It’s reductive thinking and harmful when we consider that there are other tangible and intangible reasons for making that shift.

Let me say from the outset that crime and our economy are major issues that require our Government’s utmost attention and, in many respects, most governance issues will have at least an indirect link to reducing our high rate of murders and criminality or boosting our economic performance.

However, when we address corruption, for example, we don’t do so primarily because we want to fix our national bottom line, we do it because it’s a public good that requires doing. When our Charter of Rights was amended in 2011, we didn’t do it only for the economic impact it may have, but because our citizens deserved better.

There are certain things that are flat out just good to do, such as improving our education system, strengthening the health-care system, and protecting the environment. The fact that these have a knock-on impact on our economy and crime statistics is ‘brawta’.

Ordinarily, I would not feel the need to articulate this, but I have sometimes got the sense that governance in Jamaica becomes squarely centred on the issues of crime and economy and everything else takes a backburner, including low-hanging fruits like updating outdated laws or critical issues like providing stronger safety nets for our people.

As articulated by former Prime Minister Percival James Patterson in his letter to both Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding — given that Jamaica turns 60 next year — we should take a hard look at ourselves and consider a rearticulation of the core principles of our governance system, not because it will help with crime, but because these are the kinds of things that leaders are troubled with as they envision the kind of society they want their citizens to live in.

In 2022 Jamaicans should have a head of State who looks like them, and is chosen by a process that includes them rather than through monarchical birthright.

I would go even further to suggest that we should have as our highest court an institution staffed with people who understand our context, and does not require a visa to a foreign country to access.

Whether the conversation is the need for anti-discrimination legislation, a national human rights institution, stronger protections against corruption, or a system for reviewing laws imposed through colonialism, these are issues with which a post-Independence leader must grapple rather than sideline because of its relatively low impact on crime or violence.

The vision of any leader for Jamaica must include the spirit of the country as expressed in the institutions that govern us.

Glenroy Murray

glenroy.am.murray@gmail.com