PRESIDENT OF the People's National Party (PNP), Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, yesterday reiterated his Government's commitment to amending the Constitution to allow for the resumption of hanging.
The Prime Minister was speaking at the PNP's Old Hope Road headquarters during a press briefing to expand on the contents of the party's election manifesto which was launched a day earlier.
The 80-page manifesto lists a return to capital punishment for murder, as one way of tackling the growing problem of crime and violence.
But, the resumption of hanging - the last was carried out in the late 1980s - could be stalled in the nation's Parliament. A two-thirds majority is needed in both Houses to reverse the 1993 Pratt and Morgan ruling by the United Kingdom-based Privy Council which has prevented most Caribbean Governments from carrying out the death penalty.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council had argued that it was inhumane to hang persons who had been in prison for more than five years. The conditions on death row were also cited as a factor in the Privy Council decision.
The Prime Minister is now seeking to have the ruling of the Privy Council overturned by an amendment to the Constitution, by a Special Act of Parliament under Section 50 of the Constitution.
Noting that a two-thirds majority was needed in both the House of Represen-tative and the Senate in order to effect the change, Mr. Patterson urged bi-partisan support. He pointed to Barbados with a similar Constitution which had effected a similar change, the Opposition supporting the Government on the matter.
"We therefore believe as do most of the other countries in the Caribbean that still subscribe to the Privy Council ... that nothing short of a constitutional amendment will be required," Mr. Patterson said.
He added that: "We (the PNP) presently have two-thirds in the House but, as you know, we can't get two-thirds in the Senate. So we are putting it out as an issue and we would expect to hear from the Opposition (Jamaica Labour Party) whether this is something they are prepared to support or not".
If the Privy Council ruling is overturned, the conditions in prison under which a person is detained pending execution of a sentence of death will not be held to be inconsistent with, or in contravention of Chapter Three of the Constitution. It would also allow the Governor-General to set time limits within which petitions to human rights and other bodies must be completed.
The amendment will not be effected by the current Parliament, however, as with the Prime Minister expected to announce the date for the upcoming election in the next few days, the Parliament is likely to be dissolved next week.
Mr. Patterson yesterday brushed aside criticism from the JLP that its election manifesto was being presented late in the day. He said it was in keeping with the previous pattern of presenting the PNP's manifesto prior to the announcement of the election date.
"We can't be held responsible for the fact that others, for reasons of their own, have been engaged on the campaign trail for a very long time now ... The date for the election has yet to be announced and we are presenting it before that announcement so there is more than ample time to digest and dissect this manifesto," he stated.
In the area of job creation, the Prime Minister noted that in restructuring the economy, emphasis had to be on greater levels of productivity. He argued that modernisation and global competition often resulted in job displacement, but said that while there had been displacement locally, there has been replacement.
He acknowledged however that "we now need to get on with the business of accelerated job creation".
