JAMAICA WILL transition to republic by 2025, a senior minister has said.

According to the Minister of Legal and Constitutional Affairs Marlene Malahoo Forte, a Constitutional Reform Committee (CRC) is now being established and will include members of the Opposition.

Ms Malahoo Forte hopes the Caribbean country will transition to a republic in time for the next general election, which is constitutionally due in 2025.

During her contribution to the Sectoral Debate in the House of Representations on Tuesday, she outlined the plans.

”The goal is to ultimately produce a new Constitution of Jamaica, enacted by the Parliament of Jamaica, to inter alia, establish the Republic of Jamaica as a parliamentary republic, replacing the Constitutional Monarchy, and affirming our self-determination and cultural heritage,” Ms Malahoo Forte said.

“I am pleased to advise this honourable House that the work to achieve this goal, while being done in stages, has formally commenced,” she added.

There is currently a growing republican movement across the region, following Barbados’ highly publicised transition to a republic last November – which marked the Caribbean nation’s 55^th year of independence.

Since then, several Caribbean islands have hinted they may also remove the Queen as their head of state.

But Ms Malahoo Forte emphasised the process needs to be done in stages.

“There are many steps to be taken between now and the tabling of a new constitution. I will advise when the committee is fully constituted,” the minister said.

Ms Malahoo Forte also explained that republic status can only be put in place if there is a majority vote of all members of the House and Senate.

The Jamaican public are also expected to have their say on the matter by a way of referendum.

If Jamaica does become the Caribbean’s next republic, the country will follow in the footsteps of other Caribbean countries which opted for a home-grown head of state.

Guyana became a republic in 1970, followed by Trinidad and Tobago in 1976, Dominica in 1978, and Barbados became the world’s newest republic last year.

In the early 19^th century, Haiti became the world’s first Black republic and the first independent Caribbean nation, after overthrowing French colonial control – by fighting long and hard for freedom from slavery.

Haiti’s independence is said to have influenced many subsequent rebellions by those enslaved across the Caribbean.