Jamaica Should Relinquish the British Monarch as Head of State

Mr.Chairman, Most distinquished judges, vigilant time keepers, Worthy opponents, builders, good afternoon.

Allow me to proceed along the path of my first speaker. I will go further into the debate giving you reasons why we agree that Jamaica should cease to keep the British queen as its head of state.

It is with great pride that I stand here to declare that I am a Jamaican, Regardless of the challenges we face in this country, this statement is true..... "nuh weh nuh better than yaaard" I am sure you will agree with me, my opponent, that our present queen would have had to say otherwise. Being the queen for 16 commonwealth countries, it is true that Queen Elizabeth the second is from English decent. Bignal in the newspapers dated March 11, 2012 stated that since her reign, she has been to the island only six times, the last being in 2002, 10 years ago. Why then my opponents should we keep her as head of state?

Did you know my opponents that Jamaica is a constitutional monarch? As a constitutional monarchy, the queen abides by the decision of the Jamaican Government. Take for example -the Governor General in Jamaica. Yes it is true that he represents the queen and is appointed by her, but can be only appointed upon the advise of the Prime Minister. This -my opponent is only one small proof that the queen has no impact on any decisions that the government makes.

The British queen as the current head of state bears little significance to our development as a nation. Our own Prime Minister recognizes this and in her inaugural address to the nation on January 6, 2012, The Honourable Portia Simpson Miller said "I love the queen. She is a beautiful lady, a wise lady and a wonderful lady. But I think TIME COME.

This year, Jamaica celebrates its golden anniversary. Fifty years of independence have reminded us that we have grown and have done so without the assistance of the Queen. In fact, with the queen as head of state, it is a continuous reminder of British colonial rule.

Judges, Jamaica has been linked to the United Kingdom for over 100 years with the queen and the time has indeed come for us to have our own indigenous president as head of state.

Let's face the fact, the queen's major role in Jamaica according to Wilmot, is largely ceremonial and symbolic. This makes me wonder....do we need a queen just to greet foreign dignitaries and to represent the country at a state functions? If you answered yes to that question my opponents, you have been so brainwashed to believe that saying that as a predominantly black nation, we are not intelligent beings, we can't reason and as such we must stay at the back. WHITE SUPREMACY AT ITS HIGHEST!!!!!

With the Queen as head of state, it should be so easy to come and go on British soil. That however is not the case as Jamaicans are often turned down at the embassy. Visa is so hard to get to go to the mother land and those who are lucky, just have a short stay there. To highlight this fact a close family friend, after spending ten years in England is now facing deportation. She entered the country legally and has no criminal record. The question then is how come Jamaicans do not have an automatic right to British citizenship?

In an opinion piece for the guardian, Jamaican journalist André Wright calls