Nekeisha Burchell
Press Release From the PNP - September 10, 2026
KINGSTON, Jamaica. September 8, 2026: Opposition Spokesperson on Culture, Creative Industries and Information, Nekeisha Burchell, MP, is demanding a full explanation of the planning, purpose, cost and outcome of the Government’s mission to the United Kingdom concerning reparatory justice.
“The Opposition fully supports Jamaica’s pursuit of reparatory justice and the use of every credible legal and diplomatic avenue to advance that cause. However, an issue carrying the pain and expectations of generations of Jamaicans must be pursued with rigorous preparation, disciplined diplomacy, transparency and clear objectives,” Burchell said.
However, according to a statement attributed to Buckingham Palace, the Jamaican Government requested a meeting with the King only during the week commencing August 24, although Minister Olivia Grange had announced the initiative months earlier during her Sectoral Debate presentation in the last parliamentary session.
The Palace reportedly advised that a meeting was not practical because the King was at Balmoral for his publicly known annual summer stay. It further advised that petitions of this nature are not served personally on the King and that the process is coordinated by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
“These disclosures expose an extraordinary failure of planning. The Government had months to undertake the necessary diplomatic and administrative preparations, yet gave barely two weeks’ notice in seeking a formal audience with the King of the United Kingdom and Head of the Commonwealth,” Burchell said.
“This was promoted as a historic and pivotal international engagement on one of the most consequential issues facing Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. An audience of this nature should have been pursued and confirmed months in advance.”
Burchell questioned why the delegation proceeded after the Government was informed that the King was unavailable and that personal delivery was not the correct procedure.
“If the petition could have been lodged through the Judicial Committee, Jamaica’s High Commission, the Attorney General or retained counsel, why was it necessary to send this delegation across the Atlantic? Who travelled, what was the function of each person, what did the mission cost taxpayers, and what was achieved that Jamaica’s existing diplomatic and legal representatives could not have accomplished?” she asked.
Burchell said the Government’s handling of the mission risked making Jamaica a laughing stock on the world stage through an avoidable diplomatic and political gaffe.
“We cannot announce grand international missions, raise national expectations and dispatch delegations without first confirming the engagements, understanding the correct process and establishing what success should look like. That is not serious diplomacy,” she said.
She called on the Government to disclose the full composition and cost of the delegation, provide its confirmed programme of engagements and outline the next steps.
“The country must be told what legal weight any advisory opinion would carry, what happens if the King declines to refer the questions, what would be the impact on the reparations movement if the questions are answered in the negative, and how this initiative advances CARICOM’s wider reparations programme,” Burchell said.
“Reparatory justice is too important for inadequate preparation, photo opportunities or public relations. Jamaica must not squander its moral, diplomatic and political capital or risk international embarrassment in its name.”
The Opposition wishes the public to note that the Government has not consulted with the Opposition on any aspect of this matter.
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