Buju Banton, Spragga Benz Support Maroon Chief’s Call For Consultation On Jamaica’s Transition To A Republic

Buju Banton and Spragga Benz have thrown their support behind Accompong Maroon Chief Richard Currie, in his call for the Jamaican Government to consult with the Maroons in relation to the island becoming a Parliamentary Republic.

On Wednesday, in a message addressed to Minister of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Reform Marlene Malahoo Forte and the Jamaican Parliament, Currie had revealed that the Accompong Maroons’ efforts to get a response from the Parliament, to letters submitted, have proven futile.

“The Accompong Maroons have sent you numerous correspondences regarding Jamaica’s pursuit to attain a Parliamentary Republic. The Indigenous Maroons of Cockpit Country have NOT been consulted with during this process and the Sovereign State of Accompong currently has a lawsuit against the Government of Jamaica in the Supreme Court regarding Maroon Land ownership on the island of Jamaica,” Currie noted on Instagram.

The message came on the heels of another post which Currie had shared, in which he said that the Accompong Maroons’ lawyers were awaiting Malahoo Forte to make contact with them “regarding Constitutional reform to change Jamaica’s Political Status”, as she ought to also “be consulting with the indigenous Maroon people who have a Government”.

“The Jamaican Maroons (both Leeward and Windward) fought and gained recognition of their birthright Independence 285 years ago. The Jamaican Maroons have a seat of government in Accompong Town that existed prior to the 1962 financial arrangement of the British removing a colonial Secretary from the island and replacing the office with a Governor General,” he had written then.

“Therefore, the Jamaican Maroons and their duly elected Maroon government operating as the successors of the 1738 Treaty of Peace and Friendship must be consulted during any constitutional reform regarding Jamaica becoming Republic via a referendum… The Accompong Maroons NEVER ceded land to the British led government nor any Jamaican government operating under the 1962 Order in Council Constitution of Jamaica,” he added.

On Wednesday, the two veteran deejays, longstanding supporters of Currie, were succinct but strident in their responses.

“Chat to dem fi mi da,” Buju, who has declared himself a Maroon descendant of freedom fighters of Moore Town in Jamaica’s east declared while Spragga added: “What a day when di pendulum swing 💪🏾.”

Back in February 2021, Buju and Spragga were among the first set of entertainers to give full backing to Currie, who was seeking to oust then-leader Colonel Ferron Williams to assume the responsibility to lead the Accompong Maroons for the next five years.

Buju had come out in Currie’s defence in August 2021, mocking Minister of National Security Horace Chang, after learning that he had declared in a radio interview, that to his knowledge, “there is no such thing as Maroon lands”.

Chang’s comments had come following an altercation that erupted between plain clothes policemen and Currie in the hills of Bethsalem in St. Elizabeth, a property which the chief insists are Maroon ancestral lands.

Buju continued his support of the Accompong chief in October that year, equipping the St. Elizabeth community with two horses and a tractor, to aid the Maroons in their sustainable development and self-reliance efforts.

In February 2022, an irate Buju Banton had said he was putting the Government of Jamaica “on blast” for what he claimed was the administration’s reprobate attempts to malign Currie, this after CEO of the Firearm Licensing Authority Shane Dalling, said the Chief was in breach of the Firearms Act, as he had not renewed the licenses for his two firearms.

Buju had described the report as “a blatant ploy” by the State to hurt Currie and others “who stand up and see the wicked criminality being perpetrated by the Jamaican politicians on the Jamaican populace”. 

In late February while speaking at a Diplomatic Week event in Kingston, Prime Minister Andrew Holness had said that the island’s quest to transition to a republic, was an important step in completing the country’s political independence, and that the matter was an imperative that will “consume our attention in Jamaica”.

Holness had also said that the Government was “working closely with various stakeholders, including the Opposition, to ensure that the preparatory process is seamless and allows for the full and effective engagement of our people”.

For her part, Malahoo Forte, while speaking at a Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives that said week, had revealed that the Constitutional Reform (CR) Committee, which is to help in transitioning Jamaica from a Constitutional monarchy to the “Republic of Jamaica, within the Commonwealth, as a Parliamentary Republic with a Non-Executive President” had been constituted and had started working.

She had also said that the Constitutional Review Committee would provide advice and oversight for what she described as “the most comprehensive and impactful constitutional reform work to be undertaken in the life of independent Jamaica”.