Stage set for political debates

By: kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com

Image caption: From left: Sharon Hay Webster of the Jamaica Labour Party; Brian Schmidt, vice president of the Jamaica Debates Commission; and Collin Campbell of the People’s National Party share a laugh during the launch of the 2024 local government election debates on Friday. The two debates, featuring teams from the two main political parties, will take place next week.

JLP, PNP to face off on local gov’t issues next week ahead of Feb 26 polls

The country’s two main political parties have indicated that they are finalising their respective teams for two political debates ahead of the February 26 local government elections.

The Jamaica Debates Commission (JDC) says it will spend $24 million to host the two sessions next week, on Thursday, February 15, and Saturday, February 17, at the Creative Production & Training Centre (CPTC) in Kingston.

The debates are to go for 90 minutes between the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and People’s National Party (PNP), beginning at 9 p.m.

The announcement was made during a JDC press conference at the Terra Nova Hotel in St Andrew on Friday.

On its provisional list in the first debate, the JLP has Senator Charles Sinclair, Richard Creary and Venesha Phillips.

Senator Delroy Williams, Richard Vernon and either Whitney Smith Currie or Tanya-Lee Williams are expected to participate in the second debate.

Sharon Hay Webster, the JLP representative overseeing the process, said the party looks forward to the engagement.

Meanwhile, PNP representative Colin Campbell said the team being fielded by the opposition party will embody youth.

“So, you will see a few of the existing players, but widely it will be a showcase of the new and special talent that will be available to the local government system,” he said, opting not to disclose a provisional team.

He said this will be finalised on Monday.

“The local government elections seem to be holding the interest of the nation perhaps a little bit higher than normal. So we hope to be able to expose ideas and to engage the population as best as possible,” Campbell said.

Brian Schmidt, JDC commissioner and vice chairman, said that the first debate will focus on local government policy and how it affects Jamaicans.

Schmidt said the discussion will centre on the relevance of Jamaica’s local government system.

Parameters for the questions include whether Jamaica’s local government system is fit for purpose or needs significant re-engineering.

The second debate will look at local government and whether it works.

The PNP will do the opening statement for the first debate, while the JLP will close. The reverse will obtain for the second debate.

“The parameters are very, very interesting,” said Schmidt.

“We’re expecting discussions, maybe, on tourism, inclusive of housing, planning and development that go with it. There’s urban development and town planning. There’s the environment, sewage, sanitation, garbage collection, enforcement of NEPA (National Environment and Planning Agency) guidelines, public health. There’s disaster risk management. There’s the issue of access to and protection of our beaches. There’s agriculture and fisheries, protection of sanctuaries. There’s infrastructure of roads, streetlights, drainage, gullies and the development of economic drivers through the length and breadth of our country,” he noted.

MODERATORS
Journalists from the established media houses will moderate and field questions.

The RJRGLEANER Communications Group’s Janella Precius will moderate the first debate, while Janet Silvera and Giovanni Dennis will field questions.

For the second debate, Nationwide News Network’s George Davis will moderate, while the Jamaica Observer’s Arthur Hall and IRIE FM’s Natalie Campbell will be the questioners.

CVM Television’s Neika Lewis will moderate and pose questions from social media.

Schmidt said the price tag for the staging of the debate, which is sponsored by private sector companies, also covers a public education campaign called ‘Get Out The Votes’.

“What we are doing is some amount of work to educate the public about the importance of local government, what local government does and what it’s responsible for,” he said.

Schmidt said that the budget also covers a debate watch, which will come in the form of 20 Zoom rooms hosting communities from all across the country, which will watch the debates with a facilitator and at the end of the debates, they engage in discussions.

“That budget also pays for the research that we are going to do, the post-debate polling, where 1,500 people from across the island are interviewed to get their feedback on whether the debate met their expectations, did they hear what they wanted to hear? Did we deal with the subject matter they were interested in? Were their concerns met or addressed? That kind of thing,” he said.