The leadership debate just did not hit the spot

Thursday, December 22, 2011

MUCH has already been said about Tuesday night's debate between Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller; lack of substance, not living up to expectations, but pointed on some issues are some of views coming from political analysts.

We have no quarrel with any of these positions, as we too felt some sense of unfulfillment after the hour-long debate. Certainly, we had expected much more detail in the responses of Mr Holness and Mrs Simpson Miller to the questions posed by two of the island's most respected journalists, Mr Franklin McKnight and Mrs Dionne Jackson-Miller, as well as a few members of the debate audience.

However, we share the concern of our colleague journalist, Mr Cliff Hughes of Nationwide Radio, that the debate suffered from a structural flaw — the time given to the debaters was simply not enough for them to give full answers to the questions.

We found it most annoying that the moderator would cut off Mr Holness and Mrs Simpson Miller while they sought to go into detail with their responses. That, we believe, robbed the Jamaican public of vital information that they will need to make a decision next week Thursday when they participate in the important process of choosing a government for the next five years.

We also agree with Mr Hughes that 90 minutes, or better yet, two hours, would be more appropriate for a debate of this importance. For we do not share the view being advanced by some commentators that the debates have little effect on how people eventually vote. That might have been a thing of the past.

We believe that the undecided voters among us are those who will arrive at a final decision based on what they see and hear in the debates. And it is those undecided voters who, we strongly suspect, will determine the outcome of the election, as both major political movements — the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) — are already assured of their base support.

The time flaw aside, we must commend the Jamaica Debates Commission for its determination to stage the discussion in the face of early discord among the parties about the format. It was a good public service.

But even as we acknowledge that Mr Holness and Mrs Simpson Miller needed more time to answer questions, we would be remiss if we did not state our disappointment with the prime minister for not using the limited time to give Jamaicans more information about the austerity measures that await us next year.

So far, in most of his interviews since he took office in October, Mr Holness has been giving snippets of things to come. However, as we have stated in this space before, he needs to state clearly, and in detail, what is awaiting the country, especially given our stalled stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and against the background of a stubborn global financial crisis that has the world's largest economies on tenterhooks.

We must also state our astonishment at Mrs Simpson Miller's lack of understanding of the workings of international agreements as demonstrated by her ridiculous two-week deadline to renegotiate the IMF, JPS and JDIP contracts. Certainly, that did not help her and her party's attempt to portray her as a leader with international experience.

POST A COMMENT

You must first register and then login to be able to post a comment.

HOUSE RULES

1. We welcome reader comments on the top stories of the day. Some comments may be republished on the website or in the newspaper – email addresses will not be published.

2. Please understand that comments are moderated and it is not always possible to publish all that have been submitted. We will, however, try to publish comments that are representative of all received.

3. We ask that comments are civil and free of libellous or hateful material. Also please stick to the topic under discussion.

4. Please do not write in block capitals since this makes your comment hard to read.

5. Please don't use the comments to advertise. However, our advertising department can be more than accommodating if emailed: advertising@jamaicaobserver.com.

6. If readers wish to report offensive comments, suggest a correction or share a story then please email: community@jamaicaobserver.com.

7. Lastly, read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, and before commenting you need to register, conveniently, by clicking the link above.

COMMENTS (6)

Joshua Justice
12/26/2011

Fully agree. Some glaring observations were on occasions where PSM was responding to questions not posed to her or rebutting a different issue. It shows lack of understanding or misunderstanding of issues. An eg. was the question to PSM by the PM about she personally benefiting from the Trafigura donation in her PNP presidential ascendancy, she was chuckling and asking if the PNP never lost the elections, another, rebutting size of cabinet with Trafigura, reading a rebuttal on the PM not taking.

David Armstrong
12/22/2011

Your editorials are too supeficial as they read like a basic news report. Editorials should be more substantive than this without simple opinions that are unverified. You talk about "undecided voters" without telling us what percenatge makes up this group. I don't believe that there are any undecided voters. Everybody is clearly in the orange or green camp. Our electorate is more entrenched in tribal politics and don't seems to care about issues. I look fwd to reading better editorials.

Brooklyn Jamaican
12/22/2011

The only reason you all are saying the debate did not meet expectations, is simply that you all expected PSM to make a fool of herself and that did not materialize.

joie cote
12/22/2011

The debaters did not get the time to elaborate on the stupid questions that was asked. so, how could it hit the spot?@wanda Woeman, stop your nonsense, you are too divisive.

0o k
12/22/2011

I think the Debaters answered the questions as they were answered.

wanda woeman
12/22/2011

Oh come on Ob, you are just miffed because A.H did not mop up the floor with PS-M as you and all the other JLP sycophants thought he would.
You had no quarrel with the time when you were predicting that the aisle would be littered with her remains. McKenzie was boasting earlier this week when he predicted what would happen when the two met. And what was the moderator to do if time was up?
These debates area waste of time as they only tell us what they think we want to hear as B.G. did in 2007

Do/Would you disclose details of your salary with your spouse?
	Yes
	No

View Results
Results published weekly in Sunday Finance

Username:
Password:

Water woes to affect sections of St Catherine and the Corporate Area

The leadership debate just did not hit the spot