Powerful Jamaican Civil Society Groups Endorse Upcoming Political Debates – Urge Politicians to Debate More in Media and Reduce On-the-Ground Campaigning as COVID Cases Spike

Kingston, Jamaica. Saturday August 22, 2020. With just over 48 -hours before the first of three National Debates kick-off under the aegis of the Jamaica Debates Commission, a number of powerful organisations on Saturday endorsed the imminent debates as the most effective way for getting messages on policies and programmes before the electorate in view of the current coronavirus pandemic.

As Jamaica recorded an additional fifty-six (56) new cases on Saturday, the Office of the Political Ombudsman, the Jamaica Council of Churches, JCC, Citizens’ Action for Free and Fair Elections, CAFFE, the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, JCC and the Media Association Jamaica Limited, MAJ, threw strong support behind the JDC and its call for the political parties to use the debates and more media platforms to carry their messages safely rather than risk faster spread of COVID-19 by continuing to campaign face to face which is proving difficult to manage.

JDC Chairman Noel daCosta told journalists Saturday afternoon that his Commission was ready to stage the debates under COVID restrictions making sure that the first debate; a team debate of three representatives from both major political parties is compliant with guidelines. The debaters will be appropriately distanced, they will go through adequate pre-checks for COVID-19 symptoms, there will be no studio audience and only two in-studio questioners. The debates are being staged at the Creative Production and Training Centre, CPTC, that will have heightened sanitization protocols.

The Chairman said that these are the most important debates staged in the almost 20-year history of the JDC.

“They are being held in a pandemic. Campaigning has changed dramatically for the political parties and many of the usual practices have had to be curtailed. We note that in the last few days Jamaica has added more than 200 positive COVID 19 cases, and the JDC appeals to the political parties to use our debates to effectively encourage their supporters to act responsibly. We also encourage the use of media messages more…”, he said.

Political Ombudsman Donna Parchment Brown endorsed the work of the JDC and called on the four registered political parties in Jamaica to share and adhere to the guidelines agreed for conducting themselves in the remainder of the campaign. She commended the JDC for its commitment to the country and to democracy as she declared that the debating process is invaluable.

“Debates help the electors understand better the track record, the policies and the character of those who seek to lead our precious country…each one of us needs to make ourselves aware, be personally accountable and hold those who seek to lead accountable for their conduct.”

She said that regrettably there had already been “a lot of breaches in this campaign”. She went on to make an appeal to the leadership of the political parties.

“I call on the party leaders as they participate in these debates through their various members and as they continue with the campaign, to live up to the code of conduct that they have signed” she implored.

“Jamaica requires of you that there be no violence, no malicious words, no untruthful stories, no intimidation, no vote buying, no defamation, no political tribalism”, she said as he heartily endorsed the national debates and the work the JDC has been doing especially in the 2020 campaign.

Her sentiments were shared by Council of Churches General Secretary Rev. Newton Dixon who says the promotion of the debates engages our democratic process in a transformational way. “This initiative is in alignment with one of our two foci, namely good governance and the other being family life…in a qualitative sense it is an attempt to deepen the democratic process” he said. The General Secretary says this promotes what he calls “political intelligence”.

The JDC disclosed that during this challenging period it was pleased that its donors and sponsors had come up with the JA$30M needed to fund the three debates.

Jamaica Chamber of Commerce President Lloyd Distant commended the JDC and declaring that there is a lot being looked forward to from the debates, especially on how the parties say they would rebuild the economy now hard hit by the effects of the pandemic. He also said that the approaches to be taken on how to address our crime problem will scrutinised. He joined the Political Ombudsman in calling on the political representatives to live up to the code of conduct they have signed.

Dr. Hon. Lloyd Barnett of CAFFE noted that the JDC and his organisation were fitting partners in pursuit of safeguarding the country’s democratic traditions. He declared that there are two essentials of democracy – one is to provide the people with the information necessary to make informed decisions and the second is that having made a choice based on an assessment of information, the people are able to express their choice in free and fair elections.

“The JDC is devoted to enabling the first of these objectives and CAFFE is devoted to enabling the second of these objectives and so we have worked together in order to achieve the democratic aim of good governance”, he said.

The news conference which was held at the JDC/Chamber of Commerce Offices on Half Way Tree Road was advised that the following were the full set of debaters, moderators and questioners for the three debates:

Social Issues Debate on Tuesday August 25th will see for the JLP, Dr, Christopher Tufton, Kamina Johnson-Smith and Floyd Green. For the PNP the debaters are, Peter Bunting, Dr. Dayton Campbell and Krystal Tomlinson. The moderator will be Janella Precius and the questioners are Vashan Brown and Natalie Campbell.

The Finance and Economics Debate on Thursday August 27^th will include debaters Finance Minister Nigel Clarke and Opposition spokesman on Finance Mark Golding. The Moderator will be Damion Mitchell and the questioners are Kalilah Enriquez-Reynolds and Dashan Hendricks.

On Saturday August 29^th the Leadership Debate will take place with Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Leader of the Opposition Dr. Peter Phillips. The Moderator will be Dervan Malcolm and questions will be posed by Dionne -Jackson Miller and George Davis.

It was also disclosed that there will be debates watches set up in Jamaica but importantly in other countries where interested Jamaicans had requested to participate. The other countries included the United States of America, Canada, the Cayman Islands, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

Chairman daCosta also indicated that since 2007 when it did its first post-debate scientific polling there had been research confirming that well over half the population felt that the debates contributed to their decision making, with some 30% saying they have changed their voting intentions after watching its debates.