Who won? - Experts score Shaw vs Phillips debate

AS the country braces for Tuesday's debate showdown between Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, the dust is still settling on Thursday's face off between Finance Minister Audley Shaw and the People's National Party's (PNP) Dr Peter Phillips.

The post-debate analysis continues as observers remain divided on the actual winner of the second in the series of political debates organised by the Jamaica Debates Commission which focused on economic and financial matters.

These included the handling of the financial sector meltdown in the 1990s, the continuation of a relationship with the International Monetary Fund, which party was better at managing the economy, and what plans the two main parties had to grow the economy.

Both men also spent time debating the merits of the PNP's Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP) and plans by that party to pull funds from the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP) to finance the initiative. JEEP was unveiled by the Opposition earlier this year as the vehicle which a PNP administration would use to address unemployment over the short term.

Prior to the face-off between Shaw and Phillips, the Sunday Observer made contact with three financial experts who were asked to judge the contest using a scorecard which allotted a maximum 10 marks for knowledge, five for content accuracy, five for delivery and a maximum of five points for originality of ideas.

Noted economist John Jackson, former economist at the United Nations, Dr Davidson Daway, and Assistant Professor in Economics and Management at the Northern Caribbean University, Kirkland Anderson, were the three persons asked to judge the debate for this story.

For Anderson, the debate was a good one, especially in the second half, and was enriched by the decision by the organisers to introduce a segment which allowed each debater to pose a question to his opponent.

Anderson said the opening statements of both men were good as they focused on the issues. "Both debaters were heavily armed with facts, but I gave Mr Shaw the edge because he was more specific on matters relating to the management of the economy," said Anderson.

Daway, on the other hand, said he wasn't very impressed by the debate as he felt very little new information came out of it. However, he found favour with the plan by the PNP to stimulate short term job creation through JEEP.

Daway added that both Phillips and Shaw did everything to ensure that what they said was politically correct.

"Unless you have something so dynamic that you can crush somebody with it, you wouldn't want to expose yourself to too much scrutiny. That's basically what happened in that debate.

"I believe the strong points for Mr Shaw was the question asked about FINSAC (Financial Sector Adjustment Company)," which Daway felt was not properly handled by Phillips.

Daway also expressed surprise at the revelation that the finance minister had spent $11 billion dollars on the purchase of buses for the Jamaica Urban Transit Company, without first seeking Cabinet approval.

"As an economist, the answer I got from Mr Shaw insulted my intelligence. An opportunity arrived and he just took it, he had no time to go to Parliament with it. You can't speak one thing from one side of your mouth and on the other side you talk something else," said Daway, in reference to the finance minister. For this economist, the debate on economic and financial matters was won by Dr Phillips.

John Jackson believed both men did a fairly good job apart from moments when they appeared unsure.

"They came with the messages that they wanted to get out," he said.

"In terms of looking on, the uninitiated would believe it was a close debate, but I took a different approach as I document the responses to each question. Phillips, he threw out accusations without any bankable proposal to support what he was saying. In other words you can't talk about mismanagement without looking factually at the conditions that existed," said Jackson. Like Anderson, he says the debate was won by Shaw.