Corruption, garrison politics and the question of whether Jamaica can achieve prosperity if it continues on its present course dominated last night’s final televised political debate.

The debate featured Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller defending the performance of her People’s National Party (PNP) Government over the past 18 years, while leader of the Opposition, Bruce Golding, insisted that there was no hope for Jamaica unless his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is given the opportunity to change the present course.

Golding said that he had a “passion” for the ability of Jamaica to achieve great things.

“That’s is why I am so embarrassed when I see countries like St Kitts, Grenada, countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, countries that have been through trauma that we have never encountered. growing two, three times as fast as Jamaica. I feel ashamed,” Golding said in his final statement.

“What is it that they have, that we don’t have. I believe that Jamaica can do much better than it has been doing,” he said. “We can do much better than we are doing, but we are not going to do any better if we refuse to change course. We are going to change that course. We are going to lead the process of changing that course.”

Simpson Miller responded that the country had no time to waste on experiments. She claimed that the JLP would never be able to finance the promises contained in its manifesto and that the country had no time to listen to negatives.

“This new Jamaica has no time to waste on wild experiments,” she said. “The cost of the promises of the Jamaica Labour Party, they will never, ever be able to fund it. So, for me, I am going to be going full speed ahead. The programmes are there in the manifesto of the People’s National Party to provide hope. There is no time to listen to the negative voices.”

The debate started with both leaders having to defend themselves against a question about the fact that they both represent inner-city or “garrison” communities.

Golding denied that he had ever distanced himself from garrisons. He said that he had renounced “garrison-type politics” 10 years ago, and that the JLP manifesto included proposals to deal with the problem.

Pressed as to whether it created a credibility issue, Golding admitted that there were challenges in confronting the process of transformation but pointed out that it has been part of the political culture for many years and should be confronted honestly.

Simpson Miller said that efforts were being made within her constituency to ensure one man, one vote.

The issue of corruption lingered throughout the debate, with Golding insisting that the Government was not serious about controlling it, while Simpson Miller suggested that the will of the PNP Government to deal with the issue was evidenced by the imprisonment of a former JLP minister in the 1990s.

But Golding insisted that if the Government was serious it would have provided the Corruption Prevention Commission with the staff and facilities to deal with corruption in the public sector, but preferred, instead, to fully staff and equip the Financial Intelligence Division of the Ministry of Finance.

Golding said this shows that the priority of the Government was to collect taxes rather than to reduce corruption.

In answer to persistent questions as to how he would finance the new proposals in his party’s manifesto, Golding reiterated the argument that the funding was premised on the basis of an economy growing at six to seven per cent.

However, he insisted that it would not take five years to achieve that level of growth under a JLP government because “that’s something that we are going to have to fast-track”.

Prime Minister Simpson Miller sought to shoot down the criticisms levelled at her within her own party last year as she challenged for its leadership, stating that those critics were now soundly favouring her leadership.

On the issue of why Phillip Paulwell has remained in the Cabinet despite numerous scandals and mistakes, Simpson Miller reiterated her confidence in him.

“The entire country can agree with me that this young man took a new ministry, a difficult ministry, and he revolutionised the telecoms sector, worked very hard on the diversification of our energy sector,” she said.

The debate marked the end of a series which began on Wednesday and involved social issues, financial issues and, finally, the leaders. It was staged by the Jamaica Debates Commission.