KAMINA Johnson Smith, Pearnel Charles Jr, and Matthew Samuda of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) will face off tonight against Damion Crawford, Sophia Frazer Binns, and Raymond Pryce of the People’s National Party (PNP) in the first of what is expected to be three titanic clashes.

The other debates will pit a JLP team of Fayval Williams, Christopher Tufton, and Dana Morris Dixon against a PNP team of Julian Robinson, Peter Bunting, and Kisha Anderson, on the economy next Tuesday, while JLP Leader Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness and PNP President Mark Golding will clash in the leaders’ debate next Thursday.

Organised by the Jamaica Debates Commission (JDC) the clashes provide another opportunity for the two major political parties to sway undecided voters, days before the September 3 General Election.

Both parties have indicated that their teams are ready for what could be a key to attracting the scores of undecided Jamaicans.

“The PNP team has been in training; in fact, we trained a core of persons for the social debate, and then we picked that team. We easily could have fielded two teams to debate the JLP.

“We have been training for a month. Our people are ready; we have put out our manifesto, we have a document from which we can speak; we have a platform of commitments which we can speak to,” Colin Campbell, PNP representative at the JDC, told the Jamaica Observer.

“We go into the debate tomorrow night [Saturday] without the JLP having said anything about policies. I really don’t know what they are going to be debating. They’ve been in office for 10 years; they will probably say [something about] some of the things that they have done but that’s not the purpose of the debates. The 2025 debates are about putting forward ideas for the next election.

“So we go into this debate with the JLP having not put a sentence on the table. I guess we will just have to deal with that, but the issue of our preparation cannot be doubted. We’re fully prepared, we’re ready, and we’re looking forward to the debate,” added Campbell.

In the meantime, JLP Campaign Chairman Dr Christopher Tufton has expressed confidence that the party has the better teams going into the debates.

“Our teams are not just a function of individuals, our teams are teams that have had the opportunity to provide leadership and have been the force behind this achievement document [unveiled at recent press conference], whether directly through portfolio responsibilities or indirectly through supporting the rest of Government.

“Therefore, we believe that they are in a very good position, the best position actually, to articulate around these achievements and why Jamaica is better off under the Jamaica Labour Party,” Tufton told a media briefing on Thursday.

“So we’re confident, comfortable. We [are] not taking it lightly, we’re not being complacent, and we’re preparing — so we are looking forward to the debates,” added Tufton.

Meanwhile, the unusual team debate on the economy continues to trigger arguments.

In the past the debate on the economy was been between the finance minister and the Opposition spokesperson on the portfolio.

But, at a press conference on Tuesday, JDC Chairman Brian Schmidt told journalists that over the 23 years since the debates began, the one on the economy has been the weakest. He said post-debate surveys showed team debates were most popular.

Meanwhile, Campbell said while the PNP did not support a team debate on the economy, it ended up adjusting its position, “after the JLP enthusiastically grabbed the chance for the economy to be debated by a crowd”.

Kamina Johnson Smith

Pryce

On Friday Campbell told the
Observer that, “maybe the JLP will regret that they chose the team format for the debate on the economy”.

With questions being asked about Anderson, the third member of the PNP’s team to debate economic issues, Campbell said she is in politics but is not a politician.

According to Campbell, Anderson has worked in many of the large corporations in Jamaica and is currently the CEO of a listed company.

“We thought that she brought a unique private sector perspective to the debate, and that’s why she is on our team,” Campbell said.

Crawford

Charles Jr

Samuda

Frazer Binns