(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has agreed to a debate with Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley.
Chief executive officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Debates Commission (TTDC), Catherine Kumar, made the disclosure yesterday following a workshop for journalists hosted by the Commission, the United States Embassy and the Trinidad and Tobago Broadcasters and Publishers’ Association (TTPBA) at the Embassy’s Briar Place office.
The biggest challenge facing the TTDC at this time for “The Leaders’ Debate” lies in finding a moderator who is agreeable to all, Kumar said. The moderator must be seen as one who is impartial and knowledgeable and both parties must agree to the person chosen, she added.
The Commission is also set to meet with representatives of both candidates to agree on the rules of the event, Kumar said.
Persad-Bissessar is bidding to retain the Prime Ministership after the next general elections, due this year, while Rowley is vying for the opportunity to sit in the chair for the first time.
“As you know they have both already said that, yes, they would debate,” Kumar said.
An attempt in 2013 to set up a face-off between the pair failed to materialise when Persad-Bissessar announced her decision to allow leader of the Congress of the People (COP), Prakash Ramadhar, to represent the People’s Partnership coalition against Rowley.
Rowley then withdrew his participation, saying that as Leader of the Opposition he expected to face no less an officer than the leader of government, Persad-Bissessar.
The latest ministrations of the Commission have seen Rowley again giving his consent to a debate but his handlers in the People’s National Movement (PNM), of which he is the leader, have made it clear that he will not entertain anyone but the Prime Minister.
In 2010, the proverbial shoe was somewhat on the other foot, when then prime minister Patrick Manning refused to enter into a public debate with Persad-Bissessar, then a prospector for the Office of the Prime Minister.
Rules redefined
The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce, which formed the Debates Commission that year, had gone on to appeal to Manning to reconsider the debate, which was first proposed by then United National Congress (UNC) chairman Jack Warner, when that party launched its campaign for the 2010 general elections.
Asked yesterday whether there was room this time around for Persad-Bissessar to pull out of the commitment, Kumar said that from a legal standpoint, after the 2013 fallout, it would be “difficult” to say that the Prime Minister’s decision to decline had been a “pullout”.
Kumar said the Commission has learned from that experience in that the rules now define an alliance more broadly and specifies that the person who has been declared the leader of that alliance, is the leader who is expected to appear at the Leaders’ Debate.
The Commission is engaged in readying itself, Kumar said, including having appropriate venues available even though it is operating in a country where “we don’t know when elections will be called”.
Kumar said it was “very important” to the public and added that recent electoral polls have shown a significant number of “undecideds”.
While there were those who would vote for their particular party “no matter what”, Kumar said, “we have lots of undecideds and I think the debates will help them in making that critical decision”.
Asked whether there was room for debates to be held outside of the election seasons, Kumar said the events were “expensive” to pull off, in addition to the organisational work included.
The fact was, she said, that during each five-year period, there were several elections events,including Tobago House of Assembly (THA) elections and Local Government elections and therefore several opportunities for debate.
Questions being gathered
The Commission has already begun to gather questions for the big debate being planned and there will be the opportunity for questions to be posted on social media sites like Facebook, Kumar said.
Key speaker at yesterday’s workshop was Martin Slutsky, an international expert on debates and executive producer with the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) in the United States, whose participation was sponsored by the US Embassy.
