Public-Sector Workers to Debate Reparations and the Death Penalty in Competition Finals on June 7

Finalists in the 2023 Public Sector Debate Competition will take on the subjects of reparations and the death penalty when they meet in the grand finale on Wednesday, June 7, at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

The Jamaica Customs Agency and the Victoria Jubilee Hospital will face off for third place at 10 a.m., debating the moot, ‘Be it Resolved that the Push for Reparations from former Colonial Powers to Caribbean States is Justifiable’.

The battle for winner of the competition will see the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service (MoFPS) go up against the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) at 12 noon, debating the moot, ‘Be it Resolved that the Death Penalty has No Place in a Modern Jamaica’.

Communication Lead at the Transformation Implementation Unit (TIU), Anneke Clarke, told JIS News that if the semifinal matches are anything to go by, then the finals will be “intellectually stimulating and exciting”.

She noted that the moots were strategically selected to draw the subjects to the attention of public-sector workers and enable them to form their own views after they have done their research.

“These are issues on which they should let their voices be heard, but they must do so from an informed position, and the debate competition provides a platform through which they can do that,” Ms. Clarke said.

“We are very proud of how the teams have conducted themselves throughout the competition. I commend the teams for applying themselves and demonstrating that they can take on issues which may vary with their personal views, but were able to mount arguments; that’s the nature of debate,” she added.

Meanwhile, Captain of the Finance Ministry’s Debate Team, Pedroy Garvey, told JIS News that being in the finals is a good feeling, having lost their first match in the competition.

“I told my teammates when we lost that, just like Argentina losing the first match in the World Cup and going on to win it, that is the approach we are taking. Here we are at the finals, and I am proud,” Mr. Garvey said.

For her part, Captain of the JIS team, Peta-Gay Hodges, shared that advancing to the competition’s final means a lot to them, following their third-place finish in the inaugural staging in 2019.

“It was an emotional moment; we’ve waited four years for this. Being one of the teams from 2019, we felt it absolutely important to come back, and to go one step further to the final is exhilarating,” Ms. Hodges said.

Both teams commended the organisers of the competition, noting that the quality has been exceptional and that it afforded them the opportunity to, not just contribute to meaningful discourse, albeit through debates, but to forge friendships and bonds within the public sector.

The Public Sector Debate Competition is being organised by the TIU with support from the Jamaican Association for Debating and Empowerment (JADE). The winners will share in prizes totalling approximately $2.5 million.

Families, friends, colleagues and other well-wishers of the teams are being encouraged to show their support in person at the Jamaica Conference Centre, or watch the televised version on TVJ on Monday, June 12 at 8:30 p.m.