PNP criticises JLP for failing to release manifesto ahead of election debates

On the eve of the first election debate, the People’s National Party (PNP) has criticised the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) for not releasing its manifesto ahead of the debate, accusing the governing party of avoiding accountability to the Jamaican people.

At a press conference at the PNP’s Old Hope Road headquarters on Thursday, campaign spokesperson Cleveland Tomlinson said Jamaicans are being deprived of a fair comparison of policies ahead of the debates.

The PNP launched its manifesto last week.

The JLP is scheduled to release its manifesto on Sunday at its mass rally in St James.

“We think that this is woefully unacceptable. A debate is an opportunity to compare policy prescriptions and ideas. They do not want to answer the critical questions with respect to the specifics about their plans for the next five years,” Tomlinson said.

He argued that the JLP’s failure to publish its manifesto risks reducing the debates to political showmanship.

“The People’s National Party rejects this development — heading into the first of three planned political debates without the opportunity to access the policy prescriptions from the Jamaica Labour Party,” Tomlinson declared.

“What this will do, on their side, is reduce the debate to a debate of theatre — with just words put together by the JLP that will not give the people an opportunity to assess,” he added.

The first of three debates between the two parties is scheduled for tomorrow night.

Tomlinson also repeated the PNP’s rejection of criticisms by the JLP, which questioned how the party plans to fund the projects and programmes outlined in its manifesto.

He stated that the PNP will operate within the national budget.

Tomlinson argued that it was the PNP that put Jamaica on the path of fiscal management with the implementation of fiscal rules.

He emphasized that it was the PNP that set the framework for fiscal responsibility and that the party will remain committed to proper management of the country’s economic affairs.

Campaign spokesperson Donna Scott-Mottley also pushed back against the JLP’s criticism of the PNP's manifesto.

She argued that the JLP’s failure to release a manifesto highlights yet another failure by the party to deliver to Jamaicans.

She accused the JLP of criticising PNP ideas and then turning around and implementing them.

The spokesperson also accused the JLP of failing to deliver on promises made in previous manifestos, citing fixed election dates and term limits as examples.

The PNP plans to launch what it calls its "manifesto lite," which will summarise the main points of the full document.

- Ruddy Mattison

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