Dear Editor,

The Jamaica Debates Commission deserves commendation for staging the three political debates running up to the December 29 general election.

The debates are an important feature of the democratic process and give the population and the diaspora an opportunity to better decipher the policies and thinking of our two major political parties and their respective leaders. I am, however, disappointed that the respective debaters and the questioners have collectively missed some key and pressing issues.

It escapes me how the much-touted debates could have ignored the issue of the role of the diaspora in light of the fact that so many Jamaicans reside and operate outside of Jamaica. The diaspora represents a significant financial and human resource base that should be mobilised for economic growth and national development.

The irresponsibility and underperformance of our young males are major crises facing the country, yet no effort was made to treat with those issues. Similarly, the important issues of constitutional reform, food security, sports, the environment, the community and rural development were absent.

The upcoming general election is not the only background to the debates. The world economic crisis, our upcoming 50th anniversary of Independence, and Vision 2030 are all part of the context in which the debates were staged. I am not sure that the debaters and the questioners were seized of these realities.

Orville Plummer

oaplummer@yahoo.com