Harold Malcolm, Contributor

I am sure no matter how the debate had gone last week Saturday night, most supporters of the People's National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) would have remained firm as to how they will be voting come August 27. For them, it was simply a good show of who had the better leader.

The real purpose of the debate then was to tap into that crucial market of undecided/uncommitted voters, to ensure that they buy into the policy position of the respective parties. The Gleaner's headline on Sunday said it well: 'Bruce, hands down.' No one can deny that Bruce won the debate. No one can deny that he had a better grasp of the issues, a better style and control at the podium and by far looked much more prime ministerial than Mrs. Simpson Miller.

I will not fault Mrs. Miller for droppingan occasional 'h' or mispronouncing words. For, while that is important, I am more concerned with substance, not form. Unfortunately, she fell down on both. She dares to chide Mr. Golding for supposedly making promises, yet was unable to say where she got the money to fund free health care for children. If she could check, as she said she did, with the Finance Minister and the Minister of Health and find the money, maybe she should look a little more closely and she could perhaps find the money for free tuition at the secondary level. Maybe if she were to stamp out corruption as she promised to do, we could save enough to provide free health care for all our people. And, just maybe, if she fired Minister Paulwell, she could retain more credibility than she actually thinks she does.

If the only thing Mr. Golding is guilty of that the PNP can find is that he left the JLP in 1995 and came back in 2002, then I am not troubled. Certainly, I trust more a man who is prepared to leave a gold-paved way to the throne because of his beliefs and only returns when those in the party were prepared to accommodate them. If this is not a man you can trust, I don't know who is.

The PNP is also trying to show Mr. Golding saying that he once associated with gunmen, in an attempt to cast aspersion on his character. Mr. Golding has ignored this, and rightly so, but the question is: what does his statement reveal?

There is nothing to suggest that he actively engaged, aided or abetted them in any nefarious activity. It simply means that when one is involved in a constituency with what is deemed garrison-like features, there will be persons of various ilk with whom one will associate, most times unknowingly. Can Mrs. Simpson Miller, who rules over such a constituency, denounce my statement as inaccurate? What has she done to detribalise our politics?

I suspect Portia is a loveable person. Jamaicans like the warmth she brings to them when she hugs and kisses them, and that is fine. That is her style and no one can fault her forit. The real issue is, has she laid out a road map for the development of the country? If the debate were anything to go by, if we had hoped that it would offer us a glimpse or synopsis of her vision, Jamaicans at home and abroad were left seriously disappointed.

Harold Bruce Malcolm is publications director of the JLP affiliate, Generation 2000 (G2K).