DEGNAN
Alessandro Boyd, Gleaner Writer
CHRISTOPHER DEGNAN, public affairs officer at the United States (US) Embassy in Kingston, has noted that both Jamaica and the US need to address challenges that the vulnerable populations who live in both societies face.
"Short-changing any individual or group undermines the entire society. Freedom to discuss issues of vulnerable populations and how leadership impacts any such population in a society is a tribute to the democratic values of Jamaica," Degnan said during The Great Leadership Debate, held at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) last week.
The Great Leadership Debate is a tertiary- level competition which uses the parliamentary debate style to discuss issues that are pertinent to national development, traditionally between the UWI, Mona and the University of Technology (UTech). This year's edition has been expanded to include the debating societies at UWI Western Jamaica Campus and The Mico University College.
Two four-member teams
The four institutions were divided into two four-member teams, one which represented the prime minister and his team, the other was the opposition leader and her team.
The moot was 'This house will prosecute employers for all forms of discrimination'.
Chad Zamore, who is from UTech, played the role of the prime minister. He said the fact that we live in a very diverse society, it would be unfair for the employer to discriminate.
"Everybody contributes to the productivity of our society and we feel that it is unfair for an employer to discriminate against his employees," he said.
Zamore added: "It is unfair for an employer to determine who can be productive, or not, based on sex, gender, ethnic group or any other matter."
alessandro.boyd@gleanerjm.com