It was a display of pure genius, and excellence on Tuesday evening at the UWI Open Campus as students of the Dominica State College debated each other. A battle of the sexes some may call it as proponents, Tarrie Anselm and Chalika Vidal took on opponents, Ashfred Norris and Kieyah Lawrence on the topic, ‘Sustainable manufacturing is the key to economic development in Dominica’.
Tarrie took on the task of speaking first for the ladies. She began their discourse by affirming that the manufacturing sector creates jobs, forges foreign alliances and is a connector and driver for all other sectors. Further, Chalika explained that this industry births a forward-thinking and innovative generation who are able to transfer these attitudes to all areas of life in order to solve problems thus allowing us to grow as a country. She also said that manufacturing allows an economy to be self-sufficient and because of the flexibility and robustness of this sector, it is sure to succeed. While the ladies were articulate and convincing, they were no match for the men.
The very debonair Ashfred took the podium impersonating Curtis Matthew and presenting a DBS news report. In it, he proclaimed that once again the manufacturing sector was plagued with heavy debt and as such on the decline. He took off from there disagreeing that there is no one key to economic development. He cited that without a constant supply of raw materials, countries would be forced to import resulting in more debt. Kieyah continued the defense for the men, arguing that it is unwise to invest heavily in the manufacturing sector due to the common vulnerabilities of the island and that we have seen what heavy reliance on one sector has done to us over the years. He said that there are too many risks involved in having an economy driven by a single industry.
Moreover, Dominica is an example of such having moved from sugar to bananas, then to diversified Agriculture, on to Tourism and now to the CBI program. The rebuttal was another show of brilliance and charisma as Tarrie and Ashford went head to head.
In the end, the men claimed victory with 232 points while the ladies got 205 points. Ashfred Norris’ charisma, eloquence, and style won him best speaker. The debate was moderated by Carlton Languedoc and judged by Kimone Joseph, Michael Augustine, and Lester Riviere.
