The Alexander Brown Hall Literary and Debating Society have in an open letter announced their decision to withdraw from this and future editions of JawWar.
"Asides the fact that the we lost in the most shocking turn of events, and while
we do not and cannot claim to be judges in the matter, it is beyond clear to us
that there is no reality where we were outrightly the third worst constituencies
for the night. Any random observer from the night can attest to that," the letter stated.
"The Society considers it unexplainable and painfully ridiculous that the
Literary and Debating Society (TLDS) do not see the importance of reviewing the
draconic, irrational and illogical stance that constituencies cannot get to see the
judging sheets to assess why and how they lost, despite the fact that this is
nowhere in the TLDS constitution. Even if only to find succour. Especially
considering how much time, efforts and resources speakers have to invest into
this competition. We do not believe that this helps constituencies and speakers in
any way."
They further revealed that they were aware that past TLDS presidents have cited article 5 section 8 of the
TLDS constitution to beguile constituencies as defence for not showing the judging sheets. That section
actually says “the decision of the judges shall be final and cannot be reviewed”.
No part in that section stops anyone from seeing the judging sheets. Nothing
about having a look at the sheets is tantamount to changing the finality of the
judges' decision or reviewing it.
According to them, "it is ridiculous that the TLDS got a time keeper who did not understand how
timing works. One who started timing once speakers got on stage and not
immediately they started speaking. We would not like to even go into the
ineptitude of the TLDS as regards the judges selection for the night."
"Amongst many things, all our constituencies —
ABH, Clinical Sciences & Dentistry — after having duly considered all factors have
decided to pull out of this edition and future editions of Jaw War."
"The Society concedes that (their decision) may be interpreted as unsportsmanlike,
rude, unbecoming or whatever else. It may come off as us just being sore losers.
Yes, we agree. We agree because, not only do we perfectly know that those
terms do not describe us, we also know that it does not matter if anyone holds
those opinions, in the grand scheme of things."
"The Society would like to state, for the avoidance of all doubts, that we are not
interested in having any meetings to discuss our decision. We shall not be
available to address it. The TLDS Vice President already told us that it was not her
business if we were disgruntled, we consider that response enough for us," the statement concluded.
