Unity at Brac Chamber Forum

(CNS): Although both independent candidates, Lyndon Martin and Maxine McCoy Moore, have noted on the campaign trail the discord between incumbents Juliana O’Connor-Connolly and Moses Kirkconnell, and the tension between O’Connor-Connolly and Martin during the last election was well known (even though they were on the same UDP ticket), at times during the Chamber Candidates’ District Forum on the Brac Friday, 23 April, it was hard to tell whether the four candidates for the two Sister Islands seats were on different teams or a unified force, since they all appeared to largely agree on almost all of the questions put to them and the event remained cordial throughout.

Though there were no questions specifically on Cayman Airways, all the candidates noted at some point during the event the need for improvement in the air service. All said they would take pay cuts as MLAs. They would not control the type of vehicles imported into the Sister Islands but would provide incentives for people to bring in environmentally friendly cars. All were agreed on the importance of diversifying tourism in the Sister Islands. All four were adamant that civil servants should not pay health insurance, and there was general agreement on need for small business development.

All four said they would be willing to take a Cabinet seat if it was offered to them and that it should include responsibility for District Administration, with the two independents saying it should be enshrined in the constitution that one representative from the Sister Islands sat in Cabinet.

Kirkconnell said he had experience with Cayman Airways and business as a whole, and also had an interest in the Development Bank and what that can do for the community. O’Connor-Connolly, the only one with ministerial experience, noted that she had been promised a ministry in a UDP administration. She said she would be willing to try new areas for a ministry position, citing health, sports, youth and education.

Martin said he would be willing and able to accept a ministry, particularly in the areas of youth and education as he had experience as chairman of the Education Board for CB&LC, had sat on the Education Council, and had experience as a lecturer. He also had an interest in rehabilitation and community service. McCoy-Moore said she had always been a strong advocate for education and had served as the Little Cayman Education Service PTA President.

Three of the candidates were satisfied with the recovery progress after Paloma, though O’Connor-Connolly said that initially she was not satisfied at the “pace of revenue” from the government, though now she was. In a bi-partisan gesture, she said, “Both Moses and myself put 110% in the Paloma recovery process.”

Martin said he “differed slightly” and said the initial progress was very slow and even now, six months after the hurricane, the Brac was still not open for business and hotels still not operational. As well as emphasizing the need to make sure the outside world was kept updated, he said this had been the ideal opportunity, while hotels are closed, to elevate and improve the road on the south west of the island so the tourism sector would not be prone to flooding.

Martin called for the immediate passing of the National Conservation Bill when answering a question on the environment, the most strident answer of the four candidates, though all agreed that not enough was being done to protect it and it was an essential part of the tourism product for the Sister Islands. Martin also noted the need to “change basic human behavior” and introduce a recycle programme, an point echoed by McCoy-Moore, who also said she would immediately move the proposed landfill on the Bluff.

Answering a question from the Cayman Islands Financial Services Association, Martin said that only after the industry as a whole recovered and was in good health could it “widen its wings” to the Sister Islands. Once the industry recovered there could be particular concessions to attract business to the Sister Islands, such as reduce company formation fee, and a niche market could be found for the Brac.

Kirkconnell said it was important to understand that the Cayman Islands was not on the OEDC blacklist and a taskforce could be set up to look for ways to attract businesses from jurisdictions that were on the blacklist. He also promoted the idea of back offices in the Brac, starting with government, who should lead by example. He said government must open a company registry office here and improve air service to promote business.

O’Connor-Connolly said the first task of Cabinet would be to re-establish the requisite partnership with the financial services sector – “the experts”. Among other improvements we need to "learn art of negotiations with the Mother Country”, for which there should be "a tripartite of financial partners, NGos and government themselves” to go to London. As for the Sister Islands, she said we should “retool our people” with scholarships for the financial services.

In a discussion on the most critical areas for the district, Martin said he would start by changing the government system of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, so that ministry decisions were made at the local level covering all aeas of government, echoing an earlier statement by Kirkconnell that the Minster of District Administration should be resident on the Sister Islands.

While the other three candidates stated education, learning the Cayman heritage and more sports as their vision for the youth, Martin said we need to stop judging the young and forcing them into a mold of what we would like them to be.