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BT dump protestors urge voters to avoid UDP/ PNA
(CNS): The group of district activists fighting to prevent the relocation of the George Town dump in Bodden Town are asking voters to pick from all of the PPM candidates and some independents on polling day as they have committed to keeping the district dump free. Alain Beiner, chairman of the Coalition to Keep BT Dump Free, said his group had made the proposal by Dart Realty Cayman Ltd to place a new landfill in Midland Acres a major campaign issue but not all of the candidates had been clear about their opposition to the plan. In order to protect the district, he urged voters to only vote for candidates who have unequivocally committed to keeping the district dump-free.
Beiner pointed to all of the Progressives — Osbourne Bodden, Anthony Eden, Wayne Panton and Al Suckoo — as well as independent candidates Charles Clifford and Gregg Anderson, who have been heavily involved in the campaign against the BT dump proposal. In addition, the campaigners cited two other independent candidates, Arnold Berry and Vincent Frederick, as hopefuls in the district who also say they are opposed to the relocation.
Although Frederick was also a founding member of the activist group, he left the coalition ahead of the election campaign, having indicated to the membership he was considering running on a UDP ticket, even though the party is still committed to the Dart proposal and has not ruled out relocating the dump in the district.
“We’ve succeeded in making Dart’s proposed dump deal a major issue in the election campaign. And, given the widespread opposition to needlessly establishing a waste management facility in Bodden Town (BT), it’s no surprise that many candidates have ‘jumped on the anti-dump bandwagon’, including a few who were previously key dump proponents,” he said. However the group’s leader, who owns the local award winning hotel in the area, The Turtle Nest Inn, queried how committed all of them really were to protecting the district.
“Coalition supporters are concerned by the vague opposition of several candidates to moving the dump,” added Arlene Whittaker, another member of the coalition, and a Midland Acres resident.
“We fear that many may just be after our votes," she added. “Our supporters want to know who is really opposed to putting a waste management facility in Bodden Town, regardless of what it’s called, regardless of how the proposed landfill may be ‘attractively packaged’ with promises of adding recycling, waste-to-energy, etc., whether immediately or ‘sometime in the future’. Which candidates can we count on if they’re elected?”
Whittaker said an e-mail message was sent to each candidate in BT who has expressed “credible” opposition to the Dart dump deal.
“We have excluded any candidate who has been complicit in the dump deal,” she said, which meant that the question was not put to candidates from parties that have been promoting the dump deal — the two UDP and the two PNA candidates running in the district.
In the message sent Wednesday, the coalition asked, “Do you promise the people of Bodden Town that, if elected, you would vote against any proposal in the LA which involves establishing a waste management facility in Bodden Town?”
In response, all of the Progressives along with the coalition’s three former members as well as Berry all responded with a clear ‘Yes”, Whittaker stated.
“These candidates have given us their promise,” she revealed. “If you feel, as we do, that a dump would be disastrous for BT, and that the GT dump can and must be fixed where it is, these are the candidates we can count on to keep our district dump free.”
Since October 2010 the group has been campaigning hard on this single-issue and the group said it has continued on as a non-political community organization open to anyone who opposed moving the GT landfill to BT, regardless of their political affiliation or opinion.
Beiner said that, given that position, the group could not endorse any particular candidate or political party as it had no common position on any other issue or a mandate to advise the electorate who to vote for. But he said the group does have a mandate to challenge the candidates, to present the facts, and to list those candidates who are clearly committed to the fight against a landfill in the district.
PNA focus fight on UDP
(CNS): With just over two weeks to go before the general elections, the PNA candidates in West Bay are focusing the fight on their former UDP colleagues. Since taking to the hustings, the incumbent Cabinet members are concentrating their attack not just on the man they helped oust from office but the candidates running with him in the district, where for the first time in many years the result is far from certain. So far, both Cline Glidden and Rolston Anglin have said very littleagainst the two independent candidates or the two running on the C4C ticket or even the PPM team but instead have attacked McKeeva Bush and his running mates for cowardice.
Anglin told a crowd in West Bay of around 200 people last week that Bernie Bush had told him that he believed he and his Cabinet colleagues had done the right thing when they voted with the opposition leader to oust the former premier from the country’s top political job during last December’s no confidence motion. Anglin went on to accuse Bernie Bush of running on the UDP ticket in the belief that he could get elected that way.
The new UDP West Bay hopeful has ran in several elections as an independent but despite managing to get almost 40% of the vote in the district in 2009 and more than 36% in 2005, Bernie Bush has persistently failed to make the top four in the district as a direct result of the power of the UDP in West Bay. Following Anglin and Glidden’s decision to help oust the UDP leader from office, Bernie Bush has now joined McKeeva Bush and Capt Eugene, as well as newcomer Velma Hewitt, in the hope that the continuing popularity of the former premier in the district will finally carry him to the Legislative Assembly.
Describing Bernie Bush as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing”, Anglin said last week at the West Bay PNA meeting that the former Pirate’s Week director had admitted that he would run with his namesake as that way he could get elected. “That’s the type of person running with the UDP,” he added, telling the crowd to reject the UDP at the polls as none of them had the country’s interest at heart.
In an ironic twist, after some twelve years in the McKeeva Bush camp, Anglin accused those running on the UDP ticket of being cowards as he said Bush could only work with people who are intimidated and afraid of him. Imploring the people of the district to rid themselves of corruption and fear, he asked the people of West Bay to vote for him and Glidden and stop the “Jamaican style” intimidation that Bush and the UDP had brought to Caymanian politics.
He accused Bush’s supporters of scaring PNA supporters by coming to the meetings and writing names in books. “He has lost it,” the deputy premier said of his long-time political colleague. But headded that the people could count on him and Glidden, as well as the current premier and his Bodden Town running mates, to do the right thing when they were returned to office.
He said that all of the UDP candidates were running with Bush out of convenience and those were not the kind of people the district needed to represent them as they would not do the right thing if returned.
Accusing McKeeva Bush of refusing to follow due process while in office, which has resulted in high levels of unemployment, he said the $10 million of tax payer’s money Bush planned to spend on putting people to work clearing the roadside would do nothing more than make people dependent on him, which he said had been the UDP leader’s long time position. Anglin said that when the people were dependent on Bush, he could always count on their vote.
“We must take Cayman back,” he said, warning people not to follow the UDP call to vote straight as he said that would be voting in the people who fear Bush and line up blindly behind him. He implied other UDP members had supported the decision to remove Bush from office but at the eleventh hour were too afraid and went back to support him.
Anglin also accused Bush of dirty politics and personal attacks in an effort to maintain his West Bay stranglehold. But the West Bay incumbent warned that if it continued then he too could reveal many things about the UDP leader that he would not want public.
With the result in West Bay in real question for the first time in many years, Anglin and Glidden are hopeful that they can still keep their seats, not least because the traditional opposition vote to McKeeva Bush will be split, cancelling the PPM, C4C and independent candidates out. The question will be if Glidden and Anglin can poll enough votes without the pull of Bush, pushing out two of the UDP candidates in what looks to be a race between the new UDP and the former UDP.
PNA hope for coalition
(CNS): Members of the People’s National Alliance are crossing their fingers and hoping they will be part of a coalition on 23 May as they begin their official campaign for re-election. With only five candidates in the political race, Premier Juliana O’Connor Connolly, Deputy Premier Rolston Anglin and Cabinet members Mark Scotland, Dwayne Seymour and Cline Glidden will need to join forces with independents or even their former UDP colleagues if they have any hope of regaining office. So far, however, only the premier has said she would not rule out working with former premier McKeeva Bush in a coalition if the people of Cayman Brac wanted her to serve as a Cabinet minister.
No other members of the PNA have commented yet on how they feel about being part of a new UDP government with Bush at the helm. Given that they supported the motion brought by the opposition and PPM leader Alden McLaughlin that removed the former premier from office, a return to government with him on 23 May would undermine the stand the members of the minority government took following Bush’s arrest and subsequent charge for theft and anti-corruption offences.
Cline Glidden, the least likely to return to a Bush-led government, told CNS Thursday that there were many good independent candidates running in this election. As a result, the PNA, which has used the word Alliance in its name deliberately, will be hoping to form a coalition government with the help of candidates running on the C4C ticket or those that are running on their own platforms. Glidden had intended to leave the political scene at this election and it wasn’t until he joined forces with his PNA colleagues against the former leader that his interest in retaining his West Bay seat was re-ignited.
Getting off to a slow start with the campaign, the members of the minority government will be launching their official bid for political office this week with meetings in Bodden Town on Monday and West Bay on Tuesday. Although no dates have been set for Brac meetings for the PNA, O’Connor-Connolly is campaigning on her own on the island, starting with a rally in Watering Place last Saturday, and is almost certain to be returned. The focus for the new alliance will be on the four men who are facing a much harder battle.
Glidden acknowledged that the situation for him and his West Bay running mate Anglin, as well as his Bodden Town colleagues Mark Scotland and Dwayne Seymour, were much tougher. He explained that, as a result of the PNA’s split from the UDP, their role in the downfall of the UDP administration and the ousting of Cayman’s first premier from office following his arrest last December, the government members have spent the last few weeks engaging in smaller yard meetings, where they could answer direct questions about those events.
“We didn’t feel that we could get up on a formal political platform and start talking about future policies until we had answered voters' questions about the events at the end of last year,” he said. “We felt that was better achieved in smaller settings where people could interact with us, and rather than deliver campaign speeches, we simply let everyone ask questions and we explained why we did and what it all means going forward.”
Since the formation of the PNA, the members have begun distancing themselves from the concept of party, and although both the West Bay candidates and the premier herself were long time party supporters, Rolston Anglin told an audience during last Thursday’s Chamber meeting that the new team, which is not a formally registered party, was formed to move away from party politics, as he said the country is rejecting that system of government.
“The PNA was formed because parties are no longer the answer and as a response to the community's rejection of party politics,” he said, echoing Glidden’s comments about the team being an alliance rather than a political party. He said they would be working with independent candidates to form the next government.
Although holding office and in a position to access the media and the public via the government television channel, the candidates say they are being very careful not to campaign while carrying out their government work. Glidden also said that what may seem like an advantage because of their visibility was also a hindrance.
With no party machinery to take care of their campaign, and each member holding a cabinet post and its related workload, finding time to get on the hustings is not easy. Glidden said that the Cabinet job he and Seymour have held for just a few months may have thrust them further into the limelight but it may also undermine their chances at re-election.
The PNA will be hosting its first major public meeting in Bodden Town by the post office at 7-30pm.
PNA hopeful off the ballot
(CNS): Richard Christian, who was nominated as a People’s National Alliance candidate in Bodden Town, has been dropped from the district’s ballot paper, election officials have confirmed. According to a short statement from the Elections Office, Christian was advised by the district’s returning officer, Ned Solomon, that he is not qualified to be a member of the Legislative Assembly, pursuant to section 62 (1) of the Constitution, after nominations closed last week. This is the section that deals with nationality as Christian is understood to own and use a valid American passport. As this is considered an allegiance to another country, the official has concluded that Christian cannot run and the office said his name was removed from the ballot.
Although Christian appears to be the only nominated candidate whose name has not made it to the ballot sheet, there are still a number of others whose qualification is in question but who have not been challenged by the authorities after discussions with the office.
It is not yet clear whether the clearance from election officials will prevent challenges to more of the candidates, however, especially where questions have been raised about their qualification. Cline Glidden, who also previously held a US passport, has stated that his is no longer valid, removing any possible allegiance to another state. Meanwhile, questions over Tara Rivers’ residency in the seven years prior to Election Day have reportedly been satisfied because she was a student while she was living in the UK, even though she was also working as an associate for a Magic Circle legal firm.
There are understood to be a number of other candidates who refused to sign the Elections Office voluntary survey, although not all of them have issues of eligibility.
With Christian the only casualty so far from Nomination Day, there are now 57 candidates running for office across the six districts. The newly formed PNA, which included Christian with all five incumbent members of Cabinet, is already a man down before their campaign launch.
PNA won’t all back Mac
(CNS): Both Cline Glidden and Mark Scotland have said their position regarding the former premier has not changed and, as a result, they will not help the UDP leader form a government if they are returned to the Legislative Assembly next week. Dwayne Seymour has said that, should he be asked by McKeeva Bush to help him form a government if he were re-elected, he would have to hold a meeting with his constituents to gauge their opinion. The question was asked of the three Cabinet members present at last Thursday’s press briefing, when both Rolston Anglin and Juliana O’Connor-Connolly were absent. So far, the only other non-PPM candidates to publicly declare they would not support Bush are the two independents from the eastern districts and Charles Clifford running in Bodden Town.
In a previous press briefing the current premier stated that, should she be the one MLA that could give the UDP a majority, she, like Seymour, would consult her constituents before making a decision to support a new UDP administration, given her part in the ousting of Bush last December.
Rolston Anglin has not yet directly addressed the question. However, his recent performance on the hustings would suggest that going back to the UDP fold would prove considerably more difficult for the deputy premier than it would O’Connor-Connolly as she has made few criticisms and said very little about the performance of her former party boss.
The PNA Cabinet has always stated that Bush should have voluntarily stepped aside after his arrest until he had dealt with his legal matters as they believed the country would be damaged with such a cloud of suspicion over its leader. After his refusal to leave office, despite the gravity of the situation, the five former members of the UDP joined forces with the opposition benches and ousted Bush from government. Since then, Bush has been charged with 11 criminal counts, including theft and abuse of office.
However, the former leader is still running for office in the 2013 national poll at the helm of a reformed UDP, fielding twelve candidates and still looking like he could get as many as seven seats. If the remaining 11 are then divided between the PNA, independents and the PPM, Bush, like the opposition leader, will be looking to cobble together an administration. In such circumstances it is not inconceivable that Bush would be ready to forgive and forget the actions of his former colleagues and again court their support.
Anglin, Glidden, Scotland, Seymour and O’Connor-Connolly are all obvious targets for the former premier but with the exception of O’Connor-Connolly and possibly Seymour, the rest appear to have burned their UDP bridges.
Scotland said that he had demonstrated his position when he asked the then premier to step down in December. “My position remains the same,” he said Thursday, adding that his support for Bush was lost then.
Glidden also stated that he would not back Bush in government as he had made a decision that for him to remain in post was not in best interests of the country after he had been arrested, regardless of guilt or innocence. Glidden said this was because he chose the Cayman Islands over friendship.
“Since then nothing has happened to improve the situation as he has now been charged and will go to court after the election," he said. If I made a decision in December after his arrest now he has been charged it is obvious that nothing would change my mind that would make me support him being premier before he is cleared of these charges. I will not go back to the position that I found unacceptable last year because of the election," Glidden added.
Aware that the five members of the PNA are not in a position to form the next government and are now essential lumped into the independent group, the three men told the press last Thursday that they still hoped to be part of a coalition which is why they had used the term ‘alliance’ in their team’s name and pointed to the C4C as their potential allies.
“The five of us can’t form a government by ourselves and we hope to be in a coalition and who becomes the premier will be decided after the election,” Scotland said, as he pointed to what he described as the strong foundation and experience of the PNA. He said the coalition candidates don’t have any experience in government but the mix between the two groups would serve the country well. “We all feel we have experience and will be an asset to another grouping especially a group with lesser experience.”
Although denying that they were in formal talks with the coalition candidates about the strategy or the formation of the next government, it was clear that the PNA want to be returned with five C4C candidates, who they hope will then hand the PNA cabinet the reins of power.
“There have been no discussions about strategy but we have had talks with all members and accepted that there will be a coalition or an alliance after May 22nd,” Glidden said. “If I have been elected I commit to forming the best government possible,” he added.
Last week the two independent candidates, Ezzard Miller (NS) and Arden McLean (EE), both categorically stated that they would not assist the UDP to form a government even if Bush is not premier or even in the Cabinet. Miller said he would not support a government with even a single UDP member in it.
Charles Clifford, who is running on an independent platform in Bodden Town, has also stated emphatically that he would not help Bush or any UDP or former UDP members to form a government.
So far, when asked, however, none of the C4C candidates or other independents have ruled out working with the former premier or the UDP. Despite asking several of the coalition and other independents, of those that have answered CNS none have said 'no' to the idea of forming a government with Bush as premier.
Bush will still be hoping for a clean majority for the UDP when the final result comes in on 23 May, but with his declining fortunes, seeking support from outside his party could prove difficult. However, with so many coalition and independent candidates still on the fence about offering him support, a UDP coalition is still possible, even with some PNA candidates refusing to back him.
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UDP no longer ‘united’
(CNS): The United Democratic Party (UDP) will be no more when the opposition party ratifies a change in its name at a planned party conference in the New Year, party officials said. The new Cayman Islands Democratic Party (CDP) has been registered under the Elections Law (2013 revision) as a political party and it will replace the UDP, which was formed in 2001 by the opposition leader and former premier, McKeeva Bush, when the infamous coup overturned Kurt Tibbett’s government and introduced the era of party politics. However, officials said Wednesday that the re-naming of the party was in response to public encouragement to modernize.
The UDP had a rough ride in 2013, starting the year with a cloud hanging over its future following the party split after Bush was arrested and charged on allegations of fraud, corruption and misconduct. A no confidence motion after his arrest in the LA saw the fall of the UDP government but five former UDP members retained the Cabinet under the People’s National Alliance banner until the general elections in May, sending Bush and three of his remaining UDP members to the crowded opposition benches.
The split did neither party any favours at the election, with Juliana O’Connor Connolly, who had served as a short term premier, being the only PNA candidate returned. After the election she joined the PPM when it won the majority of seats and accepted the offer from party leader, Alden McLaughlin, of the speaker of the House position.
The United Democratic Party was unable to win any seats outside of its stronghold base of West Bay and even lost one of the four seats there to Tara Rivers, who had run on the Coalition for Cayman platform but also joined the government and Cabinet.
Though she has not yet formerly joined the PPM, she has already made an appearance at the party conference.
Although the party has just three members, Bush is still the opposition leader with members Eugene Ebanks and party deputy leader, Bernie Bush, who share the opposition benches with the two independent members from the eastern districts, Arden McLean and Ezzard Miller.
With the party rebrand, McKeeva Bush will remain as leader of the CDP and leader of the opposition, while Bernie Bush also retains the deputy leadership of the new party.
Tessa Bodden remains as chair of the new party and Dr Joe Marzouca as deputy chairman, despite his position as the honorary consul for Jamaica. Renard Moxam has also been confirmed as the second deputy chair of the re-named party.
Bodden said the party has also renewed its constitution. That and the amended name were viewed as necessary by the party's General Council in response to overwhelming public encouragement to modernize and move forward.
Following the announcement, McKeeva Bush said he welcomed the opportunity for the party to continue the process of growing and addressing the needs of the people of the Cayman Islands.
Ethics board still waiting to be taken seriously
(CNS): The seventh report of the Commission for Standards in Public Life, made public on Monday when it was tabled in the Legislative Assembly some three months after it was written, demonstrates that the ethics watchdog is still struggling to be taken seriously. Despite the many concerns raised since its formation in early 2010, very few of the commission’s recommendations have been acted upon and it is still waiting on the necessary legislation to give it teeth and the power to deliver on its constitutional mandate. The report also reveals significant concerns about the continued problems on public authority boards and the failure of member to be held accountable or reveal their potential conflicts of interest.
Ironically, late delivery of its reports to the LA and ultimately the public is the first issue dealt with in the commission’s report. It points out that during the period before it was written the ethics board had repeated the request that its reports are, as required by the constitutional mandate, laid before the Legislative Assembly as soon as possible. Despite the commitments made by the authorities concerned that the reports would be submitted on a timely basis, this report still took more than threemonths to be presented and made public.
“During the previous reporting session the Commission was concerned by the amount of time it was taking for its reports to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly,” the report noted. “The Commission maintains the view that there is no reason why the reports should not be submitted directly to the Legislative Assembly.”
In an effort to speed up their publication the commission said it took steps to obtain the advice of the attorney general and met with the former speaker of the House about the necessity for the reports to go to the deputy governor and then to Cabinet before they went before the Legislative Assembly.
However, these efforts appear to have been in vain as the report, which was only made public this week, is now more than three months old.
As well as concerns over the delay in the report’s public circulation, the commission is still waiting for the law, which it highlighted as a priority in 2010 with the publication of its first ever report. Now, well over three years later, the draft bill has only just reached the LA and is open for public scrutiny. The final draft had been submitted to the deputy governor almost twelve months ago and put before the minority PNA government following the fall of the UDP administration. However, it did not make it through the ministerial meetings and was deferred a number of times. It is not clear of it was rejected by the five ministers at the time or whether it was simply not discussed.
As a result, the proposed law languished as the country was sucked up into the election campaign. Following the PPM's election to office however, the bill has since been steered through Cabinet and is expected to be debated in January. The commission said it was encouraged by the approach of the newly elected government and its commitment to enact the legislation.
“Since taking office, the new administration has indicated a strong willingness to ensure the SPL Bill is passed into law,” the report states.
Among the many other issues that the commission raises in this latest report, many of which have been repeatedly raised in previous reports — and apparently repeatedly ignored — is the pressing need to deal with the boards of government companies and statutory authorities, where at best conflicts of interests and at worst actual corruption have been repeatedly highlighted by the local media and the auditor general, but nothing has been done.
“The Commission strongly believes that requiring all persons in public life to declare their interests and to take appropriate steps, such as not participating in the discussion or decision making process and leaving the meeting during such conflicts, when a conflict arises will bring much needed transparency to the real and perceived conflicts of interest that are present currently on a number of boards and committees,” the report reveals. It goes on to express further concern that board members must be properly appointed and "must be held accountable for their actions and decisions".
The commission said it remained committed to its ongoing efforts to establish procedures for appointing members to public authorities, and the terms of such appointments.
The commission states that the register of interest for boards should show current or future conflicts of interests and the declarations should become public documents.
See full report below and proposed bill
Former MLA starts new job as articled clerk
(CNS Business): After twelve years of making laws, Cline Glidden Jr, former UDP member of the Legislative Assembly and more recently the tourism minister in the short lived PNA administration, has joined a local law firm as an articled clerk. Glidden undertook his legal studies while serving in the Legislative Assembly and completed his Professional Practice Certificate (Commendation) in 2011 from the Cayman Islands Law School while on the backbench of the last UDP government. Glidden was one of five former UDP MLAs who rebelled against their leader and then premier, McKeeva Bush, and brought down his administration after Bush was charged for corruption related offences. Read more on CNS Business
Bernie Bush sworn as opposition LA deputy leader
(CNS): As provided for in the Cayman Islands 2009 Constitution, Bernie Bush, the third elected member for West Bay, has been appointed the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly. While he is the second in command spot in the LA among the three United DemocraticParty members, Bush is not the UDP deputy, as local businessman Renard Moxam, who failed to win a seat in the George Town election battle, has been given that role. Bernie Bush was sworn in by Governor Helen Kilpatrick at her office in the Government Administration Building on Wednesday, 9 October.
As Bernie Bush took the oath of allegiance, veteran politician and opposition leader, McKeeva Bush, was present to see his legislative and party colleague sworn in as his back-up in the parliament.
Although the United Democratic Party is the official opposition, it has only three members in the House and is flanked by the two independent members from East End and North Side. The opposition sits across from a full government bench after the three Coalition for Cayman members opted to join the PPM administration after the Progressives won the largest number of seats. In addition, following the election results, Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, who left the UDP to join the PNA, crossed the floor to join the PPM and took up the speaker’s post, giving the party a significant majority.
Dart to fight West Bay women
CNS): The Grand Court has agreed that the islands’ largest developer can join a group of government defendants against an action filed by four women from West Bay who are attempting to put an end to a deal relating to the closure of the West Bay Road. Justice Alex Henderson said Dart Realty (Cayman) Ltd could join proceedings filed by the ladies as a result of what he said was a risk to the developer’s legal rights. The women filed their legal challenge to the legality of the deal known as the NRA Agreement against government, not Dart, based on constitutional issues. Meanwhile, government has remained silent regarding the current status of negotiations on the agreement since talks stalled ahead of the general election.
In their fight to stop the agreement completely, the four West Bay women did not cite Dart in their suit as it is the actions of government they are concerned about.
However, despite applying to join the action and defend their own corner, some six months after Alice Mae Coe, Betty Ebanks Annie Multon, and Ezmie Smith filed their writ, the judge allowed the application as he found that Dart’s legal rights under the NRA Agreement are at risk because the women claim the deal as it stands should be declared void.
The women fought the application because the trial is now only three months away and the developer has had since February to apply to join. Plus, with the exception of the easement rights, the plaintiffs say it is constitutional principles that are in question, and the lawyer representing the women said that the Attorney General‘s Chambers is more than capable of defending the suit.
“We feel and still feel that the proceedings are going to be 'clogged up' by Dart’s intervention as a defendant at this late stage and extra costs will be incurred all round,” local attorney Irvin Banks said in the wake of the decision. However, despite the size of the developer’s pockets, he said the women were not discouraged and were happy to take on Dart as well as the government agencies.
“Now that the deed is done, we welcome the opportunity to get to grips with the authors of the NRA Agreement and have the Court finally decide whether the rights of passage and beach easements claimed by the Plaintiffs and others for generations, and the procedure followed by government intaking away those rights of passage and beach easements from the Plaintiffs are legitimate complaints and can be dealt with by the Courts under the Constitution,” he added
During the hearing on Friday, Justice Henderson had warned the developer’s legal team that they should not be attempting to take over the entire defence from government, and that they must instead limit themselves to defending their own interests under the agreement.
The trial is set down for three days starting on 11 December, when the four women will argue that government was wrong to transfer the crown land, consisting of well over 4000 feet of the West Bay Road to Dart as part of a controversial swap surrounding the proposed development of a new 5-star resort on the site of the former Courtyard Marriott.
The agreement itself, however, still remains in abeyance. A part of the West Bay Road has already been closed and is now buried under a sand-like substance as part of the plans to create a new public recreation area, set back from the original public beach. However, the government has not yet gazetted the remaining stretch of the road that Dart wants to close, from Raleigh Quay to the new junction at Yacht Drive.
Talks between the developer and the previous minority government stalled following the revelations by PricewaterhouseCoopers that there were some question marks over the value for money the public purse was getting in the swap. As the PNA government attempted to renegotiate the deal, the talks collapsed and the can was kicked down the road to the new government.
At the recent PPM National Council Meeting, Planning Minister Kurt Tibbetts revealed that, while the strip of closed road was a fait accompli, the government was back in talks with a particular focus in removing a ten year 50% tax gift that the UDP government had given the developer for any property it developed or acquired over the next thirty years.
The government had said it was hoping to be able to make an announcement soon afterwards but enquiries regarding the issue by CNS have not yet been answered.