MLA says won’t trust PPM
(CNS): The interpretation of the first round of Constitutional Talks between the Cayman Islands and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office offered by the government differs from that perceived by the opposition, which has said the People’s Progressive Movement government cannot be trusted and any meetings between the two parties before the next round of talks will only take place if they are in open public forums with a clear agenda.
The United Democratic Party Second Elected Member for West Bay, Rolston Anglin, said the government was disingenuous during Friday morning’s press conference with its attempt to blame the UDP over the fact that the Cayman is not presenting a united front to London. He said they failed to be completely honest with the people when they did not admit that the UK had rejected a number of their proposals.
“The government has said the reason why the country is not getting more autonomy is because of the opposition but that is not the case the UK has rejected their claims for unadulterated power,” said Anglin. “We ought to be presenting a united front and we thought we had engendered some trust and maturity but the government has been disingenuous. Any further meetings after Ian Hendy sends the summary document of these talks will be in public as they cannot be trusted. We will not meet with them until they have defined the parameters.”
On Friday at the televised Press briefing with Ian Hendry the leader of the FCO delegation, Helen Nellthorp and Susan Dickson, the Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts said the talks had gone well and the Minister for Education Alden McLaughlin said the UK had not rejected anything outright. While Tibbetts thanked the opposition for its support and role in the talks he criticised them saying they were still taking the position that Cayman should retain the status quo and that the constitutional relationship withthe UK is not in need of modernisation.
“The United Democratic Party is saying, essentially, that they are happy keeping things the way they are,” said LoGB.” As one Opposition representative has put it, Caymanians are not ready to take on this kind of responsibility for themselves. This attitude amounts to a clear lack of confidence by the UDP in the ability of the Caymanian people.”
Anglin noted that for the government to make noises accusing the opposition of not having confidence in Caymanians was an easy way to get support but he insisted that he reality of the situation was that Cayman had not yet developed a political maturity to take on the kind of power that the government wanted.
“History has found is in the position that we are not yet ready for that kind of power, the UDP wants to see sensible advancement, we want a natural process of development,” said Anglin adding that the UK certainly had rejected outright a number of proposals and the government was playing a cat and mouse game riddled with lies.
The MLA did note however that there were various proposals on which the two parties were in agreement and he also said in an ideal world Cayman should be presenting a united front when it comes to the constitution but he said the government’s position, its attempts at power grabbing and its attitude of constantly excluding the opposition didn’t help. He said that in the wake of talks there should have been a united press conference which would have given a more balanced view of what had actually happened.
He said the proposals rejected by the UK included the PPMs wish to place the AG outside of Cabinet and the Legislative Assembly and to reduce the Governor’s powers in Cabinet to merely a figurehead which he said the opposition could not agree on. Anglin also said he was also very concerned about McLaughlin’s desire to control the police. “That is a very dangerous suggestion,” he added. “We cannot have a situation where the politicians control the police.”
Category: Local News
I agree with the writer above, we have to unite as Caymanians both native and status holders for the betterment of this nation.
So I too am pleading to Minsters Tibbetts and Bush the leaders of the two parties to join forces and make this country work. Come together and do away with party politics the people of this country is tired of them and they gave both sides the opportunity to see if the party systems would work and now that it is proven that they cannot work it is time to unite gentlemen.
Caymanians in this country who are going to go to the poles in May and vote for you are going to have a hard time making that decision if you don’t come together.
If Christianity is what one of you are using to lead by then I am suggesting that you read the scripture on how many times you must forgive your brother in one given day it is: 70×7 = 490 times per day per person. How hard is that? Forgiveness is the answer to all our trials.
If you don’t unite then on the day of elections the people will simply not go to the poles, do you want that to happen Ministers Tibbetts & Bush?
Tim Ridley’s comments are right on the money, and the probable election of Obama in the States will make it even worse for Cayman in this regard.
Why can’t we all unite and get along. The people are very stressed out about the battle going on out here between the parties. One not trusting the other is foolishness. What happens if the public felt that way about both parties? How do you think we are feeling out here about you all arguing amongst yourselves relentlessly. C’mon guys stop this political parade of foolishness, get your brains together and come up with what is best for the country. I am tired of the two parties throwing crap at each other everyday. I want to see Mckeeva and Kurt shake hands and get this country on it’s feet and do so together. You can almost gurantee your return if you do this. Stop clogging up the system with red tape. Get the job done right so we don’t have to keep undoing what the last man did. Rubbish that two grown men and fathers who are in our Government to be arguing like this. And worse you are both Caymanians. Tell me how does this look on the two of you, it makes you both look like you are spoiled kids not willing to share and reach amicable solutions to running our Government.
Isn’t this the same UDP that proposed an advanced constitution back in 2003? Do they know the meaning of the word "disingenuous"? The UDP is playing politics with the future of Cayman.
Call it what you will, but I for one don’t want ANY politicians controling the police.
The Constitutional proposals are not a secret. The Secretariat spent many months trying to educate the public on them. By and large the public showed little interest. Rather than read the proposals for themselves some are now content to rely on inaccurate and misleading characterizations by the UDP.
The proposal is this: