Civil servants delighted by outcome of talks

(CNS): the president of the Cayman Islands Civil Service Association (CICSA) has said he and the membership are ecstatic over the excellent news that Cayman’s new constitution will not deprive senior civil servants of their democratic rights. Following the Association’s written submission to the talks in the UK, the proposal to include a 12 month hiatus before top public servants could run for political office after resigning has been dropped.

“The Management Council spent many, many hours in endeavouring to put our position forward,” said CICSA President James Watler. “We met with a number of interested parties in regards to giving us their support.  Many of our members made contact with us and gave us their full support as we pressed forward in making our position clear on the issue at hand.”

Watler explained that before the delegation went to London, he and a delegation from the Association’s Management Council met with Leader of the Opposition McKeeva Bush to put forward their case.

“It is our belief that the nation’s Constitution is not the place to address the issue of a hiatus or break period for senior civil servants.  We stand by our convictions that currently the PSML (Public Service Management Law) and Regulations and the code of conduct can adequately take care of the concern as was expressed by Mr Bush,” he said. 

“CICSA was shocked and appalled to see this inserted into the Constitution at the last round of discussions that was held in Cayman a couple of weeks ago.  How could anyone in this day and age agree with such a stance!  Just about two weeks ago we celebrated 50 years since Caymanian women gained the right to vote and be able to offer their services as a candidate for election, and as we have so passionately celebrated this wonderful turning of events, we are now about to snatch away the rights of civil servants who may want to serve their country in a greater and more dynamic way.”

Following the strong and emphatic submission to the talks, however, the proposal which had been initiated by the opposition was dropped. The proposal had its origins in the issues surrounding recommendations made by Sir Richard Tucker following the tribunal regarding Minister Charles Clifford’s decision to leak documents to the local press after he resigned from his post of permanent secretary in the Ministry of Tourism before running for office.

In his written letter to the constitutional talks, Watler noted that a hiatus would not prevent anyone from leaking documents but merely disenfranchise an undisclosed number of people from the real democratic process.