Archive for May 1st, 2011

No confidence

The country has lost confidence in Mr Bush and the UDP Government. Even those who voted for him at the last election realize that he is failing the country. Some of his ex-supporters criticise him openly. Those who want to speak out on his behalf can find nothing good to say about his achievements, so they rant against his critics and opponents.

In this time of global economic crisis leading to global unrest, all countries have great need of wise democratic leadership. Many countries that lack such leadership are already suffering terribly, both internally and externally, and it will be years before they recover. In Cayman we have the same need for wise democratic leadership, but the last two years have been a sustained demonstration of unwise undemocratic government.

For a while it was right to give the new government a chance, though some of us thought we knew what to expect. But nowit is frighteningly clear that this government is taking the country down the wrong road. There is no longer a rational basis for thinking it may get better.

After the 2009 election voters hoped that Mr Bush would fix our economic troubles. That was the big election issue. He had blamed our troubles on the previous Government, and said that he was the man to fix them. Many were taken in. They wanted to believe that there was an easy answer to Cayman’s troubles, and they were willing to give Mr Bush a shot at it. But they have been sadly disappointed. He has done nothing. No one feels better off. Many are worse off. Much has been said, but nothing has been done, for the short or long term future of our economy. Only the ostriches still believe his story about the previous government being to blame.

In fact Mr Bush made things worse – by shouting that the country was bankrupt, by imposing ill-considered tax-hikes which he was not big enough to reverse, by failing to put together a sensible plan to deal with the problems and dangers explained in the Miller Report, by playing about with the country’s borrowings (which he has still not explained) and claiming to know more about arranging high finance than his own Ministry or the CTC.

It was only public pressure that prevented him selling the new government administration building. His fiddling with the schools project has served only to delay it and add to the cost. He does not understand that this is the crucial investment for our country’s future. And there is no bigger waste of public funds than leaving a part-built project unfinished – or a completed building unoccupied.

His fiddling with the cruise ship berthing project has got us nowhere. It has shown many of the signs we now recognize from the Cohen fiasco: Mr Bush thinking he knows best or preferring the private advice of friends, jetting off to take personal credit, then having to backtrack, and failing to dispel rumours of improper inducements. And the country pays the price.

In the financial industry there have been good and bad developments, but the good ones are due to the efforts and outlay of the industry itself, and many hours of hard work by a score or more of unsung individuals. Tourism figures improve slowly, but again no thanks to Mr Bush or his government.

Mr Bush has said repeatedly that he will revive the economy; he even gave himself a deadline for announcing and implementing his plan. But everyone now sees that this was just talk. He hasno plan – only the hope that the global economy will recover in time to save his political neck.

He has announced several projects for diversifying the economy, a few of which do sound interesting. But he has made his usual mistake of trying to take credit for a project without giving information about it, without caring about the worries it creates, and without having an assessment of its feasibility, cost, or effect – on the economy or the environment. Nonetheless he struts about saying that he will make it happen. And then he is surprised and aggressive when people ask questions. He seems to think that people should stay quiet and trust him. But he has not earned trust. People do not even trust him, or his colleagues, to keep their hands out of the cookie jar. And nothing has happened.

Mr Bush’s view of democracy, accountability and the Constitution has been clear for many years for all to see. It is quite simple: he believes that power should be in the hands of one unaccountable person – himself. To mention only the most recent demonstrations: he is against one man one vote; he wants to roll back freedom of information; he will not publish, or expose to audit, the accounts of the Portfolio of Finance that would show the true state of government finances when he came to power in 2009.

Some suggest that the answer is a people-initiated referendum to remove Mr Bush from office, or the whole government.But that is a misunderstanding of the new Constitution. It allows referendums to impose decisions on the government, but not to change the Premier or the government. The people cannot themselves change the Premier or the government between elections, only the MLAs can do so. The people can only put pressure on MLAs to do the right thing. That is why the Leader of the Opposition has brought the motion of no confidence.

A motion of no confidence is a serious measure. It is not a political plaything to be fired off whenever the Government makes itself unpopular. But today Mr Bush is not just unpopular. He has had two years, and he has proved again that he is unfit to lead this country – at a time when the country has particular need for wise democratic leadership. Everyone wonders what will be his next foolish, embarrassing and harmful announcement.

We are seeing a replay of Mr Bush’s first UDP government in 2001-5 in which he demonstrated his unfitness as leader; he achieved absolutely nothing of value despite all the talk about decisiveness; and he showed how divisive a leader can be, creating and deepening divisions in our community which are still with us. His colleagues and backbenchers in the UDP, who had originally thought they would keep him under control (and had constitutional power to do so), proved to be incapable. Reluctant to give up power, or to risk it, they stuck with Mr Bush until near the end of his term, before breaking away. Of that so-called “united” team only Juliana O’Connor-Connolly and the three West Bayers stayed with Mr Bush. The others were right to break away, but they should have done so much, much sooner.

So now the question is whether Mr Bush’s colleagues and backbenchers in the present UDP government will do the same as those in the last UDP government. They can be in no doubt about the unfitness of Mr Bush to lead the country, or about their own inability to keep him under control. Will they put the country’s interests first? Or will they hang on to power? That is the question.

It is a vital question for the country. It is the reason why the motion of no confidence was necessary – to confront Mr Bush’s colleagues and backbenchers with the question, to expose them to public pressure, and to compel them to make a public decision for which they personally and individually will be held to account. Let us hope that the pressure is strong, and that the break-up comes now, before more harm is done.

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