UDP collected most fees
(CNS): Each year since taking office the UDP administration has collected more cash for government coffers from duty, fuel and fee increases than any other administration, but every year it has also spent more. Even when compared to the financial year 2005-06, when significant duty was collected as a result of the Ivan reconstruction, revenue was still less than $500 million. This administration has squeezed the public and business community for more and more cash each year, and despite the cuts the premier says have been made to core government operating expenses, this financial year the bill will exceed a half billion dollars, with the community coughing up more than $590 milllion.
The taking and spending has also been higher when statutory authorities are taken into consideration, despite the assertion that this government is managing the public finances better than its predecessor. In addition, if government had paid into the past service liability for the civil service pension as the previous administration had done, things would be even worse.
Independent MLA Ezzard Miller said that the situation makes a mockery of the claims by Premier McKeeva Bush that his government’s main success has been managing public finances.
“Mr Bush keeps referring to the success of his government in the restoration of responsible financial management. That is utter rubbish,” the North Side member said. “It could not be further from the truth. No government in history has made the stupid and ignoramus decisions that have been committed by this administration.”
Miller said there had been considerable of abuse of processes by the government that are there to improve financial management and protect the public purse. He pointed to numerous situations of mismanagement, from the paving of private driveways in the Brac to the legal settlement to GLF, as well as the Cohen and Co controversy.
In its first full year in office, in complete contrast to the budget it had presented to the Legislative Assembly, the UDP government collected over $502 million but then spent more than $517 million. The next year the government took in $525 million but spent well over $520 million. In the last financial year it collected an estimated whopping $535 million in revenue, but after coming back with appropriations of more than $50 million, once the figures are confirmed it is expected to have spent a massive $580 million.
When the budget was first drafted the public sector bill for 2012/13 was estimated to be around $660 million and it is this shocking figure that government has been trying to hone down to a manageable level since the start of the year.
Miller said that with record revenue collection but continued public sector increases, McKeeva Bush, who is also the minister of finance, could under no circumstances claim any credit for improving financial management.
The independent members said the people of Cayman could no longer put up with this type of poor governance, and called on every Caymanian to step up and save their country.
“It is time now for all Caymanians who are able, both young and old, to come forward to put an end to this bad governance and help save the country,” he said. Miller added that everyone needed to get involved, especially intelligent professional Caymanians, who were needed to run for office.
He asked others who did not want to join the political race to scrutinize more closely than ever before the behaviour of government representatives and demand more from them both now and in the future.
Category: Politics
When the ppm spent…they spent on Schools, roads and govt headquarters…all these things will serve Cayman for the next 25 years at least….WHAT do the UDP have to show for spending more than the PPM…?…..LAWSUITS and LINING POCKETS
You forgot travelling the world with family and friends.
Check with planning. I would imagine that we have developers running scared. Wanting to get their projects approved before Mac loses control. My question is why do they want ot do this at the "last hour" do they realize it would not happen in a "reasonable " government?
SIZE MATTERS
The people of the Cayman Islands are equivalent to a heard of Cash Cows.
Big Mac & Co. are going to bleed us dry with their inability to STOP SPENDING MONEY THEY DON"T HAVE and WASTING the money they do.
Where Oh Where is the accountability?
How much can Mac spend in 9 months???
How much you got?
Thats more than a million dollars per head!
Huh? You reckon there are only 590 people on these Islands?
we could have gotten more $$ if the govt never gave custom break on tart, shetty etc!
CB
Are we ready for round two? Let's gear up to get them out. This slot machine government will bankrupt us all.
If you do the maths, they cost each of us roughly 12,000 a year, how many of us get 12,000 of value from this government! They be trying to give some of it back to us not taking more. Bottom line goverment costs to much and presents very little value for money.
McKeeva Bush just happens to be in the position of Premier. The systems of heirarchy in government evolved to allow anyone who is made Premier to do exactly as Mr. Bush is doing. It is an all powerful position with many conflicts of interest and no checks and balances in place. The sad thing is that lawyers, MLA's and other high officials are able to uncover and bring to light misdeeds and wrongdoing and unacceptable actions but because the system is lacking in our ability to control this high position, we are at the mercy of whom ever holds the office of Premier regardless of his or her intentions and actions. This cannot be allowed to remain or we will eventually find ourselves back here in the future with a different tyrant or idiot, or socialist running amuk and taking us all down. The next government's first and foremost priority should be to re-invent our government systems to prevent what we are now seeing take place. We the voters are powerless for 4 years and can only influence government at the ballot box. Not even our Constitution has the ability to give us the power we need to rectify this situation. This must change,
This sounds like: 'It's not Bush's fault; they went and created this position of premier and that forced him to behave as he does. Any premier would do the same'. While the Constitution does need some more checks and balances Bush is the absolute worst case scenario for a premier. Some of the problem is simply a lack of will to vigourously pursue investigations. We do have an anti-corruption commission.
We have an anti-corruption commission? Where are they? What do they do?
That's my point. There is no end to the investigations.
And, WHO are they? SHAME ON THEM!!!
Please learn your constitutional power as voters: start a voter petition, gather signatures, and submit it – couldn't be easier. You may have heard about the OMOV petition of earlier this year. Perhaps you'd like to ask for the finance ministers/Speaker/Premier resignation? Or ask for double dip pension scheme reform? or pay cuts to MLAs? Or you can close your eyes and pretend it's not happening and hope in vain for some change in May 2013. It's all up to you Cayman. The rest of us would hope you do not delay the changes you already know need to happen.
Please explain. Our Constitution does not provide for the recall of elected officials. And no matter what referendums are put forth in the future, what is to keep government from hijacking them as was done with OMOV? Our Constutution is in its' infancy and already needs a major overhaul. Please explain how in its' current form it is of any use to the citizens of Cayman to stop the madness we are seeing.
I whole heartedly agree with you. The Constitution needs to change to provide more checks and balances. Unfortunately, when it was done, the last thing politicians at the time wanted were people to have a restraining element over them and the people at the time never foresaw this situation as occuring. Having experienced it, I hope we get a set of honest, ethical people in the next election who are not afraid to make the necessary changes.
It seems to me these people come into government caring not a whit what happens during their tenure. As long as they can collect their salaries, perks, and pensions 'tings is fine. The sad part is four years later after they've run their businesses, stuffed their pockets and done some travelling they're simply moved to the other side of the aisle for some much needed rest.
It's really quite a joke but a cruel one because many people suffer because of it. The reality is…politics is the only occupation we know of where there is absolutely no accountability for one's actions and failures. The irony is the people who suffer also haved to pay for it with very few choices. Pick either one… and good luck!
Will a bunch of young, educated, Caymanian graduates please step up to the plate and stand as independents to get rid of these two utterly useless parties that have been in power for way too long. It’s simple – government is collecting enough revenue, just stop wasting expenditure on stupid multi-million dollar projects which you hope is going to buy you votes!
Thats says it all really
…so long as the voters allow it to be so…and they do!
Silence is the endorsement of the current level of oversight. Where is the voter-initiated petition to remove/replace the standing finance minister? With all the fire-in-the-belly talk, this has got to be the most apathetic electorate on Earth. Even the opposition and independent menber are too afraid to initiate one?!? Speaks volumes.
Speaking at two public meetings over the last few weeks the premier has said that government has gone as far as it can in terms of cuts and he will not sanction cutting civil service jobs. As a result he has turned to increases in revenue in order to arrive at a surplus budget.
It hasn't gone as far as it can, there are many, many other credible and sensible revenue-raising ideas that have already been suggested all over CNS and on other media, as well as by the various commercial stakeholders here that could be followed, even if he refused to cut CS jobs despite the fact that the government needs a complete overhaul including job and financial liability cuts.
In other words he is not up to the task at hand. But He will have to be the one to do it? So then Cayman is on its way to permanent failure with no real hope other than the UK stepping up in the near future. Got it. Pretty much what everyone (not in CIG) thought. Now what?
The governments number one job is to pay salaries to half of the voters and welfare to the other half. This is not going to stop until the golden goose is cooked. There is zero political will to change, and a total lack of understanding of the probable consequences of Cayman's utter financial irresponsibility.
Now with all this new information watch as they try harder to hide the info and spend more. Its what they do. Its what is expected of them by those who put them in charge. it is what it is. Plan accordingly.
Or change it!
Like Caymanians have been trying to for the last few years? What did all that accomplish? It got worse! Demanding the premeir to turn from being a self serving idiot to a responsible and well trained proffessional might not be the best use of your time. If you don't have an "A" game to bring better just stay home and hope the UK has the will power to fight the Caymanian corruption machine again. Not likely Mate! Like I said earlier plan accourdingly.
Surprised? Really?
So we have to thank the PPM for making substantial investments in our roads, schools, and the admin building. Had they not started those projects then we would have nothing to show for the taxes which this government collected.
The legacy of the UDP is that they collected the most taxes, spent the most on world tours, gave the most of our taxes to their supporters, and spent the less on our infrastructure!
But we did miss out on getting the 100-room Hurricane Hilton on the bluff and the Bell Tower to our christian clean hands heritage in George Town.
And don’t forget we have the PPM to thank for FREEDOM OF INFORMATION. I wonder if we would have an FOI law in place today if it had been up to Mckeeva? NO WAY JOSE.
Did he actually use the word ignoramus? haha!
That should be Honourable ignoramus.
OMFG what the hell is wrong with our government. Thisis not sustainable. Get a new government in office as this one has clearly failed us and let’s hope they stick to there promises to make changes unlike the empty promises Bush has given us over the years.
The policians are very comfortable with the way things are. The voters have to initiate change.
Geez I wonder if this is the problem !?
Time to make some cuts!
No seriously IT IS TIME!
I challenge Mr Miller to one test. Why not make it legal for any resident of our islands to run for elected office? Surely Mr Miller realizes we need all hands on deck to survive the current situation. What is more important Mr Miller? 1. That an expat helped get the island back on track. or 2. A Caymanian was at the wheel while Cayman ran aground. XXXXX
Can you name any country or territory which would allow an expat to run for office in its parliament? I thought not. Why on earth would we entrust this country to someone who has no permanent ties to these Islands and will have, at best, divided loyalties? There are many Caymanians who could do a far better job than McKeeva.
The UK allows Irish citizens, and Commonwealth citizens with residency, to stand for election. What is the difference between that and allowing permanent residents to stand here?
size
1. There is an obvious difference between having the right to vote and having the right to stand for elections. Contrary to your statement only British Citizens may stand for elections to parliament.
2. The UK does not allow persons to vote simply because they are permanent residents. There are many residents who are not British Citizens, Irish Citizens or Commonwealth Citizens who cannot vote in UK national elections.
3. Further, if the UK wishes to extend the franchise in that way that is their choice but it is not a right. Btw many in the UK now object to this extension of the franchise.
http://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/elections/standing/
Standing as a candidate
To stand as a candidate in a UK Parliamentary General Election you need to be at least 18 years old and:
a British citizen
a citizen of the Republic of Ireland
a citizen of a commonwealth country who does not require leave to enter or remain in the UK, or has indefinite leave to remain in the UK
This is true, and not to agrue with your point about there being many Caymanians who could do a better job than McKeeva, but that's setting the bar pretty low, don't you think? I would argue that there are plenty of expats who could not only do a better job than Mac, or any of the current batch of elected representatives, but could actually fulfil the demands to the level needed.
Right now, Cayman is fumbling around because it has a very small talent pool and you not only have elected dolts, the upper ranks of the civil service is littered with them as well. This isn't to say there are not some very capable Caymanians in high positions, but that some of those people are very underqualified for what they are doing. They got there only because of the entitlement culture and the country is paying the price now.
What if you made the criteria citizenship for running for elected office. In the US for example, only the president has to be native born. Non-US born citizens have become governors, senators, congressmen, state supreme court justices and even secretary of the state, one of the highest offices in the land.
The US has a talent pool of hundreds of millions of people and still the people sometimes choose foreign-born citizens because they think they can do a better job. Here, with as small of a population pool as small as it is, people are either a) arrogant enought to think native-born Caymanians are smarter and more capable than all non-native born Caymanians; b) entitled to the benefits of being native born, so the country's best interests are not a factor; or c) so xenophobic that they just don't care who runs the place or how badly, just as long as it's not some damn foreigner. Any of those answers is a path to ruin in the long run.
Pure garbage! Who knows a country better than the people who was born and raised in that country?
Knowing a country is not the only criteria for governing well. I am sure the current crop of politicians all know Cayman very well and, when you consider some of the deep rooted corruption and nepotism that goes on here, I would suggest they know Cayman all too well.
1. You misquoted me. I said they could do "a far better job". No, that is not setting the bar too low. The implication of your post is that there are no Caymanians capable of doing the job required. That is nonsense.
2. Contrary to popular belief the Constitution does not require candidates to be native born. One must however be fully naturalised and renounce any other citizenship. I can parse it for you if you wish.
3. I would venture to say that there are no Caymanians arrogant enough to think native-born Caymanians are smarter and more capable than all non-native born Caymanians. Judging from many posts on CNS, however, it is clear that the opposite cannot be said – that there are no expats arrogant enough to think that non-native born Caymanians are smarter and more capable than all native born Caymanians.
My original post certainly didn't imply "there are no Caymanians capable of doing the job required"; It simply implied there aren't enough of them. I agree that there are a good number of Caymanians who could do a far better job of running the country that McKeeva Bush. but I would still maintain that even "far better" is not saying a lot with regard toMcKeeva. The problem is, most are in the private sector making a ton of money and enjoying not being in the political fray on a day-to-day basis. Considering the state of things now, maybe some will stand for the next election. There are also some bright and capable Caymanians in civil service, but the problem is that anyone who stays there too long is ruined, a least when it comes to proper governance, by the experience.
The main point I was trying to make is that Cayman would be wise to utilise some of the expatriate talent in government, if some expat was so inclined to offer it. Cayman has attracted some very capable talent. If they US utilises foreign talent in government even though they have more than 300 million residents to choose from, what's wrong with Cayman (which only has maybe 20,000 native born citizens) doing the same?
Fair enough on your second point, but I was responding to your "name any country or territory which would allow an expat to run for office in its parliament" comment. If you're saying that a person who becomes a naturalised citizen and denounces any other citizenship is no longer an "expat" then you are correct. But you have to admit, in the eyes of most Caymanians, once and expat, always an expat, and that even applies to some people because their parents were both expats, even though they were born here and lived their whole lives. Of course, this is all moot because no former expat will get elected for at least for another generation. Single member constituencies could bring on the change a little faster, but I would think it will take at least 20 more years before an expat or the child of an expat couple has a real chance of being elected here.
I think there are people on both sides – Caymanians and expats – who think their particular tribe is smarter and more capable than all the people in the other tribe. Cayman is not unique in that regard. Neither position is correct, and that's the problem with speaking in generalisations. But I baited you on that one (even if it were done so in the form of a theoretical choice of options) so, as the kids say, my bad. Sometimes the anonymity aspect of this forum induces my mischievous side.
Er, try the United Kingdom for starters!
A citizen of the Irish Republic can stand for the UK Parliament, as can a citizen of any of the 53 countries of the Commonwealth who has (or does not require) indefinite leave to remain in the UK .
But you may be right that there are plenty of excellent Caymanians out there who could do a far better job than McKeeva – they just need to come forward and run for office.
Even if non-Caymanians or recent Caymanians standing for office is a step too far, what about the vote? In the UK any British citizen, and any resident EU or Commonwealth citizen can register to vote from the day they arrive. And don't say small islands are different: in the Isle of Man most new residents can vote as soon as they take up residence. In Jersey you get the vote after living there just two years.
Now THAT would soon stop the vote-buying: so many driveways, so little time …
Surely you can understand that giving non-citizens the right to vote/stand for election is a very different matter where they constitute a small minority of the population (as they do in the UK) than where they constitute the transient majority of the population. That is why the UK only gave British citizenship to BOTCs AFTER Hong Kong with its millions of people were returned to the Chinese and ceased to be a BOT.
There are many Caymanians who are educated and capable of running these islands. Please do not assume that all Caymanians are like the elected members.
Mr. Miller acknowledged that there was a need for new representation in government and as far as I'm concerned Mr. Miller has shown a lot of traits of what it is to be a leader. Bare in mind that a leader does not have to know everything and make all the decisions like our current Premier thinks. A leader has to know how to motivate his/her colleagues and keep the team moving toward a goal. A leader is a visionary. I think we need more people like Ezzard Miller who is willing to go onto the radio, be vocal and hold himself accountable to whatever he says whether people like it or not.
Fat fat fat, this overweight Goverment and obese civil services going impoverish this country and destroy it for the next generation. This “I going to get mine” attitude that we have is destroying the paradise that the last generation created for us.
This greedy attitude that we collectively have is going to see us into the poor house, this situation where every Caymanians dream job is to work in the Goverment or to collect free things from the social service department is shamefull and is stopping an entrepreneurial class from been developed.
We must cut the salary and benifits of everyone in the CS AND GOVERMENT so that an entrepreneurial class of Caymanians can be born and they can creat real wealth for the country and stop sucking of the foreigners who are doing it now, while simultaneous reducing the costs of running the country.
Come on Caymanians where is your pride, get to work!
Where's the money going?????????????
Last I heard, The Government hasn't contrubuted about $200 million to the Civil Service Pension.
What was that money spent on instead?
There was some creative financing involing millions of dollars with the Turtle Farm. This debt was originally not on the books as a liability even though it will eventually have to be paid. Does anyone know the current status of this debt and if it is uncluded in the current national debt figure?
The new government admin building has about 60,000 square feet of office space sitting empty and unused. At the going rate for office space in town this represents about $7 million dolllars worth of space that various Statory Authorities could be using to save us all more money instead of lining the pocket of the landlords.
It is obvious that we are not being allowed to see figures such as these and many more due to the black-eye this gives the sitting government with elections around the corner. If we knew what was really happening to our money I'm sure it would have a huge effect on the next election. I hope the UK is aware of this and is able to force the issue before we go to the ballot box so we know whonot to vote for.
Let us NOT forget:
It was MAc and his first bad govrnment from 2001-2005 that saddled us with the Boatswains Beach financial black hole.
Things are so bad now, even under Mac second bad government, that they are trying to distance themselves from Boatswains Beach and go back to Turtle Farm Wildlife experience or somethinglike that, because when you mention Boatswains Beach scary memories come back to haunt us of Mac's bad leadership.
Boatswains Beach is at least a 6 MILLION dollar PER YEAR financial black hole that needs to be given away to stop the financial loss to the Cayman people.
Now Mac wants to saddle the Cayman people with a port that is owned and operated by CHEC that WILL NOT generate any revenue for the Cayman government for 30 years.
If given another chance after May 2013, I am sure Mac will introduce direct taxation in the Cayman Islands, as he almost did last month ON A WHIM, all to support his political spending habits, without regard to the greater picture and future of the Cayman Islands.
IF YOU WANT DIRECT TAXATION, vote for Mac in 2013.
Oh boy!!! This sounds like me on a friday afternoon after getting paid. By 9 oclock next morning mama cant even buy Milo and bread.
You’ll have to drink suga-wada instead. And the bread has john-joe!
Thank goodness we have Mr. Miller in Govt. to scrutinize, and make public, the poor excuse for "Good Governance" of the current Administration!
And of course the other grassroots organizations that have formed. I'm proud to be a part of these grassroots organizations. And that sensible and ethical Caymanians and Expats are now coming together to stand up for a better Cayman/Govt.
The premier and his Govt. are a gross embarrassment!
I'm not sure what all this fracas is all about. Honestly. Abra Cadabra – the budget is balanced. Actually here's one better – abra cadabra with a cherry on top…we now have a budget surplus of $250 million.
The Beaver
The only thing worst than being blind is having sight but no vision
Please – Who's really surprised by this? Anybody?
Zero accountability – ZERO.
Enough already.
The Ignoramus and Co. need to go. NOW.
Voters have to initiate a petition to do this. The politicians mock the public and are very content to continue to sit on their crumpets while paying themselves twice. If you are angry enough about it, do something!
Ya keep fogettin. Da be Honourable Ignoramus.
The premier of this country has selected an incompetent (and very possibly XXXXX) Minister of Finance.
It is time for the Premier to fire the Minister of Finance for gross failure and mismanagement.
May 2013. Soon Come but not Come Soon Enough.
The Premier IS the Minister of Finance! He is the one financially making the decisions!
uhhhhh….i think the poster knows that…it was said tongue in cheek.
But I appreciate how you wrote your last sentence. It was not what you meant I am sure, but it certainly did make the most sense.
It should have read: "He is the one making the financial decisions". But the way you wrote it infers (to me at least) that he is FINANCIALLY making decisiones that are based on his own personal finances.
No truer error has ever been written! LOL!
Finance ministry at its best.Anyone out there surprised at these figures.
Wow. Straight campaigning. Mr. Miller please attach the graph from the Forbes report to this article. Forbes is neither PPM, UDP or independent. The Forbes graph was just the truth.
HA!!
HA!!!
HAAAAAAA!!!
This country is so freaking screwed! We are run by a bunch of narcissistic baboons who couldn't tell their budget from their butts!
They think that they just have to say something that sounds good and ta-da! It shall be so! Seriously!!?? Seriously.
Let me tell you something Cayman – do NOT wait for 2013…yuh hear!? Do SOMETHING now, before this island falls over the edge into oblivion. Investors don't like messy! They don't want drama.
We are hanging onto sanity and credibility by a bare thread. We made HOW MUCH!? And spent wha-yah-say!? Where? When? How!!!!????
Raaaatid – a broke we a broke fi true dat! At least THAT prediction came true under the UDPs watchful eye.
Eeeeheeee….McKeeva – in all his financial edu-mah-cation, as minister of finance (cuz he is clearly QUALIFIED!) has been cooking those books on a caboose. Rollie was right – we are unemployable because we are not educated. But obviously government saves the highest seat in the land for that very candidate, so there is hope for us all yet!
My friend, Power of the People, I know you well. I wish you could tag your name but as we ALL know, that is not possible. And for those of you that believe that you CAN put your name to these, well then on you go, get ready for harassment at any and all levels.
VERY well written!! And VERY well said.
Me loves you PoP!
No confidence motions have been attempted twice. We have had more success to stop, or at least delay the most disasterous of ideas, sometimes potentially good idea ideas that the current Elected Government would like to implement in the most disasterous ways possible. As long as the sitting MLA's that form the "gang of nine" have no conscience and refuse to act in the best interests of our beloved islands above their own self interests we must continue to pile on the pressure and stop the worst of their excesses. If you voted for the current Government you bear a special responsiliity in this part of our struggle to use all legal means to convince them to behave even if acting with good sense is too much to ask.
For all of us who recognise the sad state of affairs, if we want the best possible outcome then we will stand together regardless of where we came from politically, economically and nationally, whether we are former UDP Supporters, Independents or PPM Supporters. It would be unfortunate to repeat the same mistake that many of us did in 2009 and split our vote to independents who sound good, but don't have a snow ball's chance in hell of being elected and even then we really don't know which way some of them may swing. Rather than going for the unknown, I would like to see the next Government to be a coalition formed from existing, experienced non-UDP MLA's and affiliated new blood though not perfect that have a known track record of more integrity, ethics, honesty, hard work, competence and conscience than the current gang of nine even on their worse of days!