Mac forced to redo law
(CNS): Following a rushed attempt to transpose the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility (FFR) into the Public Management and Finance Law (PMFL), the premier has been forced to redraft the law for the third time. While the debate continued in the Legislative Assembly on Friday on the second version of the bill making the agreement Premier McKeeva Bush had signed with the UK one year ago into law, legal drafters were forced to re-write the legislation once again. The original bill submitted to the LA ahead of this current meeting contained changes made by Bush which were unacceptable to the Overseas Territories Minister and which, after a standoff with the UK, were eventually changed.
In a rush to draw up new legislation as directed by the British, the law apparently failed to meet with the UK’s approval and has now undergone yet another change.
According to the governor’s office, the bill has now being reformatted to append the entire FFR as a schedule to the PMFL. “The necessary re-drafting has taken place and the document has this afternoon been sent to the FCO. I would expect the FCO to respond before Tuesday 13 November,” a spokesperson for the governor’s office said Friday afternoon.
Legislators were expected to return to the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday to continue debating the law, which will ensure that in future any government is bound within strict parameters when it comes to spending tax payers’ money. It requires that certain rigorous processes and value for money tests are carried out before government embarks on any major project involving the public purse or public assets of any kind.
Bush signed the agreement in November 2011 and has been trying to avoid putting the bill into local legislation ever since. However, following an about face over the document last Tuesday following a call with the FCO minister Mark Simmonds in London, a contrite Bush announced he would be placing the law at the top of the LA agenda and passing it exactly as the UK had requested.
Bush had previously attempted to change one of the clauses in order to increase the minimum value of a project to which the various checks, balances and other good-governance tests were applied from $10 million to $25 million, and to insert an additional clause making the FCO responsible for any reputational damage or financial loss the Cayman islands might suffer for following the parameters of the agreement.
The first draft of the legislation containing these clauses was rejected by the UK, and despite the rhetoric on Monday that Bush intended to stand up to the UK, he made a U-turn and brought a second version of the bill to the LA on Wednesday. However, while the second version incorporated the details of the FFR into the PMFL, some of the requirements, such as the rules governing the procurement process, were inserted into the regulations and not the substantive law.
On Friday, while members continued debating the second version of the law and one member of the UDP pressed on with the idea that a referendum was needed before the bill was passed, a third version was being prepared after the UK requested that the entire framework be incorporated into the substantial law.
Category: Politics
This really makes him look stupid, he supposedly read and understood and signed the contract with the british law makers. This only shows that upon his return, other persons had to sypher what is in the contract and explain it to him after the fact.
Showing he cant read and understand, with he lack of education and common sense.
if only pinnochio and steve mcfield were around to help… but they have got their own porblems right now
As a kid, if I wanted to do something that I was specifically told not to do, I would play dumb and do it anyway. Sometimes I got away with it other times I did not. School yardtricks Mr Bush?
Only difference is a lot of the time maybe even most of the time he's not playing.
I was feeling so depressed til I read this. I feel so much better now. Mr. Moses you gained 1/2 pt for this but you lost a lot for that Salt Water Pond fiasco. Even Kurt woke up. The PPM is still alive.
Mr.Bush, that long naps's way overdue. You're done, my friend. Just go home for God's sake.
This behavior falls within with the pathology of gambling. When a gambler can't actually be at the gaming tables, they often develop a taste for duplicity, in order to give themselves an exhilarating experience. The higher the risk, the greater the thrill.
What Mac gamble???…surely no way 🙂
Every doggone MLA need to go ya now cha, Yea you too Ezzard……………….
Again? Does this man ever get anything right? I've never seen anyone flip-flop as much as him. This time he was made to. It reminded me of a spoilt school girl who disobeyed the teacher until the teacher stood up & showed her who the boss is, & ordered her to do as she was told or else! And like the typical school girl, he had to obey orders (& the signed agreement) like a little wimp with his tail between his legs!!!!!!
Doesn't this tyrant ever learn? After signing the agreement he refused to bring it to the L.A. as it was signed but the FCO told him he had to & threatened him if he didn't. He then backed down & said he would bring it as it was signed by him & the FCO, but still brought it different to the signed agreement! The FCO have scolded him again & made him withdraw his 2nd version even though debate had already begun on it by members.Doesn't the tyrant ever learn? Now the backbench members of the UDP are saying they will vote against it. This is not good for Cayman, & every member of the UDP must be held responsible, everyone of them!
Bush may be a laughing stock, but we will become a further laughing stock when the FCO begin using us to spend and manage money to their liking and not ours. Cayman I love ya, but learn well from your enemies. A liar is not a liar all the time, sometimes you have to pick sense out of nonsense, and there is alot of sense to what the UDP now claims. And please don't call me one of them. :o) We seriously need to stop attacking each other and consider the people, family and love ones here and their future.
If through his actions the UK feels the need to deal with us like the Turks and Caicos then he would surely have on e upped the PPM then hopefully we will not hear the UDP supporters taking shots at them. I am no PPM supporter but if that was to occur then it would in no way b e comepared to the PPM disaster.
He has already one-upped the PPM. This govt. is a complete disaster.
"spending and managing money to YOUR liking IS THE PROBLEM for most or us. No surprise that many intitled Caymanians will end up with less intitlement and start crying. Please cry louder. That is the sound of progress.
Why not the FCO make Cayman into a UK constituency, a part of the UK to vote and have the same rights like the rest of UK citizens? I bet if we did a poll on those who want Cayman to go Independence versus those who want Cayman to be integrated into the UK, the majority would vote for Integration. They would rather be more knitted and a part of the UK. Just a thought
But then you'd haves to pay something called "taxes."
Are you insane? Why on earth would we want to do that?! Why would we want to eliminate all local immigration control? Or be subject to UK taxes? And the choice isn't between going Independent and becoming integrated into the UK. The only right we don't have is to vote for an MP in the House of Commons and that's just fine with me.
well then if you want to remain as a dependant colony under the UK, why complain then??? Stop complaining and bashing the local government. You want something better it is either you go independent or say to the UK look we want to intergrate please. We are being tax right now in Cayman. It is called indirect taxes 🙂
In all honesty, let's hope it remains just that. Have you ever actually lived in the U.K.? To start with you are taxed on everything, and I mean everything. Want to pass on your hard-earned property and money to your children? It's called inheritence tax. What about about buying and selling houses other than your principle residence? It's called capital gains tax. And I've not even touched on income tax. My friend, it'd be a nightmare for us. And our cultures are so different it just doesn't bear even thinking about.The reality is that Caymanians have about as much in common cuturally with the English as the English do with the French (or the Scots, come to think of it). I believe I know something of what I'm talking about because I was born and raised in the U.K 'til I was twenty-five and I've been married to a Caymanian and living here for the past thirty-three years.
No to mention stamp duty, national insurance, council tax, VAT, corporate tax, tax on dividends, tax on benefits in kind, road tax, television tax (yes they really have that), air passenger tax, cigarettes and alcohol tax, witholding tax, and the stealth-taxes like congestion charging, licensing fees, fees for submitting every form and document to a government body.
You pay tax on your income, then pay VAT when you spend your post tax income, and capital gains if you invest it, then stamp duty when you scrape together enough to buy a house, then council tax to live in that house, then inheritance tax when you pass it on. You pay fuel duty when you fill your car up, and VAT on the fuel duty. They literally tax taxes! And the country is almost as broke as we are!
Whatever the solution is, it is not that.
Maybe it's just a little thing, but in the UK you would almost certainly have felt comfortable signing your name to such a post. Here in Cayman? Apparently not – like me.
All those taxes you object to are required to pay for the services the state provides and have to come from the pockets of UK taxpayers in one form or another. Cayman has a different taxation model where fortunately for Caymanians, most of the taxes are levied one way or another on non-citizens. If for any reason this were to change, how much would the Caymanian population have to be taxed to maintain the current infrastructure? And would you want to pay it?
I would happily vote for political independence over becoming a UK constituency.
I bet he had trouble colouring between the lines in school too
Good! Thank you UK FCO.
Clearly the premier does not want to follow anything to do with Good Governance, and if left alone to the premier / UDP we will only continue to incur huge losses for Cayman.
OK, I am but a simple soul. Can anyone explain the implications between a "provision" being in the Law, a Shedule, on in Regulations?
As we live in on Islands with more lawyers than nurses, someone must be able to help.
Please really dumb down here with your answer; any answer should be able to be understood by me, your average MLA and Madam(e) Speaker.
I remember that our Premier has stated in the past that not being in contravention of the Law meant the same as complying with the Regulations. So what are the Regulations there for?
Laws can only be amended or changed by the LA. Once Regulations are passed in the LA, they can then change a 5 to a 25 or anything else in the Regulations in Cabinet on a Tuesday morning without ever having to come back to the LA.
That should make it easy enough for you to understand what Mac was after.
Although M.B. is at the helm, in terms of our autonomy, I hope people realize that the strife between the UDP and Foreign Office (FCO) is mostly political. The people having to bear the burden of a high cost of living get hurt in the end with more financial loss and lesser democracy that should have been a participatory democracy from the beginning. If only the “powers that be” were for our welfare and wellbeing, do you believe we would have a Constitution that is so incomplete without checks and balances? The FCO don’t really care about us and sadly, our very own are too easily led astray by foreign wealth. One day Caymanians will look back at the ordeals we had to go through in our history, and will clearly see without detachment how the “powers that be” were on the wrong side of history like they were during the slave days. We are still backwards – not because we want to be, but by design, and far from the ideal treatment that we as individuals deserve.
WOW. Members of the LA, how difficult is it, to pass into law, something that has already been worded in entirety for you? It is not like you have to word it from scratch, you know and require learned lawyers to come up with the proper legal jargon. The work was already done for you, just follow the agreement to a tee. You know, the same one Bush signed back in Nov. 2011 with the U.K. government. It is not rocket science, afterall. Stop making something so simple, so difficult. You are playing a very dangerous game with the Mother Country. Remember in the big scheme of things, you are just a small town.
Rewriting a law in a hurry?
This will not end well.
Helium insists dogmatically that it must go to the people for a referendum vote. How all of a sudden he is concerned about the people's opinion? When he and his party members went ahead with all these fancy secret deals with wealthy developers, it was all done behind closed doors with no input sought from the people, even though Ray Charles could see these deals were not good for the people but only for the developers and their political cronies. Now, lo and behold, the U.K. asks them to put something in place to protect taxpayers money, and they need to "go to the people." REALLY, HELIUM? And you think you are fooling anybody with all your hot air you were blowing in the LA?
Go ahead UK, slap some sense into that useless twit.
Caymankind Omnishambles: being the best and biggest shambles he can be.
Complete humiliation for Mac.
Although the idea that the Premier is being forced and pressured by the UK may be Entertainment for CNS COMMENTERS and the Opposition and many of his haters, I will have you know that in the UK do you ever hear of the Queen or Queen Elizabeth and Her Lords ordering the democratically elected Parliament on what they can spend and how they can spend the country's money???
No, not at all! What would you call it when the Queen and certain elite authorities start telling the House how to financially run the country for their own interest? What would you call that??? You certainly wouldn’t call it Democracy! That would cause every lawmaker in England to cry foul!
So let us see through the issues for a briefly: “They” meaning those elite in the UK and behind the FCO, want this Overseas Territory to have good governance, they demand more transparency, and they demand we financially manage ourselves aright! Sound all good and dandy! Sound like they really care for us eh! So you want these things, why can’t you STOP PLAYING THE BULLY and give the people of this territory MORE DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS AND PREVELEGES like the people have in the UK? So you want to make Cayman a better place… why don’t allow Caymanians to do so on their own through democratic processes instead of draconian measures? No one in the UK would want government to look down on them like tribal savages yet that is how they look down on us! Despite the fact that we may have corrupt members in our government, it is still colonial mentality to want change undermining democracy! We may have been financially mismanaging the country, but still that does not warrant like what they did to TCI, cancelling their democracy for a worse constitution. BREAKING NEWS: TCI JUST ELECTED PNP BACK INTO POWER.
Will the colonial masters ever learn and respect people and not their own interest?
They say well go independent if your not happy. I say if the Queen ever tells that to the people of England after dissolving their democracy, it would be chaos. WORD TO THE WISE: DON’T MESS WITH PEOPLE’S RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS! WE MAY BE SMALL AND HELPLESS, BUT THESE THINGS WILL COME BACK TO BITE THE UK!
The question to all you commenters out there happy to see our demise – ARE YOU REALLY FOR THE PEOPLE MAKING YOUR RECKLESS COMMENTS; OR,ARE YOU FOR THE WEALTHY ELITE? There is no partisan side really.. not on this rock! It is either you are for the people and their interest or for your self interest and those who have wealth and power! Think about that!
Put the crack pipe down and step away from the CAPS LOCK button!
If your government was even half competent, there would be no problem. So you want the UK to stand farther away while you shoot yourself in the foot (or head)?
That's probably because they dont have fools or idots in their Parliament
I know why you are scared to reveal your name…you might get fired for being stupid.
You know whats pathetic, well YOUR Premier but other than that, ok YOUR UDP PARTY ALSO, but beyond that? When another government needs to tell YOUR government how to READ THE DAMN LAWS AND POLICIES OF YOUR COUNTRY!!!!
Go get an education….while you are at it teach your UDP cronies how to read.
Hi Mac. THe Chinese are calling on line 2 – they want the $3 million back. When you are done babbling on CNS can you please call the church and see if they are ready to scratch your back again? You're gonna need it.
I'd be scared to disclose my name too if I were stupid enough to post such ill-informed inacurate and ignorant crap as you just did. You clearly have no clue whatsoever what you are talking about. Best say nothing at all fool.
Last week (November 5th to 9th 2012) was the best week we have had since the elections in 2009. The 15 members of the Legislative Assembly met for the entire week and didn't manage to do any additional damage or create any more hardship for us. If only this could continue until May 22nd 2013we may stand a chance of recovering from this nightmare of a Government.
Too bad we can’t redo the last 4 years….
Who the hell wants to redo them? I want to undo them!!!
Can’t do anything properly.
In the long run, ordinary Caymanians will thank the FCO for introducing good governance.
Value for their hard earned tax money is a good thing.
Hi head is as hard as mahogany…
His head is as hard as ironwood 🙂
The UK should just pass an Order In Council and be done with it.
Poor Elio quipped that the UK would “not do this in their own country” when referring to non-adherence to the 21-day notice period requirement for Bills presented to the LA. Now Elio tell me that you were mis-quoted in the Caymanian Compass story.
Ruined a perfectly good cup of coffee when I heard that comment from Foolio, but then again that’s par for the course from him.
He needs to find a Village People tribute band and earn a decent living.
Foolio needs to stop spouting his crap and misleading people. The one thing the UK will do is adhere to all such procedures. Cayman could be such a better place without Mac, Foolio and all their UDP sheep and cronies… and actually, I could say that of the PPM too.
Cayman so desperately needs something positive to happen and I fear its not possible with our current sorry crop of politrickians.
Hello, Elio, this is their own country. A British Overseas Territory – belongs to the UK – get it – no, oh well didn't think you would.