Forum to quiz candidates on crime, jobs, education

(CNS): PPM candidate Kenneth Bryan, former UDP incumbent member Mark Scotland, Coalition for Cayman candidates Winston Connolly and Tara Rivers, along with Stefan Baraud, who is running on his own platform, will be making up the panel on the UCCI’s second political forum next Wednesday. Although they were invited, no one from the current UDP party is taking part in the discussion, which will focus on youth, education, employment and crime. Ben Meade, Cayman 27’s News Director, will moderate the event again, which will include submitted questions from the public.

“UCCI is a unique educational institution,” said Roy Bodden, President of UCCI. “We have people as young as fifteen on our campus, as well as mature learners who themselves have fifteen year-old children or grandchildren. It is therefore fitting for us to host a forum that focuses specifically on these topics as they are certainly interlinked.” 

Those who attend the forum will have a chance to ask the candidates questions directly or to submit questions in writing throughout the event. UCCI has already started soliciting questions from its students and the community at large via email and Facebook, which will be available throughout the forum so that those watching and listening can interact with the candidates as well.

The two part series, called “The People’s Forum – A Dialogue with Voters", kicked off last month with newcomers Jacqueline Haynes and Roy McTaggart with C4C, Wayne Panton and Marco Archer with the PPM, and former UDP member Rolston Anglin. They talked about corruption, transparency, good governance and accountability,which the UCCI said generated a “tremendous buzz” regarding the targeted questions about the Nation Building Fund and “vote buying” tactics used by candidates.

“Thus far we have received very positive responses about the first forum,” said Director of Student Services, Mitch Ebanks. “We have been taking the suggestions, both from those who attended and those who tuned in from home, and we will be making some small adjustments that will hopefully only serve to improve the quality of the event,” he added.

The UCCI sent invitations to all candidates that had made their intention to run clear before the forums started. The United Democratic Party (UDP) remains the only group not to have made an appearance after Ellio Solomon cancelled his appearance at the first forum.

The final forum will be held on Wednesday, 20 March, at 6:30pm at the Sir Vassel Johnson Hall at UCCI. The first hour will be televised on Cayman 27 and the entire two hours will be broadcast on Radio Cayman 89.9FM from 7pm to ensure that all voters, including those in the outer districts and the Sister Islands, have access to the information that will be provided at the event.

Questions can be sent via email to: forum@ucci.edu.ky  or placed directly on Facebook: www.facebook.com/officialUCCI

For more information log on to www.ucci.edu.ky click the forum banner or email forum@ucci.edu.ky.