West Bay independent wants road deal renegotiated
(CNS): With just five weeks to go before the election, the campaign trail is heating up and candidates are looking ahead to 23 May when, if elected, the people will be expectingthem to fulfil their campaign trail promises. Dwene Ebanks, who is running on his own platform in West Bay, said that that one of the main policy issues he hopes to address is getting the next government back to the drawing board with Dart over the closure of the West Bay Road, which he said should not have happened or even been a consideration in the ForCayman Investment Alliance in the first place.
“The previous government ministers underestimated the Caymanian people and particularly the West Bay people's strong attachment for that beach area and road,” Ebanks told CNS. “They failed in their elected role as representatives and leaders, in the development process, to get community and country buy-in and singlehandedly, collectively, usurped or by-passed the collective wisdom of some nearly two thousand adult West Bayers opposing this part of the agreement.”
Ebanks said the closure has had a huge negative impact on West Bayers and their sense of ownership.
“I believe it will negatively skew the way they view development going forward. This may not be what the Dart team wanted and certainly is not well for future governments, unless we try and make right this injustice by reconsidering this part of the deal,” he said, adding that if he is part of a coalition government he will be pushing for and support efforts to return to the negotiation table with the view of re-opening that portion of the road. If he is on the back benches, he said, he will be agitating for the same.
Even on the government back bench or the opposition benches MLAs can use private members motions to persuade the government of the day to take up a cause or policy, and Ebanks said he hoped to use that opportunity to persuade government to consider reducing fuel duty.
“This impacts everything and I would champion or support efforts in this regard immediately,” he said. “I believe a seconder for this motion would not be very difficult to find, as I believe all responsible leaders coming off the heels of this elections, would have seen and heard first hand, during canvassing, how people are struggling to close ends at home and would want to debate all possible remedies, including the removal of that fuel tax.”
Unemployment in West Bay is also a high priority for Ebanks, a former civil servant at the department of commerce. He said he believes there at least 300 jobs within the district of West Bay currently occupied by work permits holders that could be filled by West Bayers. If the district had its own labour officer, the skills and qualifications of the unemployed could be more easily matched to district jobs.
“Some candidates in this election seem to think that West Bayers would rather go to the Social Services for assistance and would prefer that to taking on a low paying job but I stand up for all West Bayers and say that West Bayers, like all Caymanians, would rather have a job, any legitimate job, rather than having to beg bread,” he said.
As a lone man alone in the election race where the electorate has four votes, Ebanks said that he won’t be offering any recommendations to West Bayers about what they should do with their remaining three votes but he is hoping that he will be part of a coalition made up of independents looking to recruit party members to form the government rather than the other way around. Therefore, when asked by CNS, Ebanks has refused to commit to any other party or group or say who he would back as premier if he is one of the 18 candidates returned on 23 May.
Guarding his independent position because of what he said was the failure of the current leaders’ disjointed political “machineries” and their failure to look out for the best interests of the people, Ebanks said he intends to serve the people of West Bay and not a party.
Category: Crime
Twenty minutes West Bay to town at rush hour, and they have not opened the Batabanoo leg yet. Shutuppp!
Thanks…. I like you Dwayne but try find something else to talk about. I drove over the road yesterday and I thought for a moment that I was on some major highway. I will give you some topics to talk about, Politicians should not have more than two terms in Office, their salarys reduced to match ours {then there would not be so many running} getting cruise ships to Cayman Brac selecting intelligent caring educated and unbiased members of boards.
I like his thinking. Especially the point about the labor officer. Every district should have one! And I also feel that the MLA offices should be occupied by the elected from 830 – 500pm mon-fri , 1/2 day on Saturday’s! They out to too many meetings at the ritz and not enough in their district offices! If this gentleman’s platform just deals with THIS issue only, that alone is worth a vote! We have to change the thinking of these people who believe that this role is a celebrity perk! This is a working mans role. And if you not up to it, back off!
Good luck to you sir I hope you make it in. Continue to keep it neutral, because as you can see, the party fighting is going on ROUGH now. They terrible out there. Just disgraceful.
22.18, and just who the hell is going to pay for the labour office? Another load of public servants with nothing to do is just what we DONT need..having labor offices is not going to improve the job situation, but having policies that encourange investment might…
Dwyene you are running for politics and you don’t even know that the Labour Department and Labour Officers do not have anything to do with employment? For the record this is done by a new government department known as the National Workforce Development Agency (NWDA) and has nothing to do with labour. Please how in the world do you expect to get in when you don’t even know who or what runs each area of government
The new park is looking really good, everyone has to admit. This would be a great place for families to be together on the weekend. Better than that small sliver of a beach before with cars parked on the side of the road. Not to mention the tourist busses dropping people off and cramming them together. Beach will be triple the size, there will be an amphitheater, beach soccer, a grass field, a dog park, a campground……plus three entry points into West Bay eventually.
Why, why, why is there remotely opposition to this?? I don’t get it. cayman needed a ‘central park’, and this will be that. Big open spaces.
( and no, I don’t work for Dart or have any affiliation. Just an honest, unbiased observation,……and ps, had visitors down this weekend, and loved, loved hanging out at Camana Bay. My guests loved it! Not my opinion, but theirs. Lots of families having wholesome fun.)
Of course you are for it. After all you are here to play while others work. If you cannot see Cayman already is one of the most glorious "open spaces" in the world, you truly are blind in more ways than one.
The candidate can promise the moon, especially if he ain't never gonna be elected, no matter what his politics are.
You are one foolish lot, I just wish that you get it before it’s too late.
We must remember that there are many unspoken constituents who do not or prefer not to voice their opinions or express themselves, and therefore go to their candidates in hopes of having the candidates becoe 'voices' for them…therefore candidates do exactely this. Please bear this in mind when we 'attack' the efforts and energies of candidates. And why would West Bay not be able to generate 300 jobs? It is one of the biggest districts and beautiful; many would love to work and live there…if it wasnt for the crime and negative light often portrayed on the district.
Every candidate deserves a chance and selecting projects is where it starts.
Good luck, Dwene!! You have much more courage than many who post comments.God bless you, win, lose of draw, buddy.
A sorry attempt at Ezzard style bandwagon politics. Biggest joke of the campaign so far, Leslie riding the bus comes a close second.
For goodness sake voters do not vote for someone out of emotion about the closing of the West Bay Road. Wanta be politicians will beat this drum knowing that it is a done deal just to get their place at the trough.
maybe he should get a real legally binding petition started……
remember no pets, tourists, kids, imaginery friends allowed……..
this issue is dead….but the empty can rattles the most….
300 jobs in WB…..?…….LMFAO.
I'm all for Independents in this election and I wish them all well, but on the issue of the yards of West Bay that were diverted in exchange for the construction of a new family-oriented beach park, and miles of new road including 3 new access roads into your district, I couldn't disagree more. That's where you go left and I go right. Good luck to you.
09.50..turn right into the sea and just keep on going…next stop Cancun..your opinions may be vauled more highly there. Unlikely I grant you, but possible.
Nice one, but like it or not, you are stuck with myself and others as newly registered voters in the wonderful District of West Bay, and you have no authority to silence us. Let's try to salvage some dignity if we can.
Oh move on Dwene, this is a done deal…and despite the protests, its actually shaping up to be quite a nice development…now go deal with some real issues..