Politics
Miller: UK office needs local
(CNS): Following the apology in the UK's House of Lords last week from Lord Blencathra (David McLean) over the Tory peer’s contract with the Cayman Islands Government, Ezzard Miller has pointed to the importance of the Cayman government securing a local to head up the London office. The independent member for North Side, who had persistently criticized the appointment of the British peer as the London office boss, said he had been vindicated as he always said it was inappropriate. Last week Lord Blencathra told his upper house peers that he was wrong to have signed the £12,000 per month contract in which he agreed to lobby his fellow peers, MPs and ministers on behalf of the Cayman government, which he described it as a misjudgment.
Although the peer always denied that part of his job was to lobby the Lords, he has said that the contract gave the wrong impression. At the time of his appointment Miller had raised his concerns and said he was the only one that found the situation objectionable and he was criticized for it but now it was time to find a Caymanian for the job.
"I have been vindicated as I was the only one who ever questioned that appointment and now he has been forced to apologise as it was wrong,” Miller told CNS. "We now need to put a Caymanian back in charge of that office to properly fulfill the role of advocating on our behalf in the UK."
He pointed out that the job was not just about the financial sector but about taking care of the needs of Caymanians living in the UK, including the many students there, as well as promoting the tourism sector. Miller said any new Cayman boss there should also try and encourage more local youngsters to study in the UK, as it is not only cheaper for overseas territories citizens but the standards of college education and the institutions precautions are often higher than most US colleges.
He said he sincerely hoped that Caymanians would apply now the post was being advertised and that the right local person for the job would be found quickly. Then the whole episode regarding Blencathra could be put to rest and someone with all of Cayman's interests at heart could be placed in what he said was a very important post.
Lord Blencathra was the first non-Caymanian to hold the job as director of the London office as it was believed he could ‘win friends and influence people’on behalf of the financial services sector, which continues to have a poor reputation in the UK, regardless of the effort to change the lingering image of offshore piracy and tax dodging.
However, Miller always said he believed the appointment of the Tory peer, far from tackling that problem, actually attracted more negative attention. Nor was he alone. The FCO had also raised concerns about the decision by the former premier Mckeeva Bush to appoint Blencathra.
Once concerns were raised in the UK media and parliamentarians complained, an enquiry by the Lords Standards Commissioner led to a change in the code of conduct and ultimately required the peer to say he was sorry. Lord Blencathra had always said he may have lobbied government but he never had any intention of lobbying Parliament on behalf of Cayman. However, his contract had indicated otherwise.
“I misled myself into thinking that, since it was understood that I would not be making representations in reality, then the wording did not matter. But words do matter; I was wrong and I apologise to the House for that misjudgement,” he told the House of Lords last Thursday.
The Standards Commissioner, Paul Kernaghan, accepted that the peer did not intend to lobby when he signed the contract, which is why a harsher punishment was not handed down.
This has prompted Labour MP Paul Flynn, who made the original complaint to table an early day motion arguing that the Lords is not fit to discipline its members.
“The failure to suspend Lord Blencathra from the service of the Lords will further deepen public cynicism on the conduct of parliamentarian,” the motion says.
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Mac won’t back OMOV
(CNS): Although the opposition leader had an opportunity to make some political capital over the government's U-turn on its election promise for the introduction of ‘one man, one vote’, McKeeva Bush still doesn't back the voting change. He told CNS that the people of West Bay whom he represents don’t back it and he believes it would create significant problems for Cayman in the future. He said the matter should be decided by the people and there is no certainty that the return of a PPM government was a vote for OMOV, as he stands by the results of the July 2012 referendum. Bush said that the ballot was decided in accordance with the constitution and not hi-jacked by him, as has been suggested. and Cayman voted against it.
Bush said the campaign for OMOV in single member constituencies began against the backdrop of a "disastrous" global economic downturn.
"The PPM's wanton disregard and understanding of the situation after its … mismanagement of our local economy, with huge projects and no money, yet leaving the largest loan bill the country ever faced – the country could not continue with a protracted ‘campaign’ and that's what was going on then," he said as he recalled the events of 2012 which led him to call the referendum.
Insisting that the referendum wasfair, he said that although the petitioners had asked for a November referendum it was still a people-initiated ballot. He said that calling elections in November in the midst of the rainy season, which plagued past elections, would have cut voter numbers.
Convinced that the petitioners had collected enough signatures to meet the constitutional mandate for a referendum, he said he had moved quickly to deal with it as they wanted. He said the referendum put even more pressure on him and his then UDP administration at a very difficult economic time, and whether the vote had been in November or July, it was initiated by the people and the requirement to have more than 50% of register electors vote 'yes' before it passed was a constitutional hurdle that had nothing to do with him.
"I had asked them (the campaigners) to wait and take the OMOV question during the election in May 2013," Bush said, as he defended his actions over the ballot. "They would not understand, nor did they care about what the country was going through, and would not agree. They said no and then asked for November, roughly 6 months from the 2013 election. That was unreasonable."
Bush insisted that it was a people-initiated referendum, regardless of the dates, and he followed the constitution, which had been crafted by the current premier, who, he said, had "put in that foolish benchmark!"
"If people had come out to vote, my reading was they would have voted against it. And if they went and voted for it, you would not have heard one squeak about which process was used," the opposition leader said. "The proposal is to change our democratic voting system. This a matter that ought to be voted on to be agreed by the voters of this Island. Changing the democratic franchise should not be done without more serious thought given to it."
He said while people may say that the present system is not fair, it is a democratic process still practiced successfully for various kinds of systems of governance in Commonwealth countries.
"It has worked for us for over 180 years and I don't believe our people are worse off for it.
What is being proposed will bring many problems that Cayman won't hurdle in years to come. Those who propose it now have got caught in their own trap and now feel that once they put it in their manifesto it must go ahead. While they crucified me for the OMOV, as they think it will get rid of me and those who run on my ticket, no one knows if they were elected because of the OMOV proposition," Bush added.
But, he said, whatever the outcome on this issue now, he believes that some people will not be elected again.
"There are those who will suffer at the hands of the voter for misleading them and doing nothing for them," the opposition leader stated.
During the last debate on the issue Bush was absent from the chamber and did not add his vote to the government's, which was one of a chain of events that saw the government face a tie on the vote of the private members motion brought by Arden McLean, the independent member for East End, in the face of the PPM government's sudden about face on an issue that many believe did get them elected.
With a number of Cabinet members mysteriously absent from the chamber at the time of the vote and the support for the motion from Bush's two West Bay colleagues, Bernie Bush and Captain Eugene Ebanks, his eastern district fellow independent Ezzard Miller, as well as the government's own Bodden Town backbenchers Anthony Eden and Alva Suckoo, the vote came down to six no’s, six yes and several absentees. The speaker then cast the deciding vote to defeat the motion.
However, the issue is far from dead. While McLaughlin seems steadfast now that the system will not change in this administration because he doesn't have the full support of his non-PPM government members, others are not willing to let the issue go away.
As pressure from the community as well as organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce mounts on government to fulfill the promised to change the electoral landscape before the 2017 election, backbencher Al Suckoo has committed to bringing a motion to the House that he believes will show the there is considerable support from the government benches, flying in the face of his leader’s claims. Arden Mclean has said that the issue if far from resolved and he too is planning another private member’s motion.
As a result the two men could be in a race to see who gets this issue back on the parliamentary agenda first. Either way, however, once the topic hits the floor of the LA again, either the government front bench will be hanging their future political careers on its failure or the motion will pass, forcing the premier to come clean regarding the real stumbling blocks.
Passport issue tops JMC meet
(CNS): The UK's decision to repatriate its passport process is one of the specific areas of concern for most of the UK's overseas territories and was one of the main items on the agenda at the Overseas Territories Heads of Government pre-Joint Ministerial Council Meeting held in Cayman last week. With the exception of the Falkland Islands, where the decision has been made for its citizens to adopt a British passport and abandon their own unique territory passport, all of the other leaders, including Cayman's own premier, are concerned about this issue. At a press briefing following the two-day OT talking shop, Alden McLaughlin outlined a number of difficulties with the repatriation and said it didn't appear it would be resolved "anytime soon."
The annual gathering of OT leaders ahead of the yearly meeting with the UK, on home soil this time for Cayman and chaired by McLaughlin, provides an opportunity for the UK's territories leader to discuss their position on a range of priority issues relating to the UK's white-paper regarding its remaining colonies before they all meet with the UK minister and foreign office Mandarins in London in December.
Of the various issues causing concern, the move by the UK to bring all printing of British passports back to the UK appears to be a difficult one. In the final communique from the meeting, the leaders stated that a major aim was: "Ensuring the security and protection of our borders and the safety and welfare of our people, including access to all passports, specifically emergency travel, despite the UK’s new policy to repatriate the printing of all passports to the United Kingdom by the end of this year."
The passport issue not only raises concerns about cost but also the issue of travel to the United States, which is of particular concern to the regional territories and Cayman as it may require some British passport holders to get visas to travel to America.
The repatriation is scheduled to happen by the end of this year but given the recent challenges at the UK passport office, with long delays in the delivery of full passports, the UK government created a one year passport renewal to get past the delay for those with pending travel plans but these passports won't support the US visa waiver system known as ESTA, which means holders may have to go through the ordeal of applying for a US visa, which also takes months and will already have begun impacting Caymanians and other territory citizens.
McLaughlin was pessimistic about this "issue being resolved anytime soon”, as he warned that in order to meet the UK repatriation requirement and retain the country's name on Cayman passports, things would be problematic.
The overseas territory leaders pointed out that this problem was not of their making. At a press briefing last week Fabian Picardo from Gibraltar said it was a "unilateral decision taken by the UK" without consultation.
McLaughlin also explained that the way Cayman Islands passport holders' information will be sent to Britain has still not been sorted. He said he believed it would transmitted via the local passport office to the UK for processing and then once issued it would be sent back to Cayman.
Among the other issues discussed by the OT leaders was economic diversification, the principles of good governance in the administration of all the territories and the rights their citizens people to self-determination, as well as environmental concerns. In addition, the financial services sector and the thorny issue of an open register of beneficial ownership of offshore companies was also on the agenda.
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OCC lauded by Kilpatrick
(CNS): The governor lauded good governance last week as the Office of the Complaints Commissioner was marking ten years of dealing with government complaints. Despite the current fiasco over her own office's battle to keep a record of a complaint about the management of the controversial probe Operation Tempura secret, Helen Kilpatrick, emphasized, ironically, the importance of public confidence in the conduct of government. Regardless of the conduct of her own office and its failure to be transparent over the Tempura complaint, the UK's representative appeared to be telling civil servants 'to do as I say and not as I do' at the OCC event.
“It is essential that the people of the Cayman Islands have confidence in the conduct of their government,” she said, adding this applied to every aspect of the public sector as she pointed to spending of public funds, the provision of education and healthcare to the treatment of prisoners and the management of the islands’ waste, but not it appeared transparency in her own office.
“The public should have a method of recourse when they feel they are the victims of unacceptable conduct, inadequate administration or when there has been an unreasonable interpretation of the law,” Kilpatrick said. “Where there are failings, it is essential that there is an independent body which can address these,” she added, praising the work of the OCC, led by Commissioner Nicola Williams.
The comments from the governor come just days after the information commissioner ordered her office, once again, to release the documents that relate to a complaint made by both the former lawyer and senior investigating officer on the bungled Operation Tempura probe. The complaint was dismissed by the former governor but the report of the dismissal has been the subject of battle lasting more than a year between the governor's office and the ICO that has cost the Cayman tax payer tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees as the British representative in Cayman continues to try and keep the controversial report and the details of the complaint secret.
Kilpatrick has become the third governor involved in the fiasco and has continued on the path of trying to fight the release. It is not clear, however, if she will be continuing the fight in the face of the acting commissioner’s latest direction to her office to release the relevant records.
William's office, which is similar to the ICO in that it too is an independent watchdog for good governance and conducts research into how well government delivers services and deals with problems. One of several institutions created to bolster democracy and transparency in government, it supports the civil service in processing complaints by providing training and encouragement. It also confers awards on government personnel who manage internal complaints.
"This outreach work is crucial to ensure that standards are maintained throughout the Cayman Islands Civil Service,” the governor said at the celebration held last week.
Kilpatrick encouraged the public sector to work with the OCC and consider its recommendations. In an ironic twist, she said that only timely action bolsters public confidence that complaints are taken seriously, after her office has sat on these documents for more than two years.
Despite praising Williams, CNS also understands that the current commissioner's contract comes to an end this month. Williams has served five years and so far no recruitment process has begun nor, according to members of the Legislative Assembly, has Williams been given a new contract.
MLA and chairman of the oversight committee, Ezzard Miller, attested to the high quality and high standards upheld Williams and her staff. The committee, comprising sitting House MLAs, receives quarterly reports from the Commissioner about the working of the OCC, he said.
British Virgin Islands’ Complaints Commissioner Elton Georges, a special guest at the ten year anniversary celebration, noted the OCC’s high quality of work had garnered both regional and international attention.
Meanwhile, Williams also unveiled the fifth edition of the OCC-produced Small Claims Handbook, written by local attorney and a former OCC intern, Brett Basdeo. The publication aims to demystify the small claims court process, empowering those who wish to bring claims under $20,000,
Bush condemns ‘hypocrisy’
(CNS): The opposition leader has said the premier's announcement that he won't be pursuing the promised electoral reform agenda is all the more hypocritical because of the amount of energy he gave to the idea when the UDP held the reins of government. McKeeva Bush said that when Alden McLaughlin was in opposition he dedicated all of his energies to 'one man, one vote (OMOV) and attempting to derail the government by colluding with Duncan Taylor, the former governor, in what Bush described as "undemocratic antics". The veteran politician said while he was trying to put the country on a sounder footing, McLaughlin was using electoral reform to disrupt his administration.
Yet now that the PPM leader has become premier, with twelve MLAs on the government benches (not counting the speaker) out ofa total of 18 members and in a position to implement change, he appears to have abandoned plans for electoral reform.
Bush told CNS Tuesday, "All my energies were focused on trying to get our country on sounder footing with projects that were good, getting people employed and bigger and sustainable reserves," he said. "But Alden's energies were on OMOV, electoral reform and derailing everything that the UDP proposed. Duncan Taylor and him joined together to push us deeper and deeper into an abyss, with undemocratic antics, of which they succeeded."
Pointing to what he said were the "vindictive efforts" of the UK's representative at the time to smear him and his leadership, Bush said this was because he was prepared to, and continues to, stand up to the Foreign Office when it mistreated the overseas territories.
Comparing his own time in office to the current premier’s one year plus at the helm of government, Bush said the present administration is 'worthless' and it will soon become apparent to the entire electorate what is going on.
Bush said the decision by McLaughlin to U-turn over the introduction of one man, one vote, in single member constituencies when he was in a position to introduce the change proved the premier's "unreliability" and he said it spoke to "his character as a leader".
The whole of the PPM had made electoral reform a major campaign promise, Bush said, claiming it was an attempt to derail his efforts in moving the economy forward and to get Caymanians employed, while forcing the country to the expense of a referendum. "Now" the opposition leader said, "no OMOV and still a worsening economy."
Although Bush had held back for the first few months of the PPM administration on handing out extensive criticism, saying he would not be the objectionable opposition that he accused his long-time political foe of being, the opposition leader has become increasingly critical of the current government. He has recently taken it to task over a number of issues, including the marinas on Cayman Brac, the management of government boards and the financial services minister's cooperation over the new international regime of automatic disclosure in the offshore sector.
He has, however, taken particular aim over the hypocrisy he says is being displayed by the premier on electoral reform. During the debate on the issue in the Legislative Assembly in February, when Arden McLean, the member for East End, tabled a motion to change the elections law to pave the way for OMOV in SMCs, McLaughlin made his first public comment about the need for more consultation and the departure from OMOV in SMCs and the possibility of 'at large' candidates.
During the debate Bush said that in more than 20 years in politics he had never seen such a turnaround as that taken by the premier when he stood up to reveal the change of heart on electoral reform. Bush said he was “shocked” when he heard the premier talk about 'at large' candidates and changing the number of constituencies and warned the government that it would be held accountable for “this broken promise”.
Since then the premier has said on two further occasions that because he does not have the full support of his entire government for the electoral change, despite the PPM campaign promise, it is looking increasingly likely that the status quo will remain. While McLaughlin has implied that those objecting to reform are the non-Progresssive members of his team, Tara Rivers, Roy McTaggart, Winston Connolly, all three issued a joint statement this week saying they supported OMOVs and were looking forward to seeing electoral reform before the end of this term.
The independent member Ezzard Miller has also criticized the premier's position and questioned his leadership abilities, given his claims that his government is split over the issue as he demanded that McLaughlin lead as he is meant to do. He told CNS, that he had concerns the PPM election promises on major issues such as labour law reform, minimum wage and OMOV were “nothing more than sound bites to get elected”.
He added, “If the premier really believes it, he should lead.”
In the latest twist, however, Al Suckoo, a member of the PPM back-bench, has revealed that he will be filing a private members motion on the issue as he believes he has a duty to try and fulfill the election promise he made.
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Suckoo to file OMOV motion
(CNS): Disappointed that his leader appears to be abandoning the PPM’s election promise to introduce equality of voting in time for the 2017 elections, government back-bencher Alva Suckoo is taking matters into his own hands and is preparing a private members motion on the issue and is hoping to win enough votes from inside the PPM and C4C members as well as the opposition benches to demonstrate that, contrary to claims from the premier, there is enough support to make the change now without his government falling apart. Meanwhile, the Chamber of commerce boss and a prominent member of the original OMOV campaign is also urging the premier to keep his word.
Suckoo’s announcement that he will file a private member’s motion to introduce 'one man, one vote' in single member constituencies is a political risk for the legislative novice but it’s one he says he is willing to take in order to fulfill the promise he said he made to Bodden Town voters.
“I am disappointed that the electoral reform that so many of us campaigned for and promised is now becoming a political football,” Suckoo told CNS Tuesday evening as he announced his intention to bring the proposal to the Legislative Assembly at the earliest opportunity.
“I campaigned heavily for the change and I believe that my eventual election in Bodden Town was assisted by my stand for equality. Some will say that this is not a priority for the country and we need to get on with more important initiatives, and while I agree that there is much to be done, I also maintain that voter equality is a major priority.”
He added that government could not justify maintaining the current system which favours some people.
“Votes are political currency and when you have an unequal distribution of voting rights, those with the most power will always have an advantage over the others,” said Suckoo, who is a counsellor in the premier’s as well as Osbourne Bodden’s ministry.
“I know that I will be criticised for taking this step and I will take whatever political punishment that comes with taking this position but I also want to assure everyone that I plan to remain with the government and to continue to contribute and do the job I was elected to do.”
Suckoo said the government has a mandate to introduce electoral reform and he said he was committed to keeping the promise he made.
“This issue is becoming a huge distraction from the work we need to do with unemployment, poverty, discrimination against Caymanians, economic development, education and all the other campaign promises we made, and it needs to be settled once and for all.”
Like many, Suckoo believes the country cannot go the polls again without equality in voting rights and his concerns have been echoed by the Chamber of Commerce president. Johann Moxam. who campaigned heavily for the introduction of OMOVs in SMCs in the referendum of July 2012. Although that passed in favour of OMOV with a simple majority, it did not reach the bar set by the then UDP government of a majority of all voters. As a result, hopes in the community for reform shifted towards the election of a new government.
Concerned over comments by Premier Alden McLaughlin that he is not willing to bring a government motion on the issue because of what he says is opposition within the PPM-led administration, Moxam said his position contradicts the PPM’s manifesto pledge.
“I would encourage him to consult with his colleagues in order to fulfill this campaign promise,” he said, pointing to the list of his current government front- and back-bench members who were instrumental in the citizen-driven initiative that lead to the referendum.
“The premier stated that the PPM would restore trust and confidence in the government and the Cayman Islands as a whole and pledged to be open and accountable. Fulfilling manifesto promises is the bedrock for maintaining credibility and the confidence of all stakeholders. I would encourage the premier to lead his party to fulfill the promise to introduce single member constituencies and implementation of one man, one vote prior to the 2017 election … otherwise, their manifesto becomes an empty shell and merely words printed on paper that have no meaning.”
Moxam, who personally a supports OMOV, said the Chamber has also always backed it because of the basic principle of guaranteeing equality. He said smaller constituencies with a single member encourage stronger connections between representative and constituent and increases accountability and guarantees equality.
The Chamber boss said he appreciated the challenges facing government, from the cost of living and the dump to creating jobs for locals and the revitalization of George Town, but noted that electoral reform was also a campaign pledge.
McLaughlin is facing political heat on this from all directions. On Monday evening the Coalition for Cayman members of his government made it clear that they were not the stumbling blocks to reform, as has been implied by the country’s leader.
Several of his own PPM members, including Marco Archer and Wayne Panton, were also prominent in the referendum campaign and support electoral reform to OMOV in this term. While they were able to fudge their positions during the motion brought by Arden McLean earlier this year, suggesting public discussion on the shape of the future political landscape, the PPM leader’s more certain announcement this week that he won’t be dealing with this matter before 2017 has left them with a stark choice.
While McLaughlin looks increasingly isolated in his position on electoral reform, the question that remains is how many of his 12-strong team (exclusive of the Speaker Juliana O’Connor-Connolly who is known to oppose OMOVs in SMCs) will support Suckoo’s motion, to fulfill an election promise.
UK boss criticises local media
(CNS): Despite being under constant threat from over 500 lawyers ready to sue over the slightest infraction, the UK’s representative in Cayman has criticised the local media as being “wholly unregulated and uncontrolled”. The governor’s office has condemned freedom of the press in the Cayman Islands as it battles to keep the lid on a secret report regarding the UK-led bungled internal police investigation, Operation Tempura. In the latest submissions to the information commissioner about the release of documents regarding the discredited probe, the third governor embroiled in this affair has attacked what she claimed is the “unregulated nature of the media”, which would lead to biased reporting about the issue.
In its fight to keep a report documenting a complaint about the management of the investigation and its rejection by the previous governor, Duncan Taylor, the governor’s office implied that the “unfounded” allegations about the judiciary in the complaint and subsequent report would if released pose a substantial risk to the local bench.
This, the governor claims, is down to the media. Her office said in its submission to the information commissioner that if the documents were released there “is a substantial risk that the coverage of the allegations will not be properly balanced by the findings contained in the lengthy report.”
The governor argued that the treatment in the local media of the complaint and report “would be likely to give public currency to the unmerited allegations they contain rather than to clarify the position or promote greater public understanding of his decision.”
However, there was no support for the allegations, which fly in the face of the moves by local media houses, and CNS in particular, to post in full all documents and reports which come into our possession on our website.
Acting Information Commissioner Jan Liebaers came to the defence of the local media and noted that the claims made by the governor were also irrelevant, as he said the questions of access to a record had nothing to do with how that record might be used in the future.
“This would be a shortcut to censorship, and would contradict the fundamental objectives of the FOI Law,” he stated in his decision. “Either a record is exempt under the Law or it is not, but, in either case, any presumed future use of a record can have no bearing on its disclosure. This principle is stated in section 6(3), which states that an applicant is not required to give any reason forrequesting access. In the UK it is known as 'motive blindness'.”
He pointed out that in a democratic society such as Cayman the press has every right to express their views freely, including views critical of government.
“Freedom of Expression is guaranteed in section 11 of the Constitution, and the FOI Law is itself explicitly intended “to reinforce and give further effect to certain fundamental principles underlying the system of constitutional democracy. It is within this democratic context that the present reconsidered decision is being made, and it seems futile to wonder how this case would play out if the media were 'regulated and controlled'.
“No doubt this would reduce the disclosure of information by government considerably, and increase the number of articles in the media favourable to Government, but that is not the constitutional and statutory framework within which this reconsideration is taking place, and such observations add nothing to the question at hand,” he wrote.
Although Cayman does not have a press complaints commission or a regulated press association, freedom of the press has been controlled in Cayman in much more subtle ways through the threats of litigation and pressure from advertisers.
The fall in revenue for most media houses around the world with the advent of the internet has also put pressures on press freedom. Few news organisations in the modern world can fund the major investigative projects which were more common in the hey-day of the newspaper, when advertising revenue in the US and Europe funded investigative reports.The media is increasingly influenced by big business and governments around the world as a result of financial difficulties, and the press in Cayman is also subject to these censoring pressures, despite the governor’s believe that the media here is a law unto itself.
Mac: PPM should be ashamed
(CNS): Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush has said that, with the exception of Anthony Eden, the Progressive administration should be ashamed as a result of the position the premier has taken on electoral reform. Alden McLaughlin has claimed that he does not have the full support of his government as the non-Progressive members won’t support 'one man, one vote' in single member constituencies. The premier has said it is unlikely that reform will be dealt with during this administration, despite the election promise. Bush called him a “hypocrite” who never intended to implement the change. And in a move that appears to support Bush’s allegations, the C4C members said they all support OMOV.
Earlier this year the speaker cast the deciding vote to defeat a private member's motion brought to the LA by Arden McLean on the introduction of 'one man, one vote' in single member constituencies after the debate split the government benches. Anthony Eden and Al Suckoo both voted for McLean’s motion in opposition to the instructions from the government front bench, as the premier had implied that the non-PPM members would depart his government if they supported OMOV in SMCs.
During the debate McLaughlin raised the issue of other forms of electoral reform, including the idea of 'at large' candidates, and said there would be a public discussion. However, when several front bench members were absent from the Chamber at the crucial time, the motion came close to winning the day, with six yes votes and six no's and an abstention from the opposition leader. The speaker then made the casting vote to defeat the motion.
Since then, the premier has continued to backtrack on the campaign promise that the only sure way to get OMOV in SMCs was to vote for a Progressive government, by indicating that it is his non-PPM colleagues that are derailing the process.
Speaking to Cayman 27 in an interview this week he made it clear that it was very unlikely he would be pressing ahead.
While it is common knowledge that Speaker Juliana O’Connor Connolly is not in favour of the reform, the C4C members of government have been less clear about their position. However, on Tuesday evening in a joint statement Tara Rivers, Roy McTaggart and Winston Connolly set the record straight. They told CNS that they were behind equality of voting and were looking forward to electoral reform during this administration, flying in the face of claims by the premier.
“As the minority members of the PPM led coalition government, we are and have always been committed to the principle of equality of franchise and to implementing the concept of 'One Man, One Vote' in the Cayman Islands in time for the 2017 General Election,” the three C4C members stated. “We support, encourage and look forward to voting on electoral reform prior to the next General Election and support the premier and the government making this a priority."
But with the premier stating that not only is this not a priority and unlikely to happen at all, the opposition leader, who has always rejected OMOV in SMCs as he believes Cayman is too small, has accused McLaughlin of never backing the voting change and merely riding the coat tails of the campaign during 2012 in response to the referendum.
"It is no surprise that the current premier has backtracked on his campaign promise to implement OMOV,” Bush told CNS Monday. “Everybody knows he is a hypocrite and never had any intention to do so. He never supported OMOV from the beginning. Alden McLaughlin rode the coat tails of the OMOV movement before and during 2012, just like he has always been riding Kurt Tibbetts' coat tails to get elected from day one. The latest statement proves his unreliability and speaks to his character as leader. How can he be trusted?” the opposition leader asked.
Bush said the premier would say and do anything for political power, but he was proving to the world who he really is. “People are seeing the real Alden now,” he added.
Describing the premier as “duplicitous and hypocritical”, he said it was not just McLaughlin who was failing to keep his word to the people but the PPM party as well.
“The whole PPM made this OMOV a major campaign promise to try and derail my efforts in moving the economy forward and get Caymanians employed, while forcing the country to the expense of a referendum in July 2012,” Bush lamented. “Now all of them look to be running for cover by forgetting all the promises made at every opportunity to the country, all of them except Anthony Eden should be ashamed, and the people finally must see them for the lily-white charlatans that they are … Now no OMOV. And still a worsening economy. Why have are all the promoters of OMOV gone quiet?" he queried.
Along with Eden, Al Suckoo also voted with McLean on his motion during the debate in the LA in February and he is still giving his full backing to voting reform. Regardless of what has been said by McLaughlin in an interview, Suckoo said Monday that he was not aware of any decision to not move forward with electoral reform.
“I am operating on the understanding that we will discuss this in caucus and decide on the way forward with SMC, OMOV and at large members,” he said. “I assume the premier is giving his personal opinion and not making an official statement but I have been off island for a week and I am not aware of any discussions that took place in my absence, so I will wait to hear more from Caucus,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ezzard Miller, who seconded McLean’s motion and was, alongside McLean, a leader in the referendum campaign, told CNS that he was not at all surprised by the premier’s comments.
He said, “I am not shocked nor surprised by the premier’s revelation that he has no definitive plans to introduce OMOV in SMCs in time for the next elections,” he said. “I have never been convinced that the PPM really, truly, genuinely supported or wanted OMOV.”
The independent member for North Side said that at every opportunity they found someone to blame for not doing it and he described their election promise as mere sound bites to get elected.
“The premier needs to stop hiding behind this idea that ‘someone is stopping it’. He needs to lead,” Miller said. “He needs to name the people in his government that are so powerful that they can override the manifesto promise.”
Although McLaughlin has signalled his reluctance now to press ahead with any kind of reform, the leader of the country will still have to face the debate on what may become the single most damaging decision of his administration as the pressure for change within as well as outside the PPM remains strong.
McLean, who brought the recent motion and the man who made it clear that he believed that McLaughlin has never supported OMOVs in SMCS during his impassioned debate, has said he will continue on his campaign.
He told CNS, “I will be re submitting the motion that did not receive definitive resolution in January. A definitive conclusion is required to close this chapter in our political life. All will get that opportunity soon,” he added.
Blencathra to apologise to House of Lords
(CNS Business): The former director of the Cayman Island’s London office, Lord Blencathra, was found to have broken the rules by lobbying Parliament and MPs by the Commissioner for Standards in the UK’s House of Lords and has been ordered to apologise to the House for the inclusion in the first contract he signed with the Cayman Islands Government of a phrase that indicate that he was lobbying Parliament. The House of Lords Rules prohibit members from accepting or agreeing to accept payment or other reward in return for providing parliamentary advice or services.Read more on CNS Business
Rivers: Schools won’t select
(CNS): Following revelations on CNS Tuesday that Minister Tara Rivers is considering the privatization of the education system, as advocated by her campaign supporters in the Coalition for Cayman, she denied that this will result in a two tier system. She said it would not mean the marginalization of kids with special needs, learning difficulties or behaviour problems and that schools won’t be able to select students. However, it is not clear how government will prevent that inevitability. While Rivers accused CNS of “ignoring the facts and putting out speculative information”, she hasn’t explained how by moving to public–private partnerships in education that selection and segregation of local students won’t automatically follow.
While the premier, a former education minister, remained silent in the face of the minister’s undefined proposals as well as the damning advertorial in the local press posted by her political backers, Rivers said she was “taking a critical look at the education system” and announcements would be made once all plans are in place. The policy she is pursuing appears to be a radical departure from the premier’s and the Progressive’s position on equality in education.
Despite requesting comment from the country’s leader, Alden McLaughlin has still not responded to CNS questions.
Rivers, however, said yesterday that the privatization proposal is still under discussion within the ministry and government and that the “presumptions” pointed out by CNS about the problems commonly associated with these types of schools “erroneously speculated in the article” were premature. Rivers criticized the CNS article, which drew attention to the fact that the type of systems that the minister is considering adopting have been already been implemented across Britain and many have fallen far short of expectations.
While some schools have done well as a resultof being able to select their pupils, others have failed and made poor schools even worse. In some case parents have fought long campaigns to prevent schools opting out of local authority control because of the inequities that have resulted in other academies. The pressures on schools remaining under government control in the UK have also become greater as they are forced to take kids rejected by the more elite academies, charter and grant-maintained semi-private schools that have emerged over the last decade, while juggling with constant budget cuts.
Nevertheless, Rivers has denied that any of these things will happen under her plans for public-private partnerships and board controlled schools here in Cayman.
“I refute the claims in the article about not accommodating students with special education needs, learning difficulties and behaviour problems, as well as the claims about the ability for schools to pick or choose students. Also, the claims about the selection criteria for students being based on examination passes, etc, as opposed to catchment areas are equally unfounded,” the minister said, but did not say how the schools would be able to define themselves without having their own selection criteria.
Although Rivers has been quick to deny concerns over selection and inequity regarding her proposals, she has not been so quick to defend her staff or teachers in the face of the significant criticism by her colleagues in the C4C, who have accused them of “empire building” and accused teachers of dumbing down.
The Coalition has also criticized the much lauded International Baccalaureate system and suggested that because education is free people don’t appreciate it. While the C4C is clearly pushing for an even broader privatization agenda, Rivers has not yet denied the possibility that fees may be introduced.
CNS asked Rivers if she supports the position of C4C and their damning criticism but she has not responded to that request or other specific questions asking about the move towards public-private partnerships in government schools.
See related story on CNS: Minister plans school sell-off
See Viewpoint: Academies