Politics
Alden meets golf legend but project queries remain
(CNS): A press briefing called by the developers of the proposed Ironwood development and golf course to announce a deal with government over the project and the construction of the East-West arterial was cancelled at the last minute Thursday. A number of questions remain about the proposed $360 million development, which is supposedly breaking ground this week. Although politicians shook hands with golf legend Arnold Palmer, who is backing the golf course, there have been no details released about the deal the minister for planning, Kurt Tibbetts, reportedly signed at the Westin yesterday, which could signal the destruction of the Mastic Reserve and trail.
Environment Minister Wayne Panton recently said that the road, which is currently destined to slice through the Mastic Reserve and the Salina Reserve, could be re-directed from the current gazette, which has not yet been formalized. He also said that the National Conservation Law would require government to follow the advice of the National Environment Council before allowing the development of a new road.
But more than two months after its historic passage the law has still not been implemented, which means a developer in partnership with the National Roads Authority could press ahead with yet another project threatening the environment, this time on National Trust land, without seeking the advice of is environment agency or the support of the people.
With the press briefing cancelled and no confirmation on when the ground breaking is taking place, the two MLAs from East End and North Side, whose constituencies this project straddles, have also raised their concerns. They said they have been given no details again about yet another potentially massive construction project, which would seriously change their districts for ever.
“We don’t say we object to the development per se,” Arden McLean said but as his independent colleague Ezzard Miller added, “We don’t know anything as no one has thought to tell us anything.”
The planning department has also confirmed that, with the exception of a small commercial unit, they have received no new applications from the developers over and abovea sub division application made several years ago. Despite hearing that a Planned Area Development application was forthcoming, it has so far not materialized, officials told CNS recently
A sign at the site also indicated that some of the land in the area is for sale, and with the exception of some clearance of an access road, there is no activity taking place at the site where the golf course and resort, and mixed used community will be going.
The developers have said the proposed golf course will use the tyres from the dump, and while government has again failed to attract a buyer in its latest RFP, there has been no commitment yet from the minister for the Department of Environmental Health, Osbourne Bodden, that it will be giving the tyres to the developers.
Mac ‘shocked’ by U-turn
(CNS): The opposition leader said that in more than 20 years in politics he had never seen such a turnaround as he saw on Thursday when the premier stood up and said what he did. McKeeva Bush said he was “shocked” when he heard the premier talk about 'at large' candidates and changing the number of constituencies. Bush went on the attack, saying that government was full of excusesand speaking about loyalty and a man’s word, implying the government had neither, as he described a man who can’t keep his word as a ‘pheeyong–pheeyong’ person. Bush warned the government that it would be held accountable for “this broken promise”.
Taking part in the debate on the private member's OMOV motion brought by the member for East End, Arden McLean, Thursday, which has dominated the LA proceedings this week, Bush said everyone knew where he stood on this. However, the opposition and now CDP (formerly UDP) leader told his colleagues to vote their conscience, as he challenged the premier to do the same with his members, many of whom are understood to be toeing the party line on this issue very reluctantly.
Describing government as "iffing and butting" over the backbone of the country’s democracy, Bush took aim at the premier as the cause of the turnaround. “What a difference a day, what a difference power and position makes,” he said.
“The premier is weak, weak, weak,” Bush exclaimed, saying that he could not get elected on his own and he had run on the coattails of the first elected member for George Town, Kurt Tibbetts.
He said that Alden McLaughlin had travelled far on the issue when he made his announcement Wednesday, as Bush took full advantage of the government’s change of heart less than a year after it was elected. Criticising the 'at large' idea, he said that it was adopted by BVI because they had no choice and at the behest of the UK, who, he said would do anything to confuse things, and as a way to add the members they needed.
The opposition leader said he heard no clear solutions coming from government but he had heard “we want it but we don’t want it” and he accused government of wasting time. He said if it wasn’t broken then they should not fix it and warned, “When you start experimenting, you don’t know what you will end up with.”
He accused the government members of campaigning on the OMOV and SMCs to “break Fortress McKeeva”, and berated them for the distraction the referendum campaign had caused him when he was premier.
“It’s not the system of voting that’s keeping people unemployed or making the dump worse or why people are losing their homes,” he said, claiming that government was hypocritical as he questioned where all the work was that had previously justified the referendum.
He said the government had “worn their shoes out” campaigning for 'one man, one vote' in 18 SMCs, saying how much better it would be and it “would get rid of me … but I am still here,” he said, laughing hard, adding, “a hard man f'dead.”
Revisiting the issue of former governor Duncan Taylor and Bush’s own ongoing legal challenges, he said that what it took to break 'Fortress McKeeva' was not a change in the voting system but one governor to paint him black, as he laughed even harder.
“I never heard more about how we need it but we don’t need it, you want it but you don’t want it,” Bush said, taking the government benches to task as each member had backtracked on their original position.
However, he pointed to the premier as the main cause of the turnaround, saying it was him who was not willing to support any system where Tibbetts would not carry him because he could not win on his own in his district. Describing government’s position as 180 degree turn, he said that, given the back and forth, they may still do a 360 degree turn back to the start as they had not offered any solution yet.
Eden backs SMCs motion
(CNS): For the second time since the PPM government was elected to office, their veteran back-bencher, Anthony Eden, has rebelled against the party line. During the debate on a private member's motion brought by Arden McLean asking government to make the necessary amendments to the election law to introduce 'one man, one vote' in single member constituencies, in opposition to his colleagues, the Bodden Town MLA said he could not "get his head around" what "formula" government might adopt but he had campaigned for SMCs and would support the motion. In October, Eden opted not to toe the party line when the government passed the law to allow the 1,400 people on Term Limit Exemption Permits to stay until year nine and apply for residency.
Eden made a short and to the point contribution, pointing out he would always vote his own conscience and had given this issue considerable thought. Addressing the talk of garrisons, demographics and the so-called problems with smaller constituencies, Eden pointed out that there had never been any issues with democracy in East End and North Side. Referencing George Orwell’s Animal Farm, he said he was reminded that we are “all created equal but some are more equal than others”.
Pointing to the 65% 'yes' vote in the referendum in 2012 during what he described as a “roller coaster debate”, Eden said he had campaigned for SMCs and OMOV and he would support the motion.
However, others on the government front and back benches who had also campaigned on the issue, including those at the forefront of the OMOV referendum campaign, such as Marco Archer, Al Suckoo and Wayne Panton, all backtracked from their original positions on the issue.
Archer said that maybe he had been wrong about the accountability of multi-member constituencies; Suckoo had decided that perhaps there would be problems with smaller constituencies; and Panton said there was more than one route to equality of voting, as he emphasised his concern that there were many other issues which were more pressing than OMOV on government’s legislative agenda.
Moses Kirkconnell also noted that since being elected, not a single person had raised the issue of voting because it was jobs and the economy dominating the current environment, as he and his colleagues justified the PPM u-turn.
The Legislative Assembly adjourned around 5:30pm Thursday and is expected to resume this morning Friday at 10:30am to continue the debate.
LA silent on basic wage
(CNS): The members of the PPM government all remained silent on Wednesday during the LA debate on a private member's motion regarding the minimum wage. Even though the Progressives' election manifesto clearly states that introducing a minimum wage would be an “early priority” for a PPM administration, following a long speech read by the employment minister criticising the concept and Ezzard Miller’s motion, making it clear that she was not about to introduce a basic wage any time soon, none of the other PPM members spoke on the issue. In closing the debate on the motion, which was voted down by the entire government, Miller reminded the government of its campaign promises.
Taking aim at the employment minister, the North Side member said that during the twenty years that parliamentarians have been wrangling over the minimum wage, he had never heard such adiatribe of excuses from a minister and even suggested that Tara Rivers' response on the minimum wage was even more convoluted than the one delivered by her predecessor, who was very well known for his long-winded meandering presentations to the LA.
Given the manifesto and campaign promises and the premier’s own oft repeated regrets about not implementing the minimum wage when he was labour minister between 2005 and 2009, Miller said that when he last brought this same motion to the LA, the premier had been very much in favour.
Hitting back at many of the objections to the motion raised by Rivers, Miller said most were excuses not genuine objections. One of the many examples he gave was the minister’s suggestion that a minimum wage could impact government finances and wage rates and that would have to be examined. Miller said if she didn’t know what that impact would be she could have just asked the finance minister over the weeks since the government postponed the private members motions in order to consider them. If not, the rates were available on line, he said, as he pointedout that government’s lowest hourly rate is over $9.
He said the issues about domestics and measuring benefits in kind was already in the labour law so half of any basic wage could be in kind. He said the rate had nothing to do with hours or contracts of employment or any other element of working conditions.
Miller said that if Rivers had difficulties understanding what was meant by a minimum wage, it was simple: it was the lowest hourly wage rate people could expect to be employed. He said $5 was very basic and the government has had plenty of time to ask its experts and technocrats how that low basic rate would impact the economy.
He also pointed out that her fears about jobs being wiped out was unfounded. This was not the problem, Miller said, because there were 20,000 jobs already that Caymanians could not get, but a minimum wage might just change that for some.
After Miller had described the Progressive government a dozen times as the "Regressive" government because of its u-turn on the commitment, the premier called for a point of order from the speaker to prevent Miller from using the term again, as he said it was insulting and unparliamentary. After a consultation in the dictionary, the speaker agreed that the term was legitimate in context but the North Side member should not use it as an insult.
Miller pointed to the criticisms and insults to him from the employment minister, who had suggest Miller was an "arm chair economist", who had done no research into his desire to implement a minimum wage and had plucked it from the sky.
As the debate deteriorated into a disagreement between Miller and the premier, the independent member said it wasn’t him that took the debate “into the mud” but said he was not afraid to go there on behalf of his constituents, as he urged the government to implement a minimum wage and help the people.
The motion was voted down, with all 12 government MLAs voting 'no', despite their election commitments, versus the five opposition and independent members ‘yes’ votes.
The LA resumes Thursday at 10am with the continuation of the debate on OMOV and SMCs following the premier’s revelations that government is rethinking the approach to Cayman’s election landscape and voter equality.
Bush: strangulating bureaucracy delayed hospital
(CNS): When the former premier and now leader of the opposition was asked to deliver remarks at the opening of the Shetty hospital, McKeeva Bush said it would have been opened long before now had it not been for the “strangulating bureaucracy” and opposition from the previous governor and deputy governors. However, the CUDP (formerly UDP) leader said it was the former overseas territories minister, Henry Bellingham, in the end that offered his support to the UDP administration’s efforts to facilitate the development. Lamenting the red tape dominating modern politics in Cayman, he pointed to the same problems facing the current government over the dock and the dump.
Speaking at the formal opening ceremony of the Health City hospital in East End, Bush reviewed the history of the project when the idea of the Shetty hospital surfaced, and the circumstances surrounding it. He revealed it was not until Bellingham took the OT minister’s post that Bush got the support he needed.
“Despite the then governor and his deputy not supporting the project and the then opposition and others not supporting the project, Bellingham understood where I wanted to go with the project and gave me his approval,” the opposition leader said, in a speech that went well over his allotted time and was not as well received by the audience as the opposition leader may have hoped.
CNS understands that at the time the governor, Duncan Taylor, had reportedly raised questions about the legislative changes to medical professional standards that were needed to facilitate Shetty’s hospital, and the North Side member Ezzard Miller had opposed the plan from beginning to end. However, the PPM had been cautiously supportive of that project and of all the planned projects proposed by Bush during the UDP administration, the hospital and Cayman Enterprise City had been backed by the then opposition.
Bush, however, lamented the opposition and challenges he said he faced and said the hospital could have been completed much sooner had there not been such opposition, but he was now vindicated for taking the steps necessary to pave the way for what would be the start of the third leg of the economy.
“When all is said and done, this morning we will have witnessed a significant step towards that targeted diversification of our economy because medical tourism has arrived, although they said we were fools,” he added.
Alden wavers on SMCs
(CNS): The premier has told the Legislative Assembly that while government still supports the idea of ‘equality of franchise’ for voters, it appears it will not be following the Electoral Boundary Commission's recommendations for 18 single member constituencies (SMCs) but is considering 'at large' candidates, changing the number of seats, and by implication the constituencies. Alden McLaughlin said there were concerns among the Progressive and independent members of government over alleged anomalies thrown up by constituencies with very small numbers of voters. But he said whatever the final outcome, government was sticking to the election promise as it would still be SMCs but “with modifications”.
However, what the premier was advocating in his brief contribution to the debate in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday was considerably more than modification. It will require that entirely new electoral boundaries to be drawn up. In addition, the justifications for the decision seemed entirely at odds with what has happened historically in the smaller districts to which he was referring.
The announcement that government is now thinking of a number of alternative options rather than the one recommended by two different boundary commissions came in response to a private member’s motion brought by East End MLA Arden McLean asking government to implement 'one man, one vote' in single member constituencies in a first past the post system, as per the referendum result in July 2012.
Recalling the long and controversial history regarding the voting system, the member for East End made the point that by the time of the last election, it was only the UDP that was still against OMOV in SMCs. All other candidates and the PPM campaigned on a platform of SMCs, the Progressives as well as the independents who were elected.
He pointed out that several members on the government benches had launched their political careers during the OMOV campaign and that in the past they had all favoured the simple, straight forward, fair system. However, he said, he was aware that since then the government was toying with the idea of different possibilities after a retreat with the independent candidates. And despite the premier’s on the record support for that simple system, he was going to be promoting idea of 'at large' candidates.
McLaughlin admitted that there had been a retreat, and because his government included others (non PPM members), he had to listen to their opinions, and OMOV and SMCs had been the subject of discussions at the retreat. Returning to old arguments about the domination of parties or individuals in smaller constituencies, when in reality in Cayman it has been the reverse, the premier appeared to imply that the discussions were still ongoing and he was hoping to reach a compromise among the entire legislature.
What the premier avoided noting, however, was that his ideas of increasing the seats to 19 or creating 14 or 15 constituencies and then having four or five 'at large' candidates would require an entirely new boundary commission, which would take the process back to square one and ensure a long delayin the implementation of any new system, no matter how that comes about.
Adjourning the LA until 10am Thursday morning, McLaughlin said the government would soon be formally revealing the proposals in writing and in more detail to trigger the debate.
Rivers rejects wage motion
(CNS): The employment minister made it abundantly clear Wednesday that government will not be introducing a minimum wage anytime soon when she rejected the private member’s motion filed by the independent member for North Side. Although Tara Rivers spoke about starting the required research and forming a committee, she raised a catalogue of objections to the principle and posed a massive number of questions to justify the need for analysis and research before considering the implementation of even a $5 staring point, as suggested by Ezzard Miller. In complete contrast to the PPM manifesto, which calls for its implementation as an ‘early priority’, Rivers will be taking her time.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly debate on a motion to introduce a minimum wage brought by Ezzard Miller, the minister who has responsibility for education, labour and gender affairs found just a few beneficial things about a minimum wage against a long, long list of fears that have been put forward by opponents of the principle for many years.
From inflation to jobs losses, the problems ofdomestic helpers and how to deal with tips were just a few objections Rivers raised, as she read a speech in the LA about why government was not accepting the motion. Albeit that it had plans to implement a minimum wage regime, the minister seemed less than keen. Most of what she said related to long held objections of those on the political right and those who believe only the market should decide pay.
She did say that it could help protect the worst exploited people and perhaps improve the gender pay gap, but as quickly as the labour minister mentioned possible benefits Rivers returned to the well-aired fears associated with the issue mostly by employers. She said small businesses could close down, jobs would be lost, inflation would be rampant, with milk increasing by some two dollars a gallon overnight, she believed, as well as the inability of government to enforce it, given its failure regarding pensions and insurance. She also pointed to single parents who would no longer be able to afford a helper.
Although she said the ministry had started work on collecting the research and analysis and had set up a committee, as suggested under the labour law, Rivers’ road to a minimum wage, if she is to recommend one at all, is long, in direct conflict with government’s promises.
Rivers, who campaigned on the C4C ticket and not the PPM, is not burdened with an election promise in this regard, as that advocacy group does not support a minimum wage and Rivers herself made no commitment to implementing one on the campaign trail.
The Progressives, on the other hand, spoke often of the need to introduce a minimum wage on the hustings. The premier himself has regularly pointed to his regret that he was unable to persuade the Chamber of Commerce and other special interest groups to support the idea when he was labour minister between 2005 and 2009. In the Progressives' manifesto, released ahead of the general election in May last year, the party lists the introduction of a basic wage below which no one should be expected to work, not just as a priority but an early one.
Talking about creating jobs, the party said, “We will … implement a minimum wage as an early priority”. Nevertheless their minister for labour appears to have a very different view of “early priority” as she spoke about the myriad issues she believes have to be examined, analysed and discussed before she would entertain the concept.
In support of the motion, Arden McLean said that Ezzard Miller had approached the issue with a simple goal to prevent the abuse of workers and the continuing proliferation of cheap foreign exploited labour that is having a direct impact on local unemployment.
Striving to ensure that no worker anywhere in any circumstances working in the Cayman Islands should fall below the hourly rate of $5 as a starting point, which could be adjusted at a later date, he said it was time to stop talking about it and for the House to demonstrate it had the political will to help the country’s most vulnerable. After twenty years of talking about it, Miller said he hoped the government would take the first step.
However, the motion was greeted with an outright rejection, as Rivers said it was presented in a vacuum with no facts and figures and was merely an opinion like many expressed by “arm chair economists”, who said government should bring in a basic wage without any data to support the notion.
Check back to CNS later for Miller's response to the debate and see Rivers' full statement below.
UK’s OT boss to pay two day visit to Cayman
(CNS): Peter Hayes, the director for the overseas territories at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office will be making a short visit to the Cayman Islands next week to meet with a number of government officials and according to a statement from the governor’s office to promote the shared agendas between Britain and Cayman. Hayes will arrive in Cayman on Monday 3 March and then will leave the following day. Hayes said he was looking forward to meeting the premier and visiting the new health city. “The visit follows on from the premier’s visit to London earlier this month and will focus on enhancing the relationship between the UK and Cayman Islands and promoting our shared agendas,” said a spokesperson for the governor’s office which is hosting Hayes.
The OT director will have meetings with the premier, the attorney general and the police commissioner and will call in on the Cabinet meeting. Other engagements will include a meeting with opposition MLAs, a visit to Shetty’s Health City, as well as Northward prison. The FCO bureaucrat will also be taking a tour of the Mission House in Bodden Town with the National Trust.
The premier will also host a reception and Hayes will attend a dinner hosted by Cayman Finance.
“I am delighted to bevisiting the Cayman Islands again,” said Hayes. “I am particularly looking forward to discussions with the Premier and to visiting the Shetty Health City, a welcome indicator of the diversification of the Cayman Islands’ economy,” he added.
Mac proposes worker alliance
(CNS): The opposition leader is calling on workers to unite to protect their own rights and advance their skills so they can address some of the ills in the modern workplace and unemployment. McKeeva Bush has denied that this proposal is a union, even though he expected people “to smear it” as such, but he said that while there were enough advocacy groups, such as the C4C and the Chamber of Commerce, in Cayman representing the interests of business and employers, the country’s employees were unrepresented. He said that, given the increasing challenges facing them from the pressure of a global workforce and cheap labour, workers needed to try and advance their own cause.
Speaking on the new series of Cayman 27’s talk show, The Panel, on Tuesday evening, Bush said he would not be leading or setting up this alliance but wanted to promote the idea. He said he wanted to help those who had talked to him about creating a formal association to represent workers, from hotel employees living on low wages to young lawyers not able to find articles.
The opposition leader said participatory democracy meant everyone should have their say but at present most issues are decided by employers, with the people only invited to speak on election day. Bush claimed a long history of promoting workers’ rights, from pensions to maternity pay, as well as holidays and overtime, during his time as a politician. He said that workers' rights have come a long way but new technology had brought many new challenges for the local workforce, not least the impact of outsourcing and cheap labour.
He spoke about past times when workers received fair wages in their jobs and said that before now, Cayman never had a situation where people were living 20 to a room because theywere earning only $5 per hour.
The workers alliance idea, he said, could ensure a level playing field and give local people the opportunity to compete for jobs.
“It is not a union,” Bush stated. He said he wanted workers to start the discussion and create an organisation focused on helping people find work, improve their skills learn about their rights and build awareness in all of the major sectors, while still recognising the commercial realities.
He said the National Workforce Development Agency (NWDA), which was created by the former labour minister, Rolston Anglin, "was practically useless” but whoever formed the workers' alliance would still need to work with government, this agency and within the boundaries of the labour laws.
Asked by the show's host, Tammie Sulliman, why Bush had failed to create or promote such an alliance when he was premier, he insisted that he was fully occupied trying to keep Cayman afloat, tackling the budget and public finances and fighting red tape, as well as dealing with the media, which he blamed for blowing everything out of proportion. Bush said that the current government has four ministers now doing the job he had done, and he said government could not do everything.
He said that no government would be able to help the workers because of the pressure from business and the civil service stopping everything.
See Bush on the panel here.
MLAs and C4C silent on rift
(CNS): Although it is obvious that the Coalition for Cayman is less than impressed with the three candidates it endorsed at the general election and who are now serving on the government benches, it has remained silent about the rift and whether or not it has withdrawn its endorsement of its three MLAs. Roy McTaggart, Winston Connolly and Cabinet minister Tara Rivers have also said nothing about the significant criticisms from the group which endorsed and promoted them during last year’selection campaign. The C4C, which still claims it is not a party but believed its candidates would deliver the right agenda for the country, has now made very public criticism of two major policy areas supported by all three MLAs who were elected on the C4C ticket.
CNS has submitted questions to the three MLAs as well as the C4C about the relationship but no one has responded.
In the wake of C4C’s heavy criticisms of the government’s support for the National Conservation Law and more recently its condemnation of government finances, it is clear that the Coalition feels that the candidates it endorsed are not supporting the policies the C4C would like them to, based on the organisation's founding principles.
During the campaign the C4C stated that the candidates it had endorsed had filled in questions and had been surveyed regarding their support of the founding principles and had made much of the idea that it was endorsing people who would make the right decision for country. The political non-party said that the candidates it endorsed would be independent and that they would not make decisions on party lines but on what was best for Cayman.
However, having agreed to join the Cabinet, Rivers is now restricted to its collective responsibility and the only way she can disagree with the PPM government policy publicly or refuse to vote with government is if she resigns her post as education and employment minister. While McTaggart and Connolly remain on the back benches, having taken jobs as counsellors working directly with the ministers for finance, financial services and education, disagreeing with the ministers they serve would also likely see them ousted from those support roles.
While none of the three C4C candidates have formally joined the PPM itself, as a member of Cabinet Rivers’ independence is of limited, if any, relevance as she is delivering PPM policy and voting on PPM lines. There is mounting speculation that McTaggart is considering joining the party and while Connolly may be keen to retain an independent image, he distanced himself from the C4C sometime ago. All three of the Coalition’s endorsed candidates have also attended several PPM political retreats and meetings.
Claims by the coalition during the campaign that their candidates would behave differently and would do the right thing without any influence from party politics have apparently failed to materialize.
The executive chair of C4C, James Bergstrom, stated at a presentation about the group during the run-up to the election that it was optimistic it could make a change to party politics. At the time he said the goal of C4C would be “to give their candidates advice on policy but not make policy”, despite the publication of their founding principles, which could be interpreted as a policy direction.
However, so far, what advice the Coalition has given to its candidates publicly has not been followed by those candidates. Bergstrom said the C4C would continue as a watch-dog over endorsed candidates if they were elected and would publicly condemn those that did not continue to follow the principles.
Nevertheless, C4C has remained silent on whether or not it has lifted its endorsement on the candidates it helped to finance and support in their campaigns for office.