Politics
Backbencher to fight for jobs
(CNS): Backbench MLA Alva Suckoo, a counsellor in the premier’s ministry, has said that he campaigned to represent the people of Bodden Town and he intends to ensure that the Cabinet listens to the concerns of his constituents over unemployment and how that relates to pending immigration changes. Suckoo said that, given government’s decision on the term limit exemption permit holders (TLEP), he will be pressing his colleagues to put unemployed Caymanians before them and to ensure locals are considered for those jobs. Backing the planned task force, Suckoo said much more needs to be done to address the increasingly serious unemployment issue.
Suckoo told CNS that he has also written to the PPM caucus and Cabinet to amend the law to require all vacancies to be registered with the National Workforce Development Agency (NWDA) and to initiate an unemployment registration drive. Suckoo said the vacancies need to be held by the NWDA in an open database via its website and in printed format so that unemployed locals can easily see where the work is and that the agents can match jobs to registered clients.
He is also calling on the government’s Employment Task Force to identify Caymanians who can be placed in jobs that are currently occupied by Term Limit Exemption Permit holders as he is not convinced that all of the jobs they hold are ones which Caymanians don’t want or don’t qualify for. Suckoo said government needed to meet with the respective employers to discuss their obligations to hire Caymanians into these positions.
Despite supporting the broader objectives of his party’s immigration reform, which formed part of the campaign, Suckoo has raised some concerns about extending rollover to ten years and the decision to allow more than 1,500 workers to remain on island at a time when his constituents are out of work.
“The spirit of this proposed change was to address the current concerns that only a specific segment of the expat population were getting the opportunity to apply for permanent residence,” he said regarding the plan to eliminate the seven year work permit limit and the proposal to allow everyone who stays here to apply for permanent residency.
“The proposed changes from my point of view were required to level the field and give everyone the same opportunity to apply. I do share the view that any proposed changes must first and foremost help Caymanians, especially when we are faced with so many unemployed Caymanians, and when we consider the level of discrimination towards Caymanians,” he said.
Offering his support to Employment Minister Tara Rivers’ commitment to address the discrimination and unfairness some employers exhibit towards Caymanians, Suckoo was not convinced that the departure of the workers holding TELPs would result in an economic disaster.
“Had this process run its normal course, these individuals would have already been replaced and the impact would have been minimal,” he said. “While I am sensitive to the needs of the employers and to the plight of the TLEP holders, I cannot ignore that we have thousands of Caymanians out of work and registered with the NWDA and that this number is growing increasingly wary of the fact that the jobs seem to be moving away from them.”
Recognising that more needs to be done to educate, train and re-train Caymanians, Suckoo said he wanted to see the government of which he is a part focus on building a skilled, reliable and informed Caymanian workforce, and to enforce the law.
“The drain on social services is very concerning. We are spending millions on social programs that do nothing positive for the economy. Putting the unemployed back to work will positively impact our GDP and this is where we must focus our efforts. I campaigned on reducing unemployment and giving Caymanians a hand up and not a hand out. How can I say on one occasion that I do not believe in hand outs and then sit quietly and not do anything to offer a hand up?” he asked rhetorically.
“We have spent years building two pillar industries and now have to encourage Caymanians to take ownership of these industries,” the Bodden Town MLA said. “Caymanians must become the primary stake-holders in the country. I am therefore going to encourage the government to now turn its attention to education and training and to be guided by the manifesto promises we made so that while we are strengthening the position of Caymanians in the workplace we are not setting them up for failure,” Suckoo added.
He said that previous governments had failed to achieve this, giving rise to the now high level of unemployment and the myth that Caymanians are lazy and uneducated. Aware that he is taking a harder line on the issue than his boss and the PPM Cabinet, Suckoo said he was comfortable expressing his own views.
“I believe my role as a government backbencher is largely representational. I have to be a voice for the electorate to a much greater extent than my colleagues in Cabinet, simply because I am on the ground and they, unfortunately, cannot be in contact with the voters to the extent that I can,” he said. “I have to be the eyes and ears of the government and I have to represent the thoughts and feelings of the electorate when I sit in Caucus.”
The MLA said no one in the PPM expects him to blindly support Cabinet policies without question and this was an example of how a government operates.
“I do not want anyone to assume that there is a rift in the government because of the position I am taking. According to parliamentary tradition, this is how it is supposed to work and is a testament to the voters’ wisdom in choosing their representatives. What I am doing is asking the government to take additional steps to ensure that while we improve the systems that affect the expatriates among us that we also take steps to protect and ensure the rights of Caymanians,” he added as he promised to continue expressing the people’s concerns over the forthcoming immigration changes.
CJ’s ruling on election petition released to public
(CNS): The 57-page judgment delivered by the chief justice last Friday in the unsuccessful election petition challenging the second elected member for West Bay’s right to be returned has been releasedinto the public domain. In the decision, Anthony Smellie found that Tara Rivers was an ordinary resident in Cayman despite being absent while she worked abroad, and that her absence was as a result of study even though she was working full time at a law firm. In addition, although she has and uses an American passport, the country’s top judge ruled that this was not an allegiance to a foreign power becuase in this case US citizenship was acquired as a matter of birth.
The result was a complete change in position from that of the legal department and the Elections Office, which had previously ruled and been of the view that continuing to possess and use any foreign passport was an indication of an acknowledged allegiance to another power and grounds for disqualification.
Full judgment attached.
Related articles on CNS:
Alden promises job enforcers
(CNS): As part of a major overhaul of the immigration system, the premier has promised that a new task force will monitor workplaces and ensure employers are obeying the law when it comes to giving qualified Caymanians work. Alden McLaughlin said government knows what is happening in the workforce and there are employers who are not giving local workers a chance by applying for and getting permits when Caymanians are available. The new minister of home and community affairs said the issue of enforcement would be at the centre of the reforms, with the creation of work permit inspectors that could properly monitor employers, making sure that they are truthful about permit applications and are not just taking on but training and promoting Caymanians.
Speaking at the PPM’s National Council Meeting on Saturday, when the premier and his ministers gave an overview of their first eleven weeks in office, McLaughlin said that the main weakness in the immigration system at present was not necessarily the law but government’s inability to properly monitor what is actually going on in the workplace. He said he now wanted to find a way to monitor and make sure that what employers say they are doing they really are doing.
With other major policy changes coming, so that most non-contentious permits will be dealt with by immigration staff rather than boards, the premier promised a more streamlined and efficient system. He said that the Progressives had focused on immigration during the campaign because the system at present was hurting Cayman. The premier said it had to be addressed in order to “wind up with a balance” between employers' need for permits and full local employment.
Addressing the issue of the Term Limit Exemption Permits (TLEP), McLaughlin said that because over 1,500 workers were all scheduled to leave on the very same day, he was forced to take action and allow them to be included in the abolition of the seven year term and to apply for permanent residency.
The TLEP was created by the previous administration as a stop gap solution to the feared mass exodus of workers, particularly in the tourism sector, who had all started their tenure on island around the same time during the post Hurricane Ivan period in 2005 when the recovery began. This mass exodus threatened to make a difficult economy even worse. However, the introduction of the specialist permit at the same time meant that these permits would all expire on 28 October 2013, merely pushing the same problem into the future.
The estimated number is 1,522 and all of those workers as well as their dependents will be gone by the morning of the 29 October unless government takes action, the premier explained. Amendments to the legislation will allow them stay and have an opportunity to apply for PR.
“A lot of people departing at the same time for a fragile recovering economy would be a problem,” he warned. “We believe that by extending their stay it will be a chance to stagger their departure and have them be replaced or stay.”
Addressing the complaints that their departure would pave the way for locals to get jobs, McLaughlin said this was not the case. He pointed out that at least 400 of the posts were domestics and sending them home would not automatically translate into jobs for Caymanians.
“We need to make significant immigration reforms but it is in best interest of Cayman that these workers are incorporated back into system and go through the process,” he said. “Sending them all away on the same day not in best interests of the economy. “
McLaughlin explained that this was part of wider reforms government has proposed to do away with key employee, as it was mostly members of the managerial and professional class of workers who were getting to stay. He said other very good employees generally do not get to apply for key and so do not get the designation or the ability to apply for PR.
Emphasising that the application process would be more robust, he said that just because people were allowed to stay long enough to apply for PR did not mean they would get to stay.
He the latest immigration review team was expected to have an interim report completed by October relating to wider reforms, which would be implemented by next April.
Scholarships now approved, Rivers reveals
(CNS): In the face of major concerns across the community about the delay in scholarship approvals for the forthcoming term, the education minister revealed that the process has now been completed. Tara Rivers told the PPM National Council Meeting that the delay was as a result of the election and the budget. She confirmed that Cabinet had now approved all applications for scholarships where students have met the criteria. She also said the education council would be honouring commitments made to students who received scholarships via the controversial Nation Building Fund but there were a “number of irregularities” regarding those that would need addressing in future.
Rivers put the election challenge to her eligibility behind her, after an extremely favourable result for her political future from the chief justice on Friday, when she joined the PPM National Council Meeting on Saturday evening to deliver an update on her ministry. The new education minister said that while she remained an independent candidate, she was part of one government.
Turning to the affairs of her ministry, which she can expect to be at the centre of public attention given the levels of unemployment and continuing education challenges, Rivers said that there were concerns about the nation building scholarship, which had been transferred to the ministry.
“It has been an interesting process in trying to find out what was going on and we found some irregularities in how these scholarships were being administered and the money disbursed,” she said, adding that policies were now being developed to regularize these scholarships and create a fair, level playing field and to eliminate the abuses that existed previously.
She said the process has taken some time but the ministry was at the point where they could say whether these students do meet the criteria or not and were developing what might have to be a transition year for some of these students. With the commitments made previously, she said, the ministry’s hands were tied for this year but there would be changes.
Rivers promised a more detailed update on the future of these scholarships, which it is understood have been given to students who failed to meet the Education Council criteria.
Talking generally about education policy, she said she would not be throwing out her predecessor’s National Strategic Plan just because her name was not attached to it. Rivers stated that she planned to strengthen and developed the plan in line with the PPM manifesto and the independents’ national plan, which the C4C had insisted was not a manifesto.
However, Rivers said she recognised that employment was her number one issue and she made a commitment that the employment of Caymanians would be front and centre of the ministry’s work. She said the wheels were in motion for a broader policy to guide the future of employment issues. The minister said she had opened dialogue with employers about taking on local workers and with immigration so that the department could begin to look at the permits being issued to see which jobs could be held by Caymanians instead.
Recognising the need for work-permits where there were skill shortages, she said the system could “not disenfranchise our own” and said, “We want to achieve balance.”
CIG to stop Dart 50% tax gift
(CNS): The new Cayman Islands PPM government says it is standing firm over its objection to the former UDP administration’s decision to allow the Dart Group to take half of the tax it collects in all its hotels and tourism accommodation over the next decade as part of the ForCayman Investment Alliance. Kurt Tibbetts, the Progressive’s former leader of government business and veteran politician who has returned to the planning ministry, said that government is currently in talks with the islands’ largest developer to try and reshape the agreements signed before the current government came to office. He said the tax rebate was unfair to existing hoteliers and had created a sense of expectation with new ones.
Although a reversal of the West Bay Road closure now appears to be impossible, Tibbetts said he was trying to put the negotiations to bed and improve on other areas. Speaking at the PPM’s National Council Meeting on Saturday night, the planning minister warned that the things which were done before the election could not be undone.
Nevertheless, Cabinet’s most experienced minister said that there were several other things that were not yet etched in stone and it was important that government did what it could to prevent the country being the loser in the deal, which was signed in December 2011.
Tibbetts said that as the developer has now completed the Esterley Tibbetts Highway extension, the group was anxious for it to open but it would not be gazetted until the parties had reached an agreement on all of the elements.
“We don’t want to deal with things piecemeal and we need agreement on everything,” he said, as he promised to reveal everything in detail once the talks were finished. ”Some things can't be undone,” he added, referring to earlier agreements. But with the recent stalemates on the verbal agreements, Tibbetts said government was trying to restructure the deal so Cayman would be better off.
He pointed to the proposed tax rebate for Dart of 50% of the accommodation tax for ten years, which he said was unfair to other hoteliers. But it didn’t end there: “Every developer who comes to us wants this now,” Tibbetts noted. This was a matter that government had insisted must be changed and he hoped to have some agreement by next week, which would be made public since they had nothing to hide. In addition, Tibbetts promised that government would monitor local employment closely and said that Dart was aware the CIG would be watching work permits.
“I don't want anything from them personally; I only want what is best for my country,” the minister said at the meeting to loud applause. “We will defend our wicket to ensure the country doesn't get bowled out.”
Updating the public and party faithful on other matters in his ministry, Tibbetts said there were other potential developments in the pipeline. Government has met with several entities that are looking to do business in Cayman, some of which had been waiting for the outcome of the election as they had been uncomfortable with how things had been going, he said.
He announced a planned $15 million renovation of the Marriott Hotel, which has been bought by a group of investors that also involves Caymanians. The had also been approached regarding a 5-star Conrad-Hilton in Beach Bay, a golf resort in Frank Sound and a $360 million development with a 15 year long plan, along with Dart's hotel plans, a hotel at the Shetty hospital site in East End and other potential plans. Tibbetts said government was interested in sustainable developments, which would be well timed.
The planning minister said he could not say that all of these projects would happen but there was interest again. However, government would be ensuring that due diligence would be done as it wanted to see the “right type of development" and promised it would not “giveaway the shop".
Tibbetts said government would make sure Caymanians benefited from any development, with employment for local people a priority. He also said he would be looking out to make sure the country does not bite off more than it can chew.
“We are not going to make any decisions that look good today and that will do harm down the line,” he said, as he promised to discuss with the public about all major projects or development plans.
Talking more broadly about the government he was now a part of, he said it was “early days” but he was excited by the commitment from everyone in all areas of the new government.
“We will see good results; we just need a little bit of patience,” he added. “We may not have been as accessible as people would have liked but it’s been rough,” he said, explaining that the new government had a lot to grapple with when it took office and it was intent on making the right decisions. He said it would not be much longer before people would see the country moving forward fairly steadily.
Related articles on CNS:
Premier relieved by ruling
(CNS): The premier said he was able to sleep again after the ruling delivered by the chief justice on Friday confirmed the eligibility of the education minister to be elected to her seat in West Bay and therefore to retain her Cabinet post. Speaking at the PPM’s National Council Meeting on Saturday, Alden McLaughlin was clearly delighted that Tara Rivers had been found to qualify and that the government was able to get back to work without the disruption of a by-election. McLaughlin said that while such an outcome would have made no difference to the government majority in the Legislative Assembly, his administration would have lost a “brilliant woman”, as he paid tribute to her cool head during the uncertainty, stating that she “never blinked”. (Photo by Dennie Warren Jr)
Rivers herself said that she was never in doubt about her qualification and she had told the premier not to worry, as she thanked him and the PPM government for their support throughout. Although still not a member of the party, Rivers, along with the two other C4C MLAs, all turned up to the Progressive’s National Council Meeting in a show of government solidarity. Rivers was given a very warm welcome by the PPM party faithful and everyone at the meeting.
Before the meeting on Friday evening in the wake of the result, McLaughlin, who was present throughout the delivery of the chief justice’s verdict, was one of the first to congratulate Minister Rivers on the victory and noted that he was “immensely relieved”, admitting that the prospect of a by-election was worrying because of the potential disruption to the government just as it was settling in
“We have a great deal of work ahead of us, not least of which is the budget, which we hope to present in the House, certainly by September,” he said. Although the court case was distracting, he said Rivers had “shown remarkable character in keeping her composure” and carrying on with work.
“As everyone knows now, particularly after the Chief Justice read her outstandingresume in the course of his judgment, Minister Rivers is an absolutely brilliant woman and she is a most able Minster. I have striven from the outset to have an inclusive government. I have always understood that the people of the Cayman Islands wanted something very different from what we had in the course of the past three administrations," he said.
Rivers, as a representative from West Bay, as well as her C4C colleagues, government councillors Winston Connolly and Roy McTaggart, brought diversity, a different perspective and the inclusiveness that he believed the country has called for in its government,"McLaughlin said.
"A by-election with an unpredictable outcome would have been a disruption. While it would not have changed the balance of power in the Legislative Assembly and wouldn’t fundamentally have changed the government because we have a 13-5 majority, it certainly would significantly alter the make-up of our Cabinet and of the LA. Besides, we would have lost one of the brilliant minds on our team."
Commenting on the challenge and result itself, the premier said that the matter had not been clear.
“It was apparent in the chief justice’s masterly analysis, as he went through all of the various cases, that the law on this has been all over the place, varying from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Our constitution is unique in certain respects, as was acknowledged also by the counsel for the petitioner this evening. I think for the first time, we have real clarity on the provision about passports, the issue of what qualifies as an 'educational establishment' for the purposes of the constitutional provision, as well as residency,” he added as he thanked the CJ for a “really outstanding piece of work” and very careful analysis.
“I think we all ought to be grateful for the tremendous amount of time and effort that was obviously put in to making sure that these issues become clarified going forward,” he said.
Despite the ambiguity of the constitution and the position that had been taken by the Elections Office in the Richard Christian case after he admitted holding an American passport on Nomination Day, Rivers said she was very confident all along that she was qualified.
Thanking the court for “responsibly and sensibly” setting was is now precedent, she said, “This ruling reaffirms that I was rightfully elected and now we can all move forward as a country.” She said it was now time to talk about meaningful employment and livable wages, an education system that works and gender equality.
“That is what I have been focusing on since my election to this honourable office a few short months ago. I will continue to serve the people of these islands to the best of my ability. Cayman is at a crossroads and I believe this PPM-led coalition government will put us on the right course,” she said. “There is much work to do and we will be successful – if we work together. We all deserve a country that provides great opportunities for our people and that is what I will be working towards,” she added.
Christian alleges official bias
(CNS): PNA candidate Richard Christian, who was prevented from running in the May General Election by election officials because he had an American passport, based on advice from the attorney general, has accused them all of bias. The would-be Bodden Town candidate said he believed he was qualified and the decision to eliminate him but not others from the political race showed favouritism, injustice, a violation of the law and double standards in government. Releasing into the public domain the letter he received, which clearly relates the AG’s Chambers' statement that obtaining and using any foreign passport as an adult constituted a voluntary act of acknowledging allegiance, Christian said he is now considering his options and filing a complaint with the Office of the Complaints Commissioner (OCC).
“The actions taken by both the AG’s office and the Election Office was clearly poor judgement and their decisions to be mute on the subject over the past couple of weeks shows the lack of accountability we still have within government,” he said in a formal statement issued Monday. “Despite the outpouring of support for Ms Rivers, the verdict has also left a large number of citizens concerned about the favouritism, injustices, violation of the law and double standards that is happening within government,” added the former Young United Democratic Party (YUDP) leader, who split from the UDP last year.
“As a result, I will be seeking legal advice on what course of action to take. I will be filing a complaint with the Complaints Commissioner to investigate the controversial and discriminating actions taken by the Election and AG office. I will also be writing to the Supervisor of Elections to encourage a new policy or process on how a returning officer can determine a candidate’s eligibility,” he said.
Christian was once a youth leader with the United Democratic Party but after charges against the UDP leader and former premier, McKeeva Bush, were filed, Christian, who was also the chair of the UDP’s Bodden Town Committee, left the party along with the district representatives at the time, Mark Scotland and Dwayne Seymour. He then put himself forward as a candidate with his colleagues under the new People’s National Alliance. However, as shown by the attached letter, the returning officer in Bodden Town disqualified Christian based on Section 62 of the constitution regarding his US passport, based on advice from the Attorney General.
Attorney General Samuel Bulgin has remained silent on this issue, with the exception of a short contribution during the Rivers legal case when he described the exception in the constitution for birthright to other citizenship as a “carve out”. This phrase was picked up by the chief justice in his ruling on Friday declaring that Rivers, despite having and using an American passport, was qualified as the document was not, in fact, an act demonstrating an acknowledgement of allegiance to a foreign power.
Christian aired his frustrations in his statement, noting that he was “confused and disappointed that the AG took no position on Ms Rivers’ case, despite the advice from his chambers on my case." He added, "Obviously he did not stand behind the advice that was given from his office to the election office, which ultimately assisted in the returning officer's decision to disqualify me.”
While Christian offered his congratulations to Rivers on her historic victory on Friday, he said that the chief justice’s ruling in terms of the US passport confirmed his position that he was a qualified candidate for the district of Bodden Town.
He said he was grateful the issue was resolved but “disappointed that the Election’s Office, with advice from the Attorney General’s (AG) Chambers, deprived me of the opportunity to also represent the only place I have known as my home despite my place of birth.”
In the wake of the ruling, the Elections Office issued a short statement that it was glad to see that the petition was resolved and the judgment had settled some of the previously uncertain issues concerning eligibility requirements.
“The Elections Office will be guided by this historic decision in the discharge of its duties in future elections,” the officials said.
See the disqualification letter from the returning officer and statements from both Christian and the Elections Office below.
Public spending reined in
(CNS): Efforts by the new finance minister to rein in civil service spending in the last quarter of the year appear to have had some positive results. Speaking at the Progressive’s National Council Meeting on Saturday evening, Marco Archer revealed that even though new government obtained approval for the $46 million overdraft facility from the UK immediately after being elected, it hasn’t had to use it. He said that a directive from his ministry and the decision to appoint a member of the treasury team to coordinate the end of year spending to manage government cash flow had proved very successful. The person, who was nicknamed "the sheriff", managed to keep a tight hold on the purse strings and help government save more money.
“We have managed to control spending very well and have not had to draw on the overdraft facility approved by the FCO,” Archer said. “In June we asked the civil service to exercise prudent cash management and not spend their budget allocation just because they had it.”
Archer told the meeting of the party faithful, which was held in the Mary Miller Hall, that he also intended to hold a meeting of the Finance Committee shortly to address the issue of supplementary appropriations over the last four years. He explained that during its tenure, despite numerous changes to the predicted budgets, the UDP administration had never held any open sessions in the Legislative Assembly, as is required under the law, to approve the budget changes.
Archer said it was important in terms of transparency and accountability so that the wider public could see where changes to spending had been made and why.
The new finance minister also confirmed that he plans to bring the substantive budget for 2013/14 to the Legislative Assembly during the last week of September, giving legislators around five weeks to debate and examine the new PPM government’s spending plans for the remainder of the financial year after the interim budget expires on 31 October.
This is a major change to the pattern of the budget delivery over the last few years, when budgets were delivered at the eleventh hour, forcing legislators to sit into the small hours in order to approve the cash spending and where the expected scrutiny by legislators has been lacking as a result of the marathon sessions.
As the government’s hands are tied by the strict parameters laid down now by the UK, the need to ease the massive tax burden on ordinary people will come as a result of efficiencies, Archer said. He explained that these would not just be confined to prudent spending but that government would be concentrating on collecting what it is properly owed and the amount of random duty waivers currently in operation would be addressed.
“It has become something of a free for all,” Archer stated, as he warned that he was working on a policy document to formally direct the circumstances under which duty is waived. “We need to ensure there is discipline in the way we do things. Discretion is good but there needs to be guidance,” the minister added.
Archer said that preliminary predictions for the 2013/14 budget were around $542 million in operating expenditure and government was expected to collect some $640 million to remain in line with the UK requirement to meet the terms of the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility (FFR) and the Public Management and Finance Law. Promising no new significant revenue raising measures on the man in the street, Archer said the government would be doing what it could to improve efficiencies so it could cut fuel bills and try to reduce the pressure on the people.
Painting a picture of continued fiscal discipline, Archer said that once public finances were back on a path to sustainable growth, government would be able to begin reducing other fees.
The C4C member of the PPM government, Roy McTaggart, a counsellor in both Archer’s finance ministry and the financial services ministry, said that the Department of Commerce was looking at ways to reduce work permit fees for small businesses.
Speaking on behalf of Finance Minister Wayne Panton, he pointed to some impressive increases in company registrations in the three months since the new government was elected. He said that figures from the General Registry pointed to a far more robust financial sector at present compared to this time last year, which he said was a good sign that the economy was on the turn.
Rivers is qualified, says CJ
CNS) Updated: Chief Justice Anthony Smellie has found that Tara Rivers is and was qualified to be elected to her seat in West Bay. In a lengthy ruling delivered to a packed courtroom on Friday afternoon, the islands' senior judge revealed that the petition challenging the education minister's election to office had failed on both grounds. Smellie said Rivers has a right to a US passport by birth and that it did not represent an allegiance to a foreign power. He also found that her physical absence from the jurisdiction prior to Nomination Day was not an impediment to her residency as she retained her home in West Bay and she was abroad for purposes of study as she was training with a major established law firm.
It took the chief justice over an hour to deliver his decision in the election petition challenging Rivers’ qualification to run, in which he focused, among other issues, on what he believed was the intent of the constitution, particularly where he felt there was ambiguity in its language.
The petition was filed by John Hewitt, the husband of UDP candidate Velma Hewitt, who came in fifth in the district election, thus failing to gain one the four West Bay seats. John Hewitt had argued that Rivers was not qualified on two grounds: she possessed and used an American passport, which was an indication of allegiance to another power, and because she lived overseas for a significant part of the seven years prior to Nomination Day and so did not fulfill the residency requirements set out in the constitution.
Rivers had admitted that she had a US passport and that she was living overseas for part of the seven years prior to Nomination Day but argued that she was still qualified. She claimed that the acquisition and use of her US passport did not show allegiance to a foreign power by her own acknowledgment as she was entitled to the passport by birth. Rivers submitted that the constitution provides for that exception.
She also argued that while she physically lived in London, she maintained her residence in Cayman. In addition, her absence from the islands was necessary because she was furthering her professional education with an established law firm and was, in essence, a student.
In his detailed argument, in which he noted that an interpretation of the intent of a constitution was “seldom straightforward”, the chief justice found that because she maintained her home in West Bay, where she kept her personal possessions, and had frequently returned home she had remained domiciled.
Smellie also found that her absence was for legitimate professional study. He said that Allen and Overy could be interpreted as a place of education because of the extensive professional training she undertook while she was there as an associate. He pointed to the need for those in professional practice to acquire education, experience and training overseas and that he did not conceive that the drafters of the constitution had intended to exclude persons from running for office who were overseas to further their professional education.
Although she was working and earning a salary, he said, she was still a trainee solicitor in English law. The chief justice said he was satisfied that she was residentand that her time away was legitimately provided for in the constitution.
On what he described as “the vexed issue” of allegiance to a foreign power and what justified acknowledgment, the chief justice was swayed by the evidence from the legal expert on American law, Professor David Cole. The US legal expert had argued that because no one needed to swear an oath anymore when applying for and using a passport, it was not an act of allegiance over and above the allegiance that exists by virtue of being born in the country.
Despite the extensive case law of candidates across the Caribbean and Commonwealth being disqualified when they were discovered to be holders of another passport outside of the country in which they had been elected, the chief justice found most of them did not apply to the case before him.
He pointed to the “carve out” in the Cayman constitution, as it had been describe by the attorney general during the trial, which uniquely allows for dual citizenship in Cayman . The CJ again pointed to the intent of legislators in relation to the constitution, and said they had wanted to demonstrate equality for all Caymanians, regardless of where they were born.
He said the constitution does not expressly disqualify those who have a foreign passport by virtue of birth and, given the history in the jurisdiction regarding the challenge to Jim Bodden in the 1970s, had legislators wished to do so they could have spelled it out.
The senior judge told the packed courtroom that nothing in the law had persuaded him that renewing and using an American passport acquired by birth was an act of acknowledgment of allegiance. He said he felt there needed to be something far greater than a mere administrative act of getting a passport to exclude someone from their democratic right to run for office. As a result, he said he was satisfied that Rivers was not by her own act under the acknowledgment of allegiance to another power and was therefore qualified, as he indicated the petition had failed on both grounds.
Acknowledging the importance of the public interest issues that the petition had raised, the CJ said he was not inclined to punish the petitioner by ordering him to pay costs and that the issue would need to be heard.
Although his decision settles the ongoing debate in Cayman about dual citizenship for Caymanians born overseas and lifted that barrier to office, the ruling raises some different issues.
Several candidates have given up citizenships that they held by birth in order to run on the basis of recommendations from the Elections office. In addition, and more pointedly, the disqualification of Richard Christian from the May ballot on the grounds that he held a US passport which he acquired by birth is now of particular significance. It is clear by this ruling that Christian did qualify, despite receiving a letter based on advice from the Attorney General’s Chambers that he did not.
Check back to CNS over the weekend for reaction to and implications of the decision.
Civil servant PA completes premier’s office line-up
(CNS): In the wake of the news revealed on CNS this week about political appointments to the premier’s office, an official press release about four new staff members has now been issued. Kristy Watler, who is the only civil servant from the group, is now Premier Alden McLaughlin’s personal assistant. She will work alongside the contracted employees Roy Tatum, who has been appointed as senior political advisor, Kenneth Bryan, who is the new political assistant, and Tammie Chisholm, who has taken up the press secretary’s post. The office said this completed the team that will be working directly with the premier in his new home affairs.
In the release McLaughlin said that while the general election was in May, he wanted to take time to ensure he picked the right people for his team.
“I feel confident that this group will help government in its mission to work for a better tomorrow and get the Cayman Islands back on course,” he said. “They will be strategic in helping civil servants continue to do excellent work for the government; shielding them from political matters. Our goal is to form a seamless, transparent government where those elected can work hand-in-hand with the civil service to restore our country’s reputation and standing, not only with the UK, but here at home and globally,” he added.
While Tatum, Bryan and Chisholm are all political contracted appointees, Kristy Watler is a civil servant who previously worked in the finance ministry. As McLaughlin’s PA, she will aid in maintaining his appointments, calendar, events and travel.
Detailing the political appointments, the office said Tatum will manage the office of the premier and act as liaison between the political realm, the public and the Progressives Party and will maintain regular contact with the premier, ministers and councillors, as well as the civil service. A former senior manager and department head at Butterfield Bank, he is a member of the Progressives Executive team and has been active in local politics for more than a decade.
Kenneth Bryan has been named political assistant to the premier and he will provide administrative, logistical, research and policy support to the senior political advisor and the premier. He will also assist with recommendations on press matters as well as helping the premier maintain contact with constituents. Bryan worked for four years as a television reporter for CITN, before stepping down to become a Progressive candidate in the 2013 election.
Chisholm, who is the new press secretary, will be the spokesperson and media liaison for the premier and work as part of a team responsible for communicating the premier’s message and reactions to local and world events. She is the former editor of The Caymanian Compass, where she worked for 10 years, but she has worked in the media for 33 years.