Cruise activists to meet governor
Cayman Islands Governor Martyn Roper
(CNS): Volunteers behind the petition for a people-initiated referendum on the question of whether or not the Cayman people support government’s plans for a cruise berthing facility in George Town will meet the governor tomorrow, ahead of submitting the more than 5,500 signatures to the Elections Office. Activists said that they will now take the full original petition to the office for verification next week. Given the concerns about the verification process raised by the campaigners, they want to clarify what will happen next, given the lack of legislation on people’s referendums.
“In preparation to submit the petition to the Elections Office for verification next week, CPR Cayman will be meeting with the governor on Friday at 9am,” the CPR said in an official statement. “We will update the public on the precise date and time of the petition submission following this meeting.”
The campaigners explained that there are concerns about the next steps because not only is this petition a first for Cayman, but there is no law in place to steer the process.
“Many people have expressed concerns about the verification process, and we will seek greater clarification on all verification options that the Elections Office will provide for registered voters and all safeguards they will employ to ensure they are able to contact all persons who signed the petition,” the activists stated.
“As the community celebrates this historic achievement of reaching the 25% benchmark, we wish to thank everyone who has supported the petition for a people-initiated referendum, enabling us to collectively chart our path towards a more inclusive and participatory democracy in the Cayman Islands,” they added.
Category: development, Local News, Politics
11:59pm , why are they acting so scared , is because they love Alden and believe that he doesn’t do anything wrong and he is always looking out for them . But they wait until the real shit hits the fan .
Perhaps he can do sums, and realises that 75% of registered voters are NOT against the cruise piers.
75% are not for the piers. That is not what that means at all. It means that there are lots of people that are scared about signing for repercussions. It means that there are elderly people that may not yet have been reached. 75% are not in favour of it, if they have not yet signed. Believe me this needs to be decided by the people and for the people, not by a selected few in Cabinet with their own agenda.
2:26pm , the Governor already said that he was comfortable with what Alden do. He is got him as scary as most Caymanians .
what are the activists really expecting of the Governor are they hoping he will verify
the signatures!
Just because you are an idiot, don’t assume everyone is.
9:05 try a sensible answer to the question.
He has already publicly stated hat he is comfortable that the process followed to date is above board. There is nothing further to discuss.
Don’t worry, the Governor will get it all sorted out.
Right – Honorable Governor is waiting for his instructions from boss for this one
Boss will only get involved if CHEC is selected.
LOL
This has officially become a them vs us situation.
For a year now, Unity have been using public money for ads equating petition signing to votes against all future Caymanian tourism jobs.
They don’t need to meet the governor, they need to actually hand in a petition to elections otherwise it’s just a handful of tree huggers grumbling
Did it ever once occur to you that perhaps they don’t trust the person in charge of the Elections office, who, incidentally, is also an advisor of the Premier?
You think there might just be a wee conflict there?
I hope the Governor takes this meeting seriously. I wouldn’t doubt that he has already been briefed by the FCO, particularly in light of the XXXX way Bush mishandled this issue when he was Premier.
You would think the FCO might just be troubled by the Chinese establishing a foothold in a BOT, particularly given what happened in Sri Lanka.
they didn’t allow it when Bush tried to sole-source the bid to CHEC. What makes you think they would allow it now?
The Register of Electors “as at” June 1st hasn’t been published yet. If June 6 will be the official record date of this Petition submission, then CPR ought to be very certain they have over 25% of whatever this month’s Gazetted tally will be. You can bet that Unity and Howell already know this number. Submitting the Petition to Cabinet per §70 last week would have been a better tactical decision, instead of allowing an opportunity for bad actors to move beyond previous goal post. CPR should also scrutinize the list for dead people and non-residents and file objections by July 1st when the current list will be ratified. Prisoners and new Ghost Caymanian voters are also potentially eligible to vote. §70 only specifies eligibility under §90 and ignores customary exclusions that would apply to election “voting”. Voter verification will fall to the questionable competency of the elections office, whose staff visited by house three times for the wrong district. Don’t stop!
Ghost Caymanians are not eligible to vote, but it appears there may be many on the electoral role. How is the elections offfice going to deal with that issue – where people may have been wrongly registered?
There has been an amnesty period announced for them to register. Fees were waived too, I believe.
How the hell is the elections office registering people who are not Caymanian to vote? Don’t they know who is Caymanian from who is not?
Simple answer is no. There is no central register of who is a Caymanian.
That is mad!
The short answer is no.
The Governor is only governing visiting all the Tourist Attractions and functions to keep his name in print.
Last time I looked at the register I saw a number of guys who were in Northward for serious crimes, and even one who had been shot dead in a gang incident. Trust factor in WH’s dept = square root of sod all.
Non Caymanians are on it as well.
You lie.
I hope they make it known that they want to have a interested parties present in the verification process.
What you mean is they want to intimidate them into keeping their signatures on in just the same way they intimidated them to sign in the first place?
Intimidated into driving down to Pure Art to sign? Where do people come up with this garbage?
Do you really think people were intimidated to put ink on a sheet of paper in the form of a signature ? Next thing is you will be saying they were intimidated to sign a check.
No. What they mean is that the verification process isn’t thwarted by the influence of the Premier. I’m sure you know this. Everyone knows this.
why are you people acting so scared!
“We” are not scared. What we want is that our Constitutional rights are upheld and not suppressed through some legislative magic.
You want to see scared? Look at the MLAs if they manage to subvert the People’s Initiated Referendum. That will be well beyond “scared”, I would wager, and rightfully so.