Politicians no-shows at anti-corruption event
Baroness Scotland and Governor Martyn Roper
(CNS): No elected ministers, government backbench or even opposition MLAs were in attendance for the opening of a regional Commonwealth anti-corruption seminar on Monday, even though invitations were sent to all 19 members. While the governor and senior civil servants attended the opening with guest speaker Baroness Scotland, there was not a single politician in sight. Standards in Public Life Commission Chairperson Rosie Whittaker-Myles told CNS she was disappointed that no one was there from the elected arm of government.
Governor Martyn Roper refused to comment on their absence. However, he did raise the issue of government’s failure to implement the Standards in Public Life Law, five years after it was first passed in the Legislative Assembly.
He told CNS that the legislation is undergoing a final review and letters have been sent to statutory board members to find out what issues still need to be addressed that have caused concern for those who are serving as volunteers. He said he was keen to see the law enforced as soon as possible.
In his address to the conference, Roper said he took his responsibility for good governance seriously and attached great importance to implementing the law. But he noted that despite not having the legislation, the Commission for Standards in Public Life was not sitting idle and was seeking ways to carry out its constitutional remit of preventing conflicts of interest and corruption in the public service.
Delegates at the Commonwealth conference: (Seated L-R) Attorney General Samuel Bulgin, Association Chairman Dirk Harrison, Deputy Governor Franz Manderson, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, Governor Martyn Roper, Commissions for Standards in Public Life chair Rosie Whittaker-Myles. and Commonwealth Secretariat’s Interim Adviser and Head of Public Sector Governance Dr Roger Koranteng (CLICK TO ENLARGE)
Roper said the Anti-Corruption Commission, a sibling to the Standards in Public Life Commission, was also a strong and active oversight body, and the civil service now has whistleblower and anti-fraud policies in place.
In her address to the conference, Whittaker-Myles said strides had been made towards the common goal of eradicating corruption in the region, but there was more to be done and the only way to succeed in the fight against corruption was to “strengthen our own ethical resolve; to lobby our respective governments for the resources and laws needed to carry out our mandate”.
Speaking after the opening sessions, she told CNS that the absence of the law continued to hamper the commission’s work and that concerns she and her members raised recently about issues with the Register of Interests at the Legislative Assembly had still not been addressed.
Whittaker-Myles said that without the necessary legislation they were unable to hold the members to account and that the register remained the responsibility of the parliament.
Once the law is implemented, however, Whittaker-Myles said that a priority for the commission will be to follow up on concerns the members have about the MLAs’ declarations.
Category: Crime, Crime Prevention
Perhaps they should have been offered a ‘little something’ to attend.
“Refreshments” normally do the trick!
This lot would turn up to the opening of a bag of chips if they were promised a little something..
We’ll put my friend. And shame shame shame on them. Can’t wait until this country gets a Better Business Bureau. All this crap will go away. It’s coming, by next year hopefully. MLAs better cash out now or they’ll get put out to pasture.
So what if Caymanians don’t speak nice about foreigners? What if they don’t want to grant residency to them? Have any of those foreigners ever brought to the Islanders attention that they like Caymanians, because they are a peaceful set of people in the Caribbean and reservist to show voilence when things are not going their way, like many other foreigners would do in their country. Did our seamen forfathers travel around the world dictating what locals should do or accept in their countries? Well let me spell it out to you all. Foreigners uses Caymanians for whores and prostitutes. There is zero love there. They do not love us. They only want access to our strong dollar that our people all play their part to protect just by the keyword; being humble and less aggressive towards aggressions. Have any of the big foreign companies here say they are going to start buiding recognize universities and trade schools to ensure that the youths are well equipped and educated to stand their grounds and represent their families as they grow old, with financing and security, or are they all just here to keep the Islanders legs spread just for satisfaction. Action speaks louder than words. ike them show their true identity if they wishes to be a part of our community. How many parents normally allow strangers to baby sit their enfants without deligent checks and balances?
While not agreeing with everything you’ve written, it does seem that our guests are definitely the entitled residents under Aldart the Destroyer’s leadership.
CNS just a note on fact checking… maybe check that the invites were actually sent???
They are all frightened to death that the truth will come out. Then what will they do? How will they live? Who can they steal from? Who would believe them?
Is a conviction for Deception , the same as Corruption ?
Who would respect them? Who would call them “Honorable”?
Welcome to the true Cayman Islands governor.
“No elected ministers, government backbench or even opposition MLAs were in attendance for the opening of a regional Commonwealth anti-corruption seminar on Monday, even though invitations were sent to all 19 members.”
Perhaps the most telling sentence ever written about the Cayman Islands government.
If you want more people to attend the next corruption related conference make it on the subject of “Corruption 101, How not to get caught”
“Cayman can hold its head high” was the sound byte taken by Cayman27 News. You can’t make this stuff up.
Agreed. They should all be hanging their heads in shame.
Once a police commissioner said at a community meeting if you have evidence of a crime then yon have a responsibility to report the crime to the police. I say if you have evidence of corruption then report it to the Police or ACU. Stop speculating and being irresponsible.
Mr Miller if you were dealing with a “difficult constituent family matter in North Side” the polite thing would have been to send the organisers a personal note, and not use a public forum to first have a go at your ex colleagues, then the government. It beguiles a lack of class and reeks of bitterness – both unfitting for a man of your stature.
At the end of the day, a conference of this magnitude should have been opened by Mr McLaughlin, who we all know is not camera shy! But at least me now know that he understands the meaning of hypocrisy, hence is none attendance.
I would argue that sometimes you have to go on record, and state certain things publicly, so that everyone understands where matters stand. I’m sure that Mr. Miller did not do it for the publicity. All leaders throughout history have done the same.
lodge
No Alden but the Governor shows who is the puppet master and who is the stooge! Bring back the previous Governor please.
Applying Joey Hew’s analysis yet another example of this government’s outstanding leadership.
Baroness Scotland, of all people, leads an anti-corruption conference??? And it takes place in the Cayman Islands, a country that refuses to enact anti-corruption legislation??? This stuff goes hand-in-hand with last week’s news that Hillary Clinton was guest speaker at a cyber security conference. Unbelievable…
I guess since the Opposition has been calling on the Premier to implement the standards in Public Life Law for the last five years and nothing has been done they just felt it would be futile to attend another conference. The Premier and his crew were probably ashamed to show face!
What a lame ass excuse for the absence of the opposition
Actually the Opposition members invites were sent to their .gov email addresses and none of them have access to the Government email system
Dart probably told them they couldn’t attend
I wish to apologize to Ms. Rosie Whittaker-Myles for not attending as I had promised her to attend, however I had a difficult constituent family matter to attend to in North Side and did not reach George Town until 11:00 am at which time I had another scheduled appointment.
I wish to congratulate Ms. Whittaker-Myles on how well her and her small team organized and planned this very important conference.
Surely the new Leader of the Opposition could have sent one of his five members to attend of the Premier on of his thirteen, shows their lack of commitment to stamping out corruption and bring the Standards in Public Life Law into force.
While chairman of the oversight committee for the Ombudsman as well as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee I enjoyed and cherished a good and productive working relationship with Ms. Whittaker-Myles.
I am also acutely aware how difficult her job is in the absence of the Standards In Public Life law and I call on the Governor and the Premier once again to bring the law into force. I am sure they can find replacements for those Board members who are holding up the Law for their own reasons by threating to resign,
D. Ezzard Miller
And this is a big reason that Mr. Miller and the team that he will assemble deserve your vote in the next election.
Are you looking for a leader who is humble enough to explain his absence from a meeting? Check.
Are you looking for a leader who takes responsibility for his actions? Check.
Are you looking for a leader who does not forget his constituents once he has been elected? Check.
Are you looking for a leader who works tirelessly on your behalf? Check.
Are you looking for a down-to-earth leader who is not in it for the love of money, for fame, for the perks of the job, but rather for love of country? Check.
Are you looking for a leader who is willing to hold himself and others accountable? Check Check Check.
Read a little bit of this president who refused to live in a presidential palace:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/uruguay/11215200/Worlds-poorest-president-offered-1m-for-his-old-Beetle-car.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45195188
Oh please. Seems like those of you so keen on Ezzard have a very short memory. You could not find a more cantankerous difficult person than he is even if you went looking for him. Down to earth is not one of his strong points.
Ezzard needs to remember that in a parliamentary democracy, all those living in his constituency are valid members of society. And it is incumbent on him to represent everyone without fear or favour, regardless of if they are mere ‘furreigners’ or his voting public. Sadly and all too often, he plays the xenophobic card to garner support, discriminating directly against anybody he doesn’t consider Caymanian.
But then again, I don’t suppose he’s the only MLA to do so.
If that’s not a poor standard of public office I’m not sure what is.
Every one of them will play the anti ex-pat card when it suits them.
Yes, you could and still can. Arden.
Full of bullshit excuses as usual.
Sure your truck wasn’t clamped?
Corruption 101: When requested to ‘declare’ interests, note that you need only mention those with ‘remuneration’ because the request did not specifically ask about ALL assets!
They do not know what the word entails. They do not understand the meaning. Ahhhh Island innocence!
They were probably afraid they would catch fire like in a church or maybe turn green like when they pee in pools.
When do you ever see the Professors show up to a class ? But I can understand why they didn’t come be they know that it wasn’t any more they can learn about it .
Professors show up to classes they teach, Ron.
8:29am not the Professor in the Government . See they didn’t show up to the seminar .
Shameful. As if you ever needed a clearer example of how they operate.
Baroness Scotland was born in Dominica of Dominican and Antiguan parents and has held several ministerial positions in the British Government. She is one of a number of ministers and M.P’s born outside the UK.
Will we ever see Cayman afford the same priviledge to expatriates with Cayman status who have lived here for decades so that a large percentage of the resident population will have representation in our Government?.
@2:44 AM ya joking right, or is it because of lack of sleep that you make such treasonous remarks. Drink some warm milk and you wil not have similar nightmares in the future.
How is seeking a representative government treasonous, when there are Caymanians unrepresented, and many of better moral character, willing to serve, but are deliberately excluded from candidacy? If wanting good governance is treasonous, sign me up!
By attempting to divide the electorate by separating groups of people, caymanians vs Cayman status holders etc.. can and will only come across as isolating and self interest politics. You are no better than the foreign office committee who recently conjured up the prejudiced rhetoric in the “ global Britain and the British overseas territories, resetting the relationship” report.
The constitution of the Cayman Islands protects the right of all citizens and that is reflected by the vote each person is given.
To the 11 thumbs down on my earlier comment, have you ever considered that you might be better off to have some fresh blood in the L.A. You all complain of cronyism, corruption, backscratching and other evils amongst your politicians, this could be a good way to address these problems. Think about it.
Imagine not one of our leaders. Alden nor the pretender Leader of Opposition could get their followers to attend…what a shame for something so important.
Speaks volumes.
Corruption is rife at the highest levels in Cayman. The Governor looks like a complete fool disconnected to what is happening on his watch
I think the word endemic has been applied to the word corruption on these Islands.
The governor is playing politricks per usual.
The governor not trying ruffle no feathers. Look what happen to the last one.
Does this surprise anyone? No!!
Oh quit your whining our leaders are busy getting the port project going. There is no corruption because these are the Cayman Islands
I think you need to wake up from la-la land if you believe our current government isn’t corrupt..
Your kind need to leave Cayman as these are how it goes here. Praise to real leaders of the Unity Team just as Honorable Hew says!
Im Caymanian you fool. Im not going anywhere.
Cayman is rife with corruption but that is only the beginning. You must now begin with questions of who, when and why. But how can places like the UK and other world superpowers claim the to be the policy makers in this space. A big oxyormon and irony.
You surely mean busy filling their pockets before the inevitable axe comes down. This is to be expected from our crooked, dishonourable bunch.
I’m sure this comment is sarcastic guys, calm down.
Haha, awesome
ROTFLMAO.