Hope for Cayman’s political future

Gilbert Connolly writes: For the past several months, a group of citizens has been working behind the scenes to draft a constitution for a new political party. This group comprises students, professionals, retirees, political activists and one elected politician. The group reflects the diversity of Cayman’s society. Everyone in the group had equal opportunity to contribute to the discussion to draft a democratic constitutional framework to empower the grassroots people of the Cayman Islands.    

It is often said that Cayman’s political parties don’t have an ideology, therefore they are not truly political parties. I am pleased to announce that the new party, the Cayman Islands People’s Party, has an ideology and it is participatory democracy. Simply stated, participatory democracy means the broad involvement of ordinary citizens/voters in the various political activities of the country, including joining political parties.

The People’s Party Constitution ensures that ordinary people are empowered, through an Electoral District Committee, to select candidates for political office. Candidates will not be selected by politicians, as was done in the past. The Constitution further empowers ordinary citizens elected to the party’s Central Council to be involved in the policy making decisions of the party, and by extension, the government. The People’s Party aims to take power away from the politicians and give it to the people.

Ezzard Miller, MLA for North Side, is the person who has provided the inspiration for the formation of the People’s Party. Throughout his political career Mr Miller has been an advocate for participatory democracy, thus distinguishing himself from most local politicians.

He is passionate about defending the people of the Cayman Islands and he is known for his strong no-nonsense leadership style, which is sometimes misunderstood. He has survived politics with his character and integrity intact. Mr Miller previously served as minister of health and recently held the position of leader of the opposition.

I believe that political institutions in a democratic society must go hand in hand with progress in the socio-economic sectors of society. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the Cayman Islands.

But this is where the People’s Party can make a real difference. To better understand the new approach to politics offered by the People’s Party, we must put Cayman’s political systems of failed parties and ineffective independent representatives into a functional perspective.

First, we look at political parties. It is worth remembering that not all political parties in the Cayman Islands are created equally or democratically. In the past, political parties that were created in the Cayman Islands were organised by groups dominated by politicians. In other words, political parties were created “top down” by politicians, for politicians. The People’s Party will be created “bottom up” by the people, for the people.

In the former parties, the power of the party and government was held by politicians, not the people. Once the elections were over, the party leadership forgot the membership and the people.

In a democratic society, it is often difficult to separate political policies from economic policies. In Cayman this is compounded by the difficulty of obtaining facts about what the government is doing. People are therefore left to speculate about government policies. This is true in the case of the PPM government’s economic policies where it seems they have given a new meaning to the US “voodoo economics” of the 1980’s.

Under the PPM’s version of “voodoo economic policies”, the wealth created in the Cayman Islands defies gravity and “flows up” to big business and the richest 5% in the country, as opposed to “trickling down” to the poorest in the country. Simply stated, under the PPM government “voodoo economics” the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. 

The PPM seems to be committed to solving the unemployment problem of third world countries while leaving Caymanians to suffer in a land of many jobs.

In addition, Caymanian small businesses are driven out of business with excessive red tape. The PPM government seems to have forgotten their promise to reduce excessive red tape on small business and the people. I have not forgotten.

In my opinion, these kinds of irrational and inhumane economic policies can only be conceived by a government believing in the practice of “voodoo economics”.

I believe that history will judge the PPM government harshly for their political negligence that cause so much suffering amongst the poor and disenfranchised Caymanian people.

The People’s Party is committed to closing the economic gap of what is and what ought to be in a democratic society, while protecting the interest of all Caymanians.      

Next, let’s look at independent representatives. If we learnt anything from the last election, it should be the necessity of having an organised political party structure to form a government that can effect change for the people. During the campaign for the last election, the people of the Cayman Islands were misled into thinking that independent representatives could put aside their differences and form a government. This idea may have been well intentioned, but it was unrealistic

What we learnt from this exercise in futility is that the elected independent representatives were incapable of forming a government, due to competing egos, disorganisation and indecision during negotiations amongst themselves.

Independent politicians seem to believe that their primary responsibility to the people is to bring motions to the LA, which in the majority of cases do not get the support of government and goes nowhere.

They try to help their constituencies the best they can by handing out school supplies and distributing a few pounds of beef at Christmas. Unfortunately, they can do nothing to fix the real problems of their constituencies.  

I am not trying to minimise the good that they do, but the truth is what they do is not enough. Independent politicians who have not been asked to join a government can do little or nothing to address the infrastructure or major projects of their constituency. I believe that they really want to do more to help their people; unfortunately, without the resources our political system does not permit them to do so. Meanwhile, their performance amounts to political negligence. If they were employed in the private sector they would be fired.

The idea of independents forming a government is so extreme that I have been unable to find one former British colony where the government was formed only by independent representatives. It is interesting to note that the total number of elected MPs in the UK parliament is 650 and of this total there are only 2 independent MPs. If independent politicians are such a good idea why is it so unpopular worldwide?

We most hold our independent politicians to a higher standard of performance. The truth is, a vote for an independent politician is a wasted vote.

Perhaps the group that is most turned off by politics in Cayman is the young people ages 18-30. This group have seen their future and dreams being given away by our politicians. Marginalised and forgotten, too many young people turn to drugs or crime to cope with their everyday struggles, while our politicians ignore their cries for help.

Young people leave high school and can’t get jobs. Young people return home from overseas universities and can’t get jobs.

It has become virtually impossible for young Caymanians to get scholarships, as we have put the foxes to guard the chicken coop. Guess who is eating the chickens, or I should say, not approving scholarships for young Caymanians.

Meanwhile the government has issued more than 25,000 work permits to foreign workers and continues to issue work permits as if there is no tomorrow. The elected members of the PPM government seem to be under some kind of “spell” that renders them incapable of seeing the correlation between the granting of work permits and unemployment of Caymanians.

Our young people are our future. They have a constitutional right to a good quality education and to decent jobs. NiCE summer jobs to clean the streets just don’t cut it.  We must protect our young people and preserve their economic opportunities. To this end, this PPM anti-Caymanian policies must be stopped before they are irreversible.

The good news is the People’s Party has not forgotten Cayman’s young people as there is a Young Cayman Islands People’s Party, which has already received interest from young students. The People’s Party will listen to and support our young people.    

What we have learnt from the Cayman Port Referendum (CPR) exercise is that a group of committed citizens can indeed hold the government accountable.

The success of CPR also shows us that Caymanian voters have learnt to unite for a common cause, which is encouragement for our politics. 

Hundreds of years ago the indigenous people of this region gave away “real gold” in exchange for shiny worthless trinkets. Today, Caymanian politicians are giving away the people’s gold for the promise of shiny worthless trinkets. The proposed port facility is a classic example of the people’s gold being given away.

The promise of 1,000 jobs for Caymanians is just one of the shiny trinkets that comes with every big project proposed locally. Those of us who are old enough know that only a token number of these jobs will not go to Caymanians, instead more work permits will be issued to foreign workers.

Fortunately, the CPR has exposed Minister Moses Kirkconnell and what “smells like voodoo economics” behind the government’s proposed port facilities. The CPR deserve the continuing support of the people for the work they have done.

I believe that one of the most powerful word in the English language is hope. Without hope we can’t survive life’s daily struggles and challenges, including repressive politics and incompetent politicians. Far too many Caymanians have lost hope in their government and politicians generally. There are those who believe that hope is a gift from God. Whatever your faith, hope gives us reason to believe that tomorrow will be better. The People’s Party is about hope and democracy.

Finally, former US President Barack Obama once said “We, the people, recognise that the government belongs to us …we can’t just sit on the sidelines.” It is time for Caymanians to stop sitting on the sidelines complaining and take control of their politics and government. Caymanians have a choice to peaceably change a failed political system and failed government.

While participatory democracy must not be disguised in any manner that would give politicians control to impose their will on the people, it is our best way forward. I believe that if the People’s Party is established according to the principles and values approved in its constitution, it will offer Caymanian voters hope for a better government for the future.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are my own and are not the views and opinions of the People’s Party.

Gilbert Connolly is a retired Cayman Islands senior civil servant. He is a graduate of Pace University, New York with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. He also holds a post graduate Diploma in Insurance Management from Nottingham University and City University London, and an EMBA from UCCI and the University of Toronto.   

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