Miller: Time to focus on real problems
(CNS): The independent member for North Side, Ezzard Miller, is urging Caymanians to put the now implemented Civil Partnership Law behind them and come together to address the real problems undermining society. Miller said sexual orientation was never a source of widespread contention but there are real threats to the community, such as social and domestic violence, child abuse and mental health issuess that need our focus.
“It is time now to put this partnership issue behind us and move forward in the traditional Caymanian spirit of tolerance, harmony and unity. In the process, I am sure we will find common ground to work together in the best interest of the Cayman Islands,” Miller said in a statement Monday. “The truth is sexual orientation has never been a source of widespread public contention over the years. Most of us believe in the Christian value of refraining from standing in judgement of decisions people may make in their private lives.”
Miller spoke about the need for tolerance and unity and to find common ground to address the real social issue of concern to most people.
“As we move past this inevitable benchmark… I trust and pray that the population can now unite and work together to alleviate the many social problems facing these beloved islands we call home,” Miller said. “I call on the whole community to channel our energies into collaborating on overcoming some of the threats to the peace and harmony of our community.”
Miller pointed to issues such as the increasing incidence of social and domestic violence, child abuse and mental health-based disputes dominating the news in recent times.
“I encourage all of us as individuals, institutions, businesses and government to move towards more concerted partnerships in devising and supporting comprehensive programmes to halt the progression of these trends and to bring healing, tolerance and harmony to our communities.”
Miller, who was the only non-government member of the Legislative Assembly to support the Domestic Partnership Bill, said he had supported the principle of civil unions for ten years as he had come to the realisation that the introduction of this legislation is not as inconsistent with the concerns and ethics of the Christian community as some people think.
He said the law protects the definition of marriage between a man and woman and safeguards the rights of marriage officers and the churches not to perform same-sex unions. He said the bill provides “the same benefits for same-sex couples as for heterosexual couples, a goal that must be logically shared by many people with a sense of fairness, regardless of their religious persuasion”.
The four-term member who is well known for his knowledge on parliamentary rules and the Constitution, said he supported the governor’s move to pass the bill because of the “inescapable local and international obligations” that the law has addressed and because of the gains for the churches in the new law.
Miller is understood to have been the only MLA on the opposition benches who took time to submit suggested changes to the bill, some of which, he said, were accepted and “have found their way into the final legislation”.
See Miller’s statement in the CNS Library.
Expat privilege! You keep electing lawmakers that prove to you they love and respect ex-pats over their own people. Job seekers are a bit at fault depending on their work history. Some think that they are above certain jobs and refuse to work in that capacity. Eg. Some who work in law firms, Banks and Trust companies, refuse to work as a bartender getting $3,000 in tips monthly in a 5-star hotel. Some are growing older every day and cannot compete with job seekers fresh out of college. In any case, the biggest hindrance to getting hired is the entitlement attitude of some Caymanians, who desperately need to work, but no one will hie them, because of their nasty insulting attitude and belligerent personality. Nobody wants to hire a Rotwiler as secretary in their office. ITS ALWAYS THE ATTITUDE THAT LANDS THE PERSON THE JOB THEY WANT, OR SAME PERSON TO GET FIRED FROM SAME NASTY ATTITUDE. A person with a nice well manered attitude that respects their parents, elders and people in general, will walk into a jon, get hired, and stay there for years… leaving the company blazing in a farewell party with teary eyes every where. On the other hand a nasty attitude person will leave in anger and those left behind will clap for joy and pop a champagne bottle open to celebrate their departure. You catch more bees with honey than with vinegar!
Sorry, all I hear is: … blah, blah, blah … unless you Caymanians humbly eat the shit you “privilege expats” have been shoveling for decades, you will be labelled as entitled, nasty, insulting, belligerent. The argument is old as it is tired, but I see why you keep using it, you continue to benefit from perpetuating the myth that Caymanians are lazy, stupid, ignorant. It supports the blatant injustices you have been getting away with for far too long. PS I do not need anyone to celebrate my farewell from the workplace, I only expect a fair and equal working environment for all Caymanians.
Re-read the comment you are responding to.
And is McKeeva overseeing all of this in the House ?
If you don’t see the UK intervening and overturning the LA (The standing will of the voters), and force regulation which voters have not voted on, THEN you have shit in your eyes.
Thankful for strong and educated Caymanians such as Al Sukoo, Denny Warren jr, Billy Adam. Miller, alden and the rest belong to 🏴
Bob Marley was right, we’re all still mentally enslaved.
Only real leaders can lead. Cayman does not have this yet. This is a great lesson in what not to do and who not to listen to. Unfortunately Caymanians have never had a good leader to teach them. Now they are so far behind that they are continually seeing failures as a normal way of government. They have been trained and all efforts to retrain them will not be tolerated by those in power. Poor Caymanians. Your future is not so bright.
I guess this is why Cayman has done so poorly over the years? For goodness sake, we were some of the best seamen in the world and I can attest to this!! Now, we are the top financial centers in the world as well as the top Tourism destinations. Also, we are the safest and friendliest country in the world. Tell me, how do you compare Cayman to where you are from?
Well, Sunrise, it’s like this: I really don’t believe the Cayman politicians are any more dishonest than the American politicians…………… They just aren’t as good at hiding their theft.
They don’t even try to hide it. Take Ms.O’Connor-Connelly. Even after Auditor general submitted her/ his reports to PAC and anti corruption committee, nothing happened. And she knew she has nothing to worry about, Cayman mafia won’t allow her to be questioned ..
And where are you from, may I ask?
His hubris knows no bounds. It is not his place to tell anyone what is and what is not a real problem.
Ezzard might be enjoying support from the Taliban now but he should not forget that is was not that long ago that he was the target of their hate.
Whilst I don’t often agree with what Miller has to say, you might want to google representative democracy; it is exactly his place to say what he thinks is or isn’t a real problem and in this case he’s absolutely right, move on.
5:51 am: I hardly think the issues Mr Miller mentioned is news to anyone. Mr Miller is actually appealing to the community to focus on some of the larger problems that impact a much wider swatch of the community in much more critical and deeply affecting ways.
That is what leaders do.
The community tells him what is important to them. If he is unable to focus on the issues of importance to the community he might not be in the right job.
Ezzard is educated and intelligent. If he weren’t xenophobic and Hell-bent on independence, I might actually like him.
I hate when Ezzard is the voice of reason and good sense. The Bible says that is a sign of the Apocalypse.
Don’t be silly. The bible doesn’t say anything about our Ezzard.
When will the great Covid free center get 5 minute tests instead of persons having to wait 24 to 72 hours after being tested I say 15?
You only have to look at a few of our MLA’s to realize we need to concentrate on mental health.
Obesity.
Obesity ….. yes, obviously, Unfortunately, the stupidity and greed and mental health aren’t that obvious.
A few?
Ezzard is correct, but using terms like “put this behind you” is only going to get them all riled up again.
His vocabulary is in arrears.
Almost like he’s just taking a stab in the dark.
3 pm: “Putting this issue to bed” is another way of saying it. Sounds like good sense to me.
Wasted energy to fight the inevitable when there are so many gaping holes to be filled and disturbing issues to be addressed in our community.
At last a remotely sensible suggestion from someone on the political scene.
Be very careful of Ezzard. He is riding the political gravy train now..Watch for the soon to be announced political party..Like we really need another one of them…
CNS: Ezzard Miller announced the launch of the Cayman Islands People’s Party back in November. See here.
I thought it was the Cayman Real Alternative Party?
I thought it was the people’s front of judea, or was it the judea’s People’s front
That flopped he can’t attract any candidates so he has teamed up with Wayne Panton to form the new PPM
Caymanians, you all need to see that the DPB’s passing is not something that you should waste your time and energy arguing about. There are more urgent matters that directly effect you that you should be worried about.
Please focus all of this energy to protest the abysmal state of public education in this country. THAT is YOUR biggest problem! Think of all the societal problems that would be solved if even the most disadvantaged Caymanian children received a high-quality public school education from primary school right up to high school graduation. Think of that. Your children would be prepared for university so they could educate themselves to a level that would allow them to compete for the best jobs in their own country. Think of that. Your Caymanian children at the highest level of every profession in this country. We are a tiny country with HUGE resources! We can do it EASILY if the political will was there to do it!
The Auditor General’s report last year stated that Government spends as much per year to educate a Caymanian public school child as it would cost to send that same child to the best private schools in Cayman! Think of that. That is YOUR money educating YOUR children, BUT the results are far from as good as private school education. So why is that? Focus your time and energy on fixing THAT problem, because it is a problem that directly effects YOU!
We already spend a lot of money on all kinds of things. You’d never know it, but education is in fact one of the government’s biggest recurring expenses, encompassing more than $150 million per year (including almost $30.4 million for primary schools, $32.8 million for high schools, and $6.3 million for UCCI).
More pressing, I would say is the need to create the environment for a better, more responsible, accountable, and representative government to flourish. Until there is baseline structural integrity to the duties, competence, and responsibilities of government, all the rest is lip service. More money, or alternate combinations of idiots do not fix the problem.
We need to target the causes and sources of the inefficiencies.
4:04 pm:
“Until there is baseline structural integrity to the duties, competence, and responsibilities of government” — you describe the Operational ethos of the Cayman Islands People’s Party. Its Constitution frames participatory democracy, with a focus on the essential role of the governed in their own governance and the ethical duties of those charged with advancing the people’s needs and goals.
1:53 pm
Your comments are heading In the right direction, but the only how education will go forward, is when Teachers are recruited from across the pond. Caymanian teachers are are marginalized and walk away from the profession. Other students who go abroad, qualify and return home in the hopes of getting a job are sidelined and ignored by the Jonny come latelies.
Right now their are university graduates who have applied for jobs and have not gotten an acknowledgement as to the receipt of their applications. Is that what they should have to endure in their homeland? Yet the expat can come here and walk into a job, and castigate the caymanian about being not qualified and our government continue to issue work permits to them. Time for our young people to test the waters and let them understand this is their homeland.
I wish Mr Miller would stop being so sensible.
I find it quite disconcerting to have him as the only grown up in the legislative assembly.
As a Caymanian, I don’t often agree with Ezzard and most of the time I find him more cantankerous than necessary but …. I totally agree with him here. As a dear Brit friend of mine would often say .. ‘time to crack on !!’
Nearly relevant Ezzard. Oddly enough, it continues to be the traditional Caymanian spirit of intolerance, disharmony, segregation, and club-based greed that needs highest reform priority. This should start with reform of the deeply-flawed Elections Law right now. If we don’t address the inequality of representation, the abstract grandparent obstacles, and other limitations placed on Caymanian candidacy, party affiliation, campaign, and mail-in ballot abuse, we are doomed to another long dark period of kleptocrat Cabinet rule. Shouldn’t we desire some basic educational competence for those proposing and editing our laws?!? Don’t we want those with a clean reputation ie. just those who have never had to sit in the defendant dock on a criminal charge? How about allocating some resources and capacity to staff to ACC, Auditor General, Ombudsman’s offices, and new teeth for the SIPL Law? Aren’t we on the OECD Black List, and aren’t we under a FATF review after a failing grade last year? We can dance all day long on the other social issues that continue to be ignored, but addressing systemic corruption must be highest on the list for real change to come. We all know this.
Start with the minimum wage that the 19 stooges agreed to. Change that, and allow people to work for a decent wage in order to live in these over-priced islands. Next, introduce price control, because some of the home supply businesses are price gouging to the extreme. It is impossible for the poorer class of people to exist.
Neither raising the minimum wage nor price controls will help anybody in Cayman in the long run. Just ask Venezuela. Read up on Economics 101 before making sweeping ignorant comments.
Don’t be absurd. You and every expat on this Island have failed to look past your “expat privilege” and refuse to acknowledge that smart, educated, qualified Caymanians are being marginalized in their own country by your entitled gang of expats. You all come to Cayman with less knowledge, education and qualification and encounter a system that promotes you despite your limitations to the detriment of Caymanians.
I am sorry but to allow your greedy claws to sink into the political fabric would be the worst thing to happen to Cayman. I will take a corrupt Caymanian politician any day over an even more corrupt expat with economic power.
I totally agree, domestic abuse, child abuse and mental health problems need to be addressed urgently along with improvements in our public education system.
Yes, of course, these are long-ignored, and will continue to be – so long as we ignore the entrenched corruption and incompetence that puts them on the back burner AND the pots of self-interest boiling away on the maxed-out front burners.
What 2 grown adults do in the confines of their bedroom is none my damn business. BUT, what is my business is what an adult (be it man or woman) does to a minor in the form of child sexual abuse. Let us therefore put more emphasis on dealing with this menace than worrying about what 2 adults will do now that the DPB has passed.
Do you realize that your first sentence is condescending? Thinly veiled disgust? Appears you disapprove, but “allow”, since there are more important things.
Condescending? Sounds fairly straight forward to me. In other words, the writer was simply saying that we have more things to be concerned (and important things) about other than the DPB and who it benefits. And I support the post 100% as he/she was spot on.
Do you realize it’s the people that care what others do behind closed doors are the ones that judge? You have it bass ackwards!
Wtf???