Premier: UK won’t force voting rights change
(CNS): Premier Alden McLaughlin has said he doesn’t believe the UK is considering forcing the Cayman Islands Government to expand voting rights beyond Caymanians or to allow those not born here to run for office. But speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, he warned there was no “magic spell” that local lawmakers could cast to prevent Britain from making such a move in the future, especially if a court was to order it.
Responding to a private member’s motion, which the government accepted, asking it to reaffirm the constitutional provisions that set out the qualifications for who has the right to vote in the Cayman Islands and who can stand for elected office, McLaughlin stressed there was no indication that the UK government was planning on pushing through changes regarding this issue just because the UK parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee had raised the matter in its report on the overseas territories.
However, Alva Suckoo (NEW) brought the motion because, he said, there were concerns the governor had indeed imposed the Civil Partnership Law partly because the lack of marriage equality here had been raised by the Foreign Affairs Committee. Suckoo said he was worried about what further influence that committee might have.
However, the premier pointed out that the issue over the civil partnerships was very different from questions of voting rights and election qualification.
The main reason why the governor had to impose that partnerships law was because of the direction from the Court of Appeal, not the FAC. He said there is nothing to suggest the UK is turning its attention to the matter of who can vote and run for office.
But McLaughlin warned that, as an overseas territory, we must operate within the parameters of the Constitution, which is the document that determines our relationship with Britain. He pointed out that the FAC had pressed the same-sex marriage issue for years but the UK had still not done anything to force the issue. It was not until lawmakers here chose to ignore a court direction that the governor stepped in.
“Let us not go down the road of suggesting to the people of this country that by this House affirming our belief in the correctness of the two sections [in the Constitution] dealing with the qualifications to stand for election and to vote that this is somehow some magical spell that will ward off any possible changes by the UK sometime down the road,” he said.
Nevertheless, the premier said the UK is unlikely “in the extreme to intervene in a matter such as that unless there were challenges in the court”. But he warned that if the court made a declaration that the sections were working unfairly and there was some breach of human rights, they might.
“I don’t see that possibility,” McLaughlin said, adding that he also did not think there was any concern over what the FAC may be calling for in its reports. He explained that it is a parliamentary committee made up of back-bench MPs that can inquire, criticise and recommend but it is not part of government, and he dismissed the committee as not having any real power to effect any changes.
However, the committee can be far more influential than the premier suggested, depending on the issues and the state of any UK government’s majority, as it is a cross-party committee. But McLaughlin was confident on the matter of voting rights and the criteria to qualify to stand for election in Cayman were not under threat.
Deputy Governor Franz Manderson pointed out that Cayman had already addressed the concerns that the UK had about status, or belongership as it is referred to in other territories, back in the early 2000s.
He said that the Cayman Islands Government had already established a clear path to citizenship here to allow people to vote and then provide a way for the next generation to stand for office. Manderson said that what Cayman had done was compliant with what the FAC had recommended, in any event.
As he wrapped up his presentation on the motion, Suckoo said he was aware that there was no certainty regarding what the UK might do and he said people were worried about this issue. As a result, they needed to know that the Legislative Assembly stood together on the matter and that if the UK was going to force any changes, the government would fight against it.
See the LA session on CIGTV below:
So WHY is this EVEN a Discussion??????
Wait until Roy becomes Premier. All you foolish OPM supporters will be crying from his introduction of tax on income and property!
If the current economic depression continues into 2021, the Premier will have no choice but to implement income tax and property tax. The CIG has to generate revenue from somewhere and with tourism dead, exploiting the expat population with higher work permit fees will not work and longer. Already many law firms and financial firms have started to move operations virtually off island.
CIG needs to reduce expenditure. Finding alternative revenues streams is also vital but let’s be honest, if steps are taken to reduce the size of the civil service there will be a tremendous price to pay.
1:38, And your response is precisely the reason why income tax and property tax will be implemented next year.
Price? Like having to stop being employer for Ja and Trinidad? Like forcing people to start working for all the money, pension and 100% health benefits? Like having you Caymanians replace all the contracted non-Generational Caymanian workers?
5:20, Before you can do that you need to significantly raise the educational levels of Caymanians here. Currently there is no way that Caymanians could replace the 25% of expats who work in the Civil Service.
That’s exactly how expats got all of those government jobs in the first place!! CIG used to be all generational Caymanians or had direct Caymanian extension (spouse, child, sibling, etc.)
The few expats in Government then started bringing their overseas friends and sidelined hiring Caymanians for various positions based on “educational accomplishments” to accommodate them, many of which are still earning those same degrees and certifications on public purse and government dime, but claiming they already had them. (No Ombudsman’s investigations for them though)
Please cut the bait-and-switch. Most Caymanians weren’t and still are barely afforded access to the traditional educational means to compete fairly with these expats. However, they were always willing to learn to do their jobs professionally and effectively as they possibly could, qualifications or not. Back in the day, the few expats that were hired in government already had formal education and were more than gracious and willingly taught our local Caymanians how things should be done. They all learned the day-to-day and worked together as long as it took to get the job done, not checking in from 9 to 5, Monday to Friday with cutthroat passive aggressiveness looking for the next stepping stones, like most of these expats do today. Generational Caymanians walked the walk, but expats now coming in talking the talk, wolves in lambs’ (sadly not even sheep’s) clothing.
Stop comparing apples to oranges and expecting the same juice.
There won’t be a tremendous price to pay if civil servants are reconditioned and retooled to work in the Tourism sector “once it opens”. A further collaborative approach between CIG and the Tourism sector could if managed intelligently provide the rebalancing act and while painful to some eventually would be of great benefit .
Careful don’t kill the goose.
So if the economic depression continues, and it will GET WORSE, then 2/3 of the population wont have money to pay taxes
Do not fret! When I’m in charge, all will be forgotten. Biden 2019.
Hear ye Hear ye, the FAC Report said “permanent residents” that is the focus of Suckoos motion, he said nothing about those who have received Caymanian status voting. This motion is about the FAC wanting permanent residents to vote and run
I don’t know why there’s any debate about this.
After all, the current system is working so well.
Er….hold on
Well I can’t say I am surprised by Alden and The great Roy statements to further disenfranchise Caymanians with a judiciary full to the brim with foreigners it’s now a question of when this is going happen, shortly I hope so all can see the charlatans we have elected who continue to erode our dwindling rights and now intend to TAX our eyeballs out of our heads. Remember “Good Gowernunce”transparency sustainability was their motto ??? Corruption is rife we are blinded by sight of them and their backers wealth and Caymanians cannot sustain themselves without govt welfare love train. Yet we have the political Elite still playing mental tricks every election .Vote for me because I am going to Fu when me and my fforeign friends get in!
In democracies you get the leadership you deserve
In Socialist, Autocratic and Dictatorships, We also get the Leadership we “Deserve” as you wud put it
It’s bizarre that Alden the turncoat can even show his face to Caymanians after the Mckeeva fiasco – first getting in bed with him in 2017 and then backing him after his bar fight
For 319 pm so sad you don’t know your cayman history
For the first time in history, caymanian born better learn to stand up for their rights, because if this ever happen caymanian born would have no more rights in their little island, very sad for caymanian born
You don’t need to be worry about foreigners.
Dart through his senior managers will continue to get into every business and break yours.
They have their own development co, their own construction co. Their own designers and real estate company, shops, restaurants, politicians, hotels and all the money in the world.
So focus on who is the biggest threat and choose your politicians carefully my friends.
This is the truth and I could not agree more!
What else do they want!!!
They have citizenship (bought PR via real estate, marriage to locals, family lottery), they have most of the jobs that can actually keep up with Cayman’s exorbitant cost of living (sorry $6 an hour is not enough), they are the only ones who can realistically purchase land much less develop with any reasonably sized home (which requires $500 thousand to $1 million at a minimum) or business. There aren’t much countries out there where all of the above can be obtained in 5 years or less while locals can’t despite apparent “protections” or “head starts”. There is no clear line between contemporaries and locals, and therefore everything is up for grabs. Not everyone has a golden spoon or was born with one, but that appears to be what is being rewarded.
Generational Caymanians have always been welcoming to citizens of all nations and races, without prejudice. We have treated them as equals, long before diversity was a tag line. In addition, people that used to come here strived to fit in and assimilate with the locals and we gladly treated them as one of our own. Regardless of Christian religion, we have always recognized gratitude, humility, pragmatism, altruism, virtue, inclusion and praise to a higher being as core Caymanian values, because we understood the true value of the Cayman Islands and the gift we have been bestowed.
However, as of late, an entitled narcissistic wave of foreigners have descended upon the Cayman Islands as the newest place of convenience to siphon off the most they can get with little to no regard for locals, creating or transplanting their own culture and telling locals what’s now important, steamrolling anyone that tells them no until they say yes or disregarding the laws altogether, and fighting locals to the end for every last drop. We have seen this wave roll through other Caribbean countries, and they were left abandoned complexes, destroyed coastlines, disenfranchised and disheartened locals, malnourished grounds, less money and resources than before, and nothing substantial for locals unless it is someone’s sloppy seconds (or thirds in some cases).
Frankly, the only thing that Generational Caymanians have left is voting to hold people and politicians accountable!!
The reason why locals have become “ignorant“ or “difficult” is that the Caymanian society has been hijacked by virtues of greed, deceit, division and conquest, intimidation, oligarchy, corruption, progress for the chosen ones, and has sidelined and outcasted locals to third-class citizens in their own country meanwhile the new kids on the block are the only ones allowed at the thanksgiving dinner table. It is unfair and ridiculous when locals are more than willing to share one pie, and foreigners of late feel entitled to take the whole container!! Can we get any reasonable piece please? It’s only all we have!! Everyone else has a Plan B to go back to, we don’t. I cannot believe because it is relatively so easy to become a citizen here that Caymanian citizenship itself is now being weaponized against its own people and used to lure real estate investors!! Just because it’s happening in other countries is absolutely no justification to chew up and spit Cayman out without reservation or sense of conscience or sustainability.
If these corrupt foreigners can adopt these former values and virtues instead of forcing the latter down the throats of locals and the assimilated, we may become receptive to all of the changes happening around us. However, until this wave of people changes or leaves, we are forced to fight back against these bullies between our rock and hard place to merely survive. It’s hard to be Caymankind when Worldevil is forcing their way in, crying wolf, and blaming us for voicing our concerns.
Has coronavirus taught these opportunists any humanity, self-respect, or respect for others?
Very well said 1:08 a.m.and it’s the reality. Could not agree more.
“the only thing that Generational Caymanians have left is voting to hold people and politicians accountable!!” – if only we did, there may not be as much traction about the benefit of extending the franchise. Go on, name even 1 high profile example of a Caymanian politician or a influencer being held accountable. Just one. The Speaker of the house is on trial for common assault, I can think of 4 MLAs off the top of my head that have been tried for offences ranging from drug dealing to wife beating (both the latter being found guilty by no conviction recorded), and the media is full of stories of developers flouting laws and being given government concessions. But I bet you would struggle to name a single politician that has been held to account for any of that. The only politician I can recall being held to account by the electorate was Wayne Panton, for daring to try and protect the environment and for the audacity of being liberal on homosexual rights.
It seems that there is widespread misunderstanding about the eligibility for election to the L.A.
You do NOT have to be born here to be eligible, neither do you then need a grandparent who was.
Read para. 61 (1) (f) of the constitution and all will be revealed.
Yeah, but government doesn’t seem to care what the law says.
You’re right about the constitution but the election law goes further, restricting the ability to stand. Hence the issue the Premier alluded to that the law could be challenged in court.
No it doesn’t. Just refers to eligibility under the Constitution, s61 and 62. Go on – prove me wrong and cite the section number. You ac=cant just make stuff up and assert it as fact.
61(1)(f) – the same clause that says you cannot have spent more than 400 days outside Cayman in the past 7 years, thereby eliminating anyone who works in international business (unless they are Tara Rivers!)
What do people expect when these so called politicians vote against basic things that any country should have like the civil rights bill. The bigger disgrace is that 50% of the population and especially permanent residents who own land and are some of the biggest contributors to the island’s knowledge and financial wealth and job creation cannot vote. That is why any income tax as a result of the COVID economic crisis would only be on caymanians, as only they can vote and benefit from such public decisions and services, largely paid for by expat import duties and work permit fees.
There are actually more foreign born people on the Register of Electors than Caymanian born so it’s now a fallacy that native Caymanians control the vote.
Every Caymanian is an expat some generation or another.
But the fact remains that until ALL Caymanians can run for office we have apartheid in Cayman. FCO please wake up.
1.56am Rubbish. All basedon envy and desire to completely dominate the locals. Better look around the world and see what happens when the natives get tired of being trampled.Beware.. when the natives become restless.
10 42? So right because Moses was born in the USA.
Where did you get that fact from 9:42? More foreign born than Caymanians? Give me a break Bobo.
What an uninformed comment. If you go to work in the US as an expat, you pay tax but don’t have a right to vote until you become a citizen. Fact is that the expat population in Cayman make the bulk of the income here, so, it’s perfect for taxation.
what I don’t understand is why people from other countries believe they can lead ours when they couldn’t do it where they came from. I am a born Caymanian which I don’t believe I am promise anything here. when my grandfather and granduncles were at sea building this country so that the ungratefully can find it as a safe haven. There is an old saying who pays the piper calls the tone. who finance the person controls them. I study politics if you think ours are bad go home and fix your own. Caymanians stop tearing down your own. stop voting for what you can get but for who means the Country the most good. Wait until England is out from under the EU and you see something.
Still not a country.
You study what?
“what I don’t understand is why people from other countries believe they can lead ours when they couldn’t do it where they came from. ” You have answered your own question – “who pays the piper calls the [tune]”. If we elect politicians that dance to others tunes, that’s what we get. Every election its the same =- lots of breast beating about getting rid of them all, voting in new blood, and we end up with the same result. Look at the new MLAs we voted in last time – any of them that actually got into a position to make a difference, what did they do? Perhaps the problem is the people that actually run for the LA.
Lols. Case in point.
Unfortunately the islands that your grandfather and granduncles built no longer exists.
But if it were life would be very different and I doubt most Caymanians would want to go back to that point in time.
Less competition perhaps?
welcome to wonderland….
where the hardest working, most successful and best educated in society are not allowed run for office…..zzzzzzzzz
Alden McLaughlin cannot be trusted. None of the Unity government members can be trusted. Drain the swamp and vote them out!
I cannot understand why the Premier always seem so happy and willing to throw in the towel on anything involving the UK? I know that we are a crown colony and under their thumbs but it would be nice if our Premier would at least pretend to be agitating for us. Why does he always seem so ready to accept twharever they want to do to us. I know he cannot stop them but for God!s sake don’t appear pleased with them.. Why is he so damn condescending! I think he is already past his “best by” date and should just move on and retire on the farm.
Maybe you don’t understand the topic here. Aspiring to have a representative democratic administration would be FOR US, Caymanians of all kinds. Alden is saying out loud that all the inept power hungry MLAs are behind him to fight the prospect of competent elected governance by the people. Does having been born here or having a grandparent confer any special intelligence, honesty, capability that serves our people? Multi-generational favoritism is the only plus in that scenario, and that patronage is for a very short list of wealthy surnames, who needn’t become any wealthier off the sweat of the brow of everyone else.
10.33am :Certainly being born elsewhere does not bestow any special intelligence either. You can’t be too bright, leaving your home and coming here to be governed around by “not as smart as you” natives.
Hey Alden, I have some oceanfront land in Arizona..Wanna buy some?
What an ass? How could he make such a statement..The Governor just over-ruled the Legislative Assembly on behalf of the UK and he should know that when they are good and ready, they will do it again. The UK couldn’t care less about what we think, want or desire, they will always do as they please.
We are screwed Cayman..Men without balls are running our country.
Not a country.
How many times do Caymanians have to be told they are not a country?
Apparently it is not sinking in.
This is what happens when an edumacation system is so bad. People don’t learn the difference between a country and a colony or Overseas Territory.
Really have no hope for this place with such ignorance of basic facts.
Until Cayman declares independence and becomes a country?
That’s the best you could come back with? Does islands work for you?
Islands are not necessarily countries.
You really think we are a country 8:12? I feel sorry for the education you received with such ignorance.
I always thought Crown Colony was classy. Territory not so much. Islands is ok with me, it’s accurate and sounds nice.
CPR should start that next petition to amend the Elections Law. Voters hold the power not the LA, not the Premier, not the FCO. Only 7 months until more regrets. We need to deepen the field and raise the quality of candidates that are eligible to represent us. Dare to imagine having Legislative policy makers arriving to work, and not only that, having read their required homework material, managed their ministry of responsibility, or having sought input from constituents on anything…let’s close the competency gap Cayman.
Apartheid Cayman Style
How can people who have lived in the Cayman Islands for 20 years or more not be allowed to vote? Goes against basic democratic principles especially when they also own land.
They can providing they have gone through the process to become a citizen.
How can people born in this country be prohibited from running for office because they travel outside its borders – at a stroke we eliminate the successful Caymanian lawyers and businessmen who have succeeded on a wider stage and have international experience. No doubt on purpose.
please read the constitution it doesn’t say that
Umm, anyone who has lived here for a maximum 15 years should (if they want) be Caymanian. Anyone who is Caymanian can vote. If someone chooses not to become Caymanian, they can hardly blame anyone but themselves for the fact they are ineligible to vote.
3:28 pm, ask.them to give up their other citizenship and see what they do. If they are willing to do that, then that will prove they have Cayman at heart, and can really be Caymaniab all the way
The FAC Report said Permanent Residents
So says an expat who probably lives in a gated community with other expats
Alden is basically a lame duck Premier being pulled one way by McKeeva and the other by Martyn Roper. He is at their bidding and if anyone believes that Alden will stand up for us if this situation happens we need not look any further than the Domestic Partner Bill.
It’s time now for Alden to step aside, go do a little farming and spend some of that money he has amassed over his political career.
“if anyone believes that Alden will stand up for us if this situation happens we need not look any further than the Domestic Partner Bill” so “us” being only some of us including you presumably but not the all of “us” that the Domestic Partnership Bill sought to give rights to?! I am a straight Caymanian and I am telling you to shove your BS bigotry! Alden did what was right (he doesnt always) and so ultimately did the Governor!
Anti-christian God loathing leftist are the biggest bigots and racists of all.
Look up the word ‘bigot’. And the word ‘moron’ whilst you’ve borrowed the dictionary.
We are stilll waiting for the phenomenon that was to be the Clifton Hunter High School. Until we get the recording studio, the hotel style cooking school,the Olympic style swimming pool, the adult evening school- there was to be five schools under one building!! Until that happens the Premier really needs to keep quiet.
In other words, it’s not if it will happen, but when.
Alden, as usual, comes loaded with misplaced confidence; and do-nothing Alva ought to be nervous, since it’s their collective brand of inert Legislative occupation that holds the Cayman Islands back from being a serious contender. We need dozens of new qualified candidates to be eligible to run before next May, or we are doomed to reshuffling the same herd of low-quality befuddled goons, ex-cons, and school-leavers…repeating our lamentations every four years. They know it too!
Consider your gene pool.
Gene pool?
Are you suggesting that Cayman has an issue on a genetic level?
That low IQ and moral flexibility are inherent traits of Caymanians?
Perhaps best to blame the school system and entitlement
So tired of this entitlement crap being thrown in our faces.
When the British push to remove immigration to come live and work here and then to be eligible to run for election, I wonder what justification it is they will use. I sure hope its not that they are “ENTITLED”!!!
Yes, the entitled never like to be told they are entitled. So I throw it in your face again because you are denying a Caymanian reality.
Always easier to blame someone else for your problems while Caymanians have all the political power on the Islands having stripped the Governor of practically all his powers.
Is it o.k. to say, “All of the above”?
Trump says it is all about the genes.
His are bigly good by the way. I heard him say it so it must be true.
Changing the law? Its likely not enforced now. For example, anyone wanting to be an MLA has to be 100% Caymanian citizen, cannot hold citizenship anywhere else. How many MLA’s only have a Cayman passport?
And what exactly is a ‘Caymanian’ these days?
And where’s my donkey?
The Elections Law is bizarrely skewed to allow only born Caymanians with a Caymanian grandparent. Alden has a very bad track record when it comes to seeing things coming. The Elections Law is prejudicial and denies representative participation by those newer but just as Caymanian Caymanians. It doesn’t fly to have two tiers of citizenship in a UK Territory.
The great USA states the same, you have to be born American to hold highest office.
CNS: The highest office, yes. You must be born in the US and/or born an American citizen* to be president or VP (though as far as I know there is nothing about your parentage to restrict you from running) but you can run for every other elected office as a naturalized citizen who arrived in the US as an immigrant. So, not the same at all.
*I amended this bit. See link further down.
Plenty of immigrant reps, not least of which, Madeleine Albright, one of the USA’s top diplomats of last 50 years. Immigrated to USA as a child and embraced the ideals of America.
Don’t forget Henry Kissinger. And Samantha Power, Irish though born in London, an immigrant to USA.
The governator was from Austria.
But they do. Who’s at highest position in legal positions?
So 3:29, why was Canadian born Texas Senator Cruz allowed time run for President in 2016? His parents were both Cuban.
CNS: I found this article in the LA Times – Is Ted Cruz, born in Canada, eligible for the presidency? Legal experts say yes – I have to confess, I thought you had to be born in the US to be president but apparently if you are born outside but you are a US citizen at the time of birth, as Cruz was, it’s OK.
It would be a huge benefit to the country to get some experienced outsiders into the LA. Really the goal should be to find the people who Know Cayman and will make the best decisions for the country regardless of their birthplace.
1.38 the fear is that Jamaicans will step in and transition Cayman to a 3rd world corrupt mini Jamaica.
Be careful what you wish for.
Exactly. They make that clear everyday that that is their plan. That is the message they promote behind closed doors… and in their display of their power.
The AG is a Jamaican he sits with the FCO and Governor on many national issues Not the Premier but as long as he’s there why would he be interested in term limits for that position as we had for the previous English AGs.
Right now the most powerful people are the Chief Justice and Attorney General, both are Jamaican not English.
Look at the roles the AG (regardless of who holds the position!) holds and influence he can have on Parliament, Cabinet, Civil Service and with the UK, so just considering nationality not his performance, being married to a Caymanian, the fact is he is not Caymanian and there are no terms for this position.
Why isn’t Arden, Suckoo, Sanders calling for that position to at least be subject to term limits? The assessment should be about the position not nationality.
Chief Justice has a terrible track record on appeal and recently had to recuse himself from a trial part way through due to a conflict of interest but other than that he is a fine fellow.
I do agree and as stated, not about the people but positions filled and I believe should be subject to term limits especially the AG. For eg if a British man married to a Caymanian was in that position, many would be making it an issue.
So the comment didn’t say the AG and CJ weren’t good men or not competent in their respective roles, but the point was really about powerful positions held by citizens not Caymanian by birth or heritage.
England is also a messed up country.
If any person wants to run for office go back to your country of origin and do so!
But you realize that as a Caymanian you can go to England and run for Parliament. Wonderful having so many rights.
Question is why would any caymanian want to….
No we can’t do that as Caymanians. We would first have to accept British Citizenship and accept a UK passport in order to run for elections there.
No way I can jump on a flight to the UK with my BOTC passport and run for election, get a job or sign up for welfare.
Not true. You have to be Caymanian AND a British Citizen to do what you suggest.
But any Caymanian can apply for British citizenship and it is granted. They can then apply for a passport. I know as I did it to work as a lawyer in the U.K for a number of years.
You think we’d transition from a JLP branch office, with a Jamaican-pliant Speaker, into what exactly?! Is that possibility worse than the narco-economy status quo we’ve already got?
Good question, 4:28 pm!
Even the Filipinos are also laying claims to seats, sending official diplomats too. Be very careful what you ask for!
…you think its any different today?
The difference between here and JA is that the international financial services industry is still here in Cayman (because sufficient numbers of middle and upper management got PR/Status to keep them here………).
It’s the arbitrary Caymanian grandparent part that is really odd. Like that has had any material positive affect on the calibre of honesty/integrity of these characters.
Bless our Caymanian grand parents.- irreplaceable!
50% of residents have no representation or voting rights= caymankind democracy
How would you feel if you went back to your country only to find out that anyone, from anywhere could come, take up residency, run and vote and run in elections.
I swear Cayman must be the only place in the world where everyone thinks we should just give up everything that is ours and change it to suit them.
Stop invoking “caymankind.” Caymankind is something made up by the DOT to label us. We have always be kind Caymanians…and this is where it has gotten us..
That’s how it works where I am.
right? Then why aren’t you there and not here sucking off the Cayman tit?
Everything is so much better where you are from but you can’t survive as well there so you are here…Ask yourself why?
Stop bashing my island and its people. You are a guest here not a slave owner although the Brits still believe that some of them are..
It’s not the tit they are sucking mi bredrin…
It’s the blood.
Where are you?
You can come to my country Canada and they will give you citizenship in only 5 years. With citizenship you can vote, run for office and you can keep your Caymanian citizenship. This is very much the case with other countries around the world too. I think it’s only a matter of time before someone challenges the Elections Law and a court strikes down what many would consider unconstitutional provisions with the Law.
Canada is still nation building but we have already seen what happens to indigenous peoples there
But there are no indigenous people in the Cayman Islands. Read your history of the islands. The Carib people never lived in these 3 islands.
Canada is a much more welcoming and openly diverse country than the colony known as the Cayman Islands.
Then why are you here? Just because you do it there, does that mean that you set the standards for our island?
Canada is a vast country with very few people. Cayman is fast becoming overpopulated with elitists and individuals like yourselves that come here believing that we must change to suit the laws like you have in Canada.
Let me ask you a question, if we became socialist like Canada, devalued our currency like Canada, taxed our people like Canada, and let every Tom, dick and Harry come here like you say Canada does,allow our crime rate to escalate like some of Canada’s main cities, do you believe that this would be a place that you would still want to live?
You are here because you ran from Canada and don’t want to be there anymore. Maybe from at least some of the things I mentioned. You like what we have done with Cayman but you need to “fix” it to be your little Canada aways from home. Well, it doesn’t work like that.
I know you will say I’m being xenophobic but if I was in your position, I would try to assimilate within the Cayman culture and get to know our people and enjoy what has made Cayman what it is today.
Never knew Canada was a socialist country. But they do have universal health care so if that makes them socialist then that is not a bad thing.
Geez, my premiums are damn high here for a retired dude who is not a millionaire.
Think its actually 3 – the residence test is based on a 5 year base period, but technically possible to qualify in 3.
It takes 5 years of continuous living in Canada to get Canadian citizenship. I know as a Caymanian I have dual citizenship having been educated in a Canadian university and working there after graduating. Always useful to have 2 passports as many Caymanian politicians know. A number are Canadian too, but keep it quiet.
We do not want to go to your country. We want to stay here! Remember how your people treated it rhe indigenous. Canada was never a country of choice for Caymanians who migrated – I haven’t heard of anyone lining up to do so now.
11:31, Ever wonder why so many Caymanians have Canadian citizenship and a Canadian passport? Maybe an escape ticket for the day the Cayman Islands become independent.
And then you can have “leaders” like invertebrate people-kind like Justine Trudeau
Justine????? She is a real beauty.
He does yoga very well, in black face, while banking the under the table dosh.
Good Canadian, smiling while they turn the knife in ya eh!
That’s how it works in the 1st world…
Sure, but who wants to live in Canada anymore? Isn’t that why you are here? I know it’s why I am. No more winters or high taxation for me.
Canada will always be my home and I still go back and visit, but I have been here for 11 years and I love, care and respect the people of Cayman. They are some of the friendliest people in the world and they have made me feel welcome and wanted here. I would never think of disrespecting them in the manner I see so many expats doing on here, particularly my fellow Canadians.
Thank you Cayman Islands for allowing me the great opportunity to live here. I love you all!
You do realise that you are the “Lone Ranger” but thank you for your kind words. You know every now and then, when a Caymanian dare speak up in defense of our homeland we get this blowback of disrespect and hatred towards to us. We do not really care- Caymanians are a widely travelled group of people but at the end of the day we all come back home so I understand your sentiments. Home is where the heart is and it is worth fighting for. This 2×4 Rock is special to us and we will lay down our lives to hold on to it for our children and grandchildren. You my friend is always welcome. BLess You.
Yeah, but at least they have universal health care in Canada which makes life so much easier and less stressful.
Never happen. Trust me. We will BURN the place down before outside people get that type of control.
You big talker you!
It’s called “Free speech”.
why…you afraid of some improvements being made?
Just don’t burn down our DUMP. A national treasure.
Outside people? You mean the ones that have been living here at least 15 years and have no criminal record as otherwise they couldn’t qualify for status?
Suckoo’s father is not a born Caymanian though Suckoo is. He is like those converts to religion, more obsessed and assertive about the issue than those whose status as Caymanians goes back several generations.
He , like many others , is Obsessed with keeping the best paying job and benefits he Could hope for.
It is true Al Suckoo’s father is Jamaican by birth, however Al is a proud “Caymanian Child” as is Chris Saunders, Marco Archer, Roy McTaggart, and Wayne Panton whose great grandfather was also Jamaican. Seems to me that Al is in very good company. Cudos to him for standing up fo our rights. Good job for bringing this issue front and central.
Big up Suckoo for causing “GOOD TROUBLE” amazing that all the legislators agreed and supported his motion!
These bigots are quick to point out the few Caymanians with foreign fathers but they forget mention our caymanian mothers, whose lineages typically goes back to the founding settlers of the country. And have lived in the islands continually.
Why is cayman the only country in the world that has 1st and second class citizens?
Why is a person who is born in Cayman, who is 100% Caymanian not allowed to run for political office?
Everyone complains about the lack of good quality educated candidates, but maybe if we let ALL Caymanians (yes, even white caymanians), run for political office, then there would be more choice at the voting booth.
Please.
Cayman is a place that takes the second and third class of other countries and transforms them into thinking they are first class.
Many who failed elsewhere are shining down here.
Classes are everywhere. What the outsiders have successfully done is Group-On before Group-On was invented. That’s the key to their success.
Ooohhh…imagine the seethe if that did happen and people who didn’t need their driveway paved or a new fridge could vote? Things might actually change. People would go to jail for belting women in bars, planning permission for the entitled would be halted, beach access would be restored and same sex marriage would be the least of our concerns and education would be the most important. One can but dream.
Tara Rivers was not born here and can run for political office. Why not others?
Grandparent.
You understand that is a nonsense reason, right?
Because politicians in cayman dont want competition from educated white caymanians.
Yep, because all Caymanians are uneducated and black and all Paper Caymanians are educated and white..
Did you read that over before you posted it?
Geesh man! Cayman is a melting pot. They are not all black and they are not all uneducated.. ugh!
Make them talk. I hope every Caymanian reads this blog. The comments show you the blue print as to why many of your children are no longer getting private sector scholarships, why you hit the glass ceiling on the corporate ladder, and why your business is not succeeding.
This is exactly why we must retain the vote because the people dying to control this place politically are the Anglo-elite who view people of colour as inferior.
Yes Caymanians have their fair share of colourism. But this Anonymous 5:19pm’s statement above is blood curdling.
You all don’t deserve to represent us. And we are going to roll back this one person one vote system which is your only hope of getting elected.
You shall not pass.
Wait………Let me think about that a while.
A promise from a politician is of comfort to a fool.
The truth of the situation is that the UK will make whatever changes they want whenever they want to make them.
Suckoo knows that majority of ‘citizens’ who want to vote and run this country are Jamaican nationals, his people and Sanders. Our MLAs that keep feeding this anti British sentiment need mental help because we all might hate that aspect of history but ….
when Generational Caymanians are being destroyed everyday to prevent them from any opportunities they can obtain unless they’re against the British and or sharing any benefit with a Jamaican or Trinidadian, we know it’s not the ‘white man’ doing this to us, it’s all the other West Indians siding with the ‘white’ people to make us the bad guys while they befriend them to get rid of us.
see the protest as a reverse psychology min game. The British can’t even hire their own in OUR CIVIL SERVICE unless certain MLAs get up and talk about it but yet there are many Caymanians being treated like nothing every day suffering from stress, HBP, lack of opportunities not because of British but Jamaicans, Trinidadians and Canadians/Australians/South Africans.
Why can’t the HRC look into that fact…. unfair discrimination against Generational Caymanians, cultural genocide of Caymanians and reverse discrimination, preference for these three nationalities in particular?
I pray we have some Caymanians running for office who see that unless we start with the civil service, judiciary and police service we are doomed to become second Jamaica.
Even the Jamaicans who fled here need to see that their historical jealousy of Caymanians and hatred for British, and pursuit of financial gains will backfire because they refuse to let go their homeland’s disastrous policies and way of life and after they have taken over completely the violence and political instability will destroy us too.
And to those who want to say Cayman is already ‘corrupt’ etc…. the new Caymanians can take that credit when they claim to have built so much here in last 40 years, that needs to be highlighted!
These might sound harsh but if Generational Caymanians could speak openly and honestly they will all agreee that’s the current situation, so again I appeal to the HRC, MLAs and even the Governor to start looking for a way for us to deal with how we’re being treated.
HRC is not interested in Generational Caymanian issues or concerns. We are supposedly the ones in an advantageous position.
Equality means giving our rights and privileges to everyone else in our country.
That’s what the HRC’s focus will be.
Shame as it would open up the gene pool.
That my friend is precisely the problem..We have allowed people like you to come here, divide us, take away our rights and culture and now you are looking to rule us..
Not on my watch, my friend..or as we say, Not today Bobo!
you would be nothing without expats…..
We would be okay with one particular expat, though….you!
Nobody take my turtle stew soup. Dis my culture. Not today Bobo.
I would like to hear the Premier’s opinion on whether status holders having resided here for decades should have the right run for public office. Surely as in most western countries the expat population should have at least one person to represent them in the L.A.
Anon people with your views ensure that status holders will never be able to run for Office.
Thanks for that.
3.57pm Take your British passport generously granted to you by HM Govt, go live in Britain and see how you will be able to vote, run for election and learn how democracy works.
Without realizing, you have hit the nail on the head. The racism is so deep here.
You just said “Surely as in most western countries the expat population should have at least one person to represent them in the L.A.”
This statement should send a cold chill up every true Caymanian’s spine. It simply proves that no matter how long expats live here they will never view Caymanians as their equals or worthy of representing them.
Why should any parliament have a space reserved for expats? Doesn’t taking up citizenship in a country mean that the people you have joined are now your people?
As usual there is no thought of integration, rather it’s simply domination. I predict like a plague of locusts when the feast is gone these fair weather citizens will disappear as will many of us Caymanians.
The future isn’t bright.
Why do you want to hear the Premier’s opinion? He is controlled by others.
That is why he has come up with crap like an unnecessary new dock when Cayman has far more important issues. The dump and school system heading the list!
remier’s opinion?
The Premier voted for the motion! That is his answer to your question
When that happens the foreign takeover of Cayman will be complete. Almost nothing is left here for working class Caymanians as it is now. It’s a sad situation and Caymanians will be left to scatter the world to make a better life and it is near impossible now and will certainly be impossible once Caymanians are no longer the decision makers at the voters box – although we all know the final arbitrators are the Lodge, large developers and anyone with a sizeable bank account.
It’s sad what I’ve seen my county become in the 37 years I’ve been alive. My children will never know the Cayman that I so treasured growing up the the 80s and 90s. Seems that we were in a lovely sweet spot then and should’ve focused on educating our people more and implementing programs which encouraged families. No instead we focused on the sustainable “inward investments” and work permits…or infrastructure, environment and society in general has suffered majorly for it.
Yeah I see your point to some extent. I too am around your age and the way the country has changed from 2001 until now (during my working life) is incredible. Sorry to say and nothing agianst expats of all sorts but just like in the UK and USA and basically anywhere where natural resources are on the lower slash diminishing side. Immigration just amounts to a slaughter of wages and opportunities for the labour and rewards to capital. Shame if granddad or father didn’t pass it on or teach you to protect it cause in this NEW Cayman its a struggle to get back 1) what has been made rare by 2) what has been diminished the net effect is 3) Caymanian migration.
Although it can be said and in some respects is correct that Caymanians had to leave before when resources were plenty but infrastructure was less so I guess its could be said that this is just an unfortunate flip of that and we can blame our parents and grandparents and ourselves for not judging the correct value of our things.
No hate for that… Just get better and recognise we may have to move to come back stronger. A whole generation did it so… Why not us!
When were resources plenty here?
Let’s hope those upwardly mobile Caymanians have better rights than expats living here!!
Has the average Caymanian living standard not gone up dramatically in the 37 years you’ve been alive? I think that’s mostly down to inward investment and skills and money from WP holders.
And why would it be any other way?
So daft😂
Actually many Caymanians would and do say that the living standard has dramatically declined.