Cabinet ordered to release Smith Cove minutes
(CNS): Not everything that is documented in government’s Cabinet meetings can automatically be withheld from public scrutiny, Ombudsman Sandy Hermiston has found in her latest ruling. A freedom of information request made by Alric Lindsay for an extract of Cabinet minutes relating to the now cancelled Smith Barcadere project and the decision to waive planning permission should have been released, Hermiston said. She also criticised the Cabinet Office for failing to undertake an internal review.
Lindsay, who will be running for office this year in George Town South, where the proposed project stirred up controversy early last year, filed the FOI request in June last year, several months after the government shelved the controversial project. Residents in the area who strongly opposed the project made it clear to government that they did not want to see any development at the much loved natural beauty spot.
The ministry gave in to public opinion and abandoned the project in March. But soon afterwards, it emerged that government had waived the necessary planning process to allow itself to press on with a proposal and failed to gazette that fact or properly document meetings. The issue raised significant suspicions that there was an ulterior motive to the enhancement that might involve creating another location for cruise ship tours, a move that many residents across Grand Cayman, and not just those living near to the cove, bitterly opposed.
While admissions were made by Planning Minister Joey Hew that government had waived the need to get planning permission for itself, other FOI requests had indicated that no documents at all were kept relating to this project, further fuelling public mistrust. In an effort to confirm that government had waived its own rules and to try and find out more, Lindsay submitted an FOI request for an extract of the minutes when the issue was addressed by Cabinet.
“There are those in government who don’t want us to know what decisions are being made, and how our money is being spent. This is especially the case for the Smith Barcadere Redevelopment Project,” Lindsay told CNS, as as he pointed to the original proposed price tag of CI$1.3 million.
“The interesting fact about this is that no official committee was ever created and one or more government departments acted upon instructions from the ‘ad hoc’ or unofficial committee. To make matters worse, no minutes were ever kept or disclosed by the ‘unofficial’ committee. This is disturbing since, for some time, I have been fighting against these types of undisclosed dealings that don’t put Caymanians first. “
The Cabinet Office denied Lindsay’s initial request under the part of the FOI law that protects the deliberations arising in the course of Cabinet proceedings, and then failed to conduct the internal review he had asked for regarding the decision. He therefore appealed to the ombudsman.
“As a part of the fight I appealed to the Office of The Ombudsman for disclosure of the minutes relating to the planning exemption,” he added.
Despite claims to the contrary by the Cabinet Office, Hermiston found that the particular extract did not document any Cabinet discussions, or show how Cabinet reached its decision, or detail which Cabinet members had said what, which is key to whether or not a document can be withheld.
In this case the ombudsman said that the Cabinet decision was already a matter of public record, as it had been reported in the local media, and it should also have been gazetted, but never was. But in short, there was no legal reason for Cabinet not to release the extract, demonstrating that the secrecy of Cabinet, so closely guarded by government, is not sacrosanct.
“The FOI Act is in place to promote government openness and transparency and decisions made under this legislation should give due regard to that fact,” said Hermiston. “Public authorities have an opportunity to argue against disclosure based on an exemption or other reason under the Act.”
The extract of the minutes is not exempt, she added, ordering the Cabinet Office to disclose it.
She also said the office had violated section 34 of the FOI Act when it failed to conduct an internal review of its original decision, though there was no indication that any sanctions would follow.
Lindsay said he was pleased with the decision to order the disclosure so that the public could have some level of transparency.
See the full appeal and relevant documents in the CNS Library.
See VP by Alric Lindsay: ‘Off-the-books’ project shows need for transparency
Category: development, Government oversight, Local News, Politics
Not sure if being more seasoned/experienced gets us further ahead. What I have personally witnessed from politicians to departments and to statutory bodies, the longer these public servants stay in place the more the bad behaviours get entrenched because they know all they have to do is tow the line and they have a job for life.
Half of them were promoted for merely punching the clock everyday.
Even when they hit their expiration date they still get extended contracts or get recycled as consultants.
I’m sure Dr Lee is a great guy—until the chips are down—then not so much.
Open up the Cabinet meetings! Very little that they do should be secret.
I’m shocked I tell ya! Shocked!
Next you’ll tell me that massive parcels of land get sold a few months of zoning changes.
Or developments get approved just before building height allowances changes.
Or people get appointed to certain boards just before…and on…and on…and on…and on
Was it the movie The Usual Suspects where the answer is hiding in plain sight right infront of us and the investigator the whole time?
You’ve got an election coming. You can change everything. Or you can continue to be keyboard warriors and watch the very few same folk make fortunes on your backs.
Change it or move on. Sitting in the middle and shouting isn’t worth a crap.
My vote will be going to those running in my district who do not currently sit in Parliament.
Everybody should do the same.
If not let’s just change our name to Cayman Corruptislands.
Your incumbent isn’t standing for re-election so try hush with your silly sound bites
Nothing new here. this is the process that has existed for the granting of Coastal Works Licences by Cabinet ( or ExCo) for decades. The decision is predetermined and there is then a “meeting” that no one attends. Only those that have the resources to challenge decisions through the Judicial Review process get to see that the process is really no process at all and that they rely on the supremacy and confidentiality of Cabinet deliberations to whitewash the end decision.
There’s a critical difference between accidental negligence (being a moron) and deliberate conspiracies to circumvent procedures (these are intentional torts). We sadly encounter boatloads of examples of the latter; ie the tortfeasers in full-flex, yet mysteriously, no civil investigations are triggered. Then we have obiquitous wrongdoings against society, via scheduled fraud, deliberate suppression of facts, false accounting, and related deceit – those are criminal matters, and for all acting in complicity. Few dare to call any glaring misdeeds out, and none of it is ever prosecuted…why do we suppose that is? Who are these critical gatekeepers who betray the public’s trust, and are they swapped every four years for hand-picked shills? Who do they report to? What are their resources? Do we want to fix this properly, or not? If so, make that the campaign pledge and cut out all the dry-rot from the superficial planking down to the sub-frame floor. IMO it seems to be less about the moral disrepute of the various dubious characters engaged in this, than the recycled enabling apparatus behind them, who apparently see, and say nothing for years, even while betraying their position of trust, and being paid (by us, not the Ministers) to act in respect to good governance.
The one constant or near constant situation in the governance of this country that I have observed over the past 30 years or so is that there is a core group in the civil service who have worked themselves up to high positions of authority. The holders of these positions have a lot of power!
Many years ago when I was in the UK I watched a television program called “Yes Minister” it was a comedy, but it did have an underlying truth to it. Perhaps as well as changing Government a close look at those behind the seats of power should be scrutinized. It is not only MLA’s who have businesses!
Franz Manderson as Deputy Governor must hold them all accountable and if necessary FIRE his hand picked management team at the Chief & Deputy Chief levels. They have been doing whatever they feel like whenever they want with his protection. Fish rots at the top.
Franz Manderson? He is the one that allows all the stuff to go on in the Civil Service.
The Deputy Governor is THE MOST POWERFUL politician in these islands.
All other Cabinet members have to go to him to get anything done.
Check it out.
Yes I cant believe they were going to upgrade smith cove and actually put nice amenities and make the northern side more usable for normal people and not just bums sitting in the bush smoking ganja. Who in thier right mind could have thought of such a bad idea..
More usable for “normal people” lol. The ones who would need a coach parking facility so they could be shuttled in and get back to their cruise ship promptly, you mean. There is a somewhat simpler solution to the bums sitting in the bush that doesn’t involve concreting over the area, but right you are, lets not ask RCIPS to do their job when it provides an excuse for turning our natural environment into $$$.
On a tropical island not everything needs to look like resort in the USA (not that it’s a bad thing).
Leave us a bit of the island wouldya!
Yet you walked by dozens of other people smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol, but didn’t even bat an eye. Why the double standard?
I make way more than the average Caymanian and consume weed daily. I have a degree and no debts.
Don’t generalize weed with being a bum, because I can assure you that alcohol does a lot more societal harm to Cayman than a medically prescribed plant!
And it would be really good to get the Cabinet minutes about the Beach Bay hotel project too. Perhaps they could be released without all the red tape of a formal request, to demonstrate good faith with the electorate before the election.
Bishop, this is Pawn.
What are your comments on a Member of Parliament being convicted of physical abuse against women and retaining his position in Parliament?
Pawn, this is Knight. Great move! Bishop, what say you, my son…?
‘The extract of the minutes is not exempt, she added, ORDERING the Cabinet Office to disclose it’
Believe it when I see it! Don’t hold your breath folks!
…or whatever they haven’t shredded to date.
So where does this leave dear Samuel Rose, who is the Cabinet Secretary in overall charge of Cabinet? Was he just too busy playing music for Mckeeva?
This certainly reflects badly on his ability to efficiently and effectively manage the Cabinet Office.
Just another Johnny-come-lately who was thrust into this position for political expediency instead of someone who was a seasoned and well experienced career civil servant.
Kirk Tibbetts was all over this too.
He is behind all the major developments and concessions. The PPM puppet master.
KT Joey Moses Alden and the rest need to be thoroughly investigated. Where is the Auditor General?
Master of puppets, I’m pulling your strings…
Joey Who said it was all a miscommunication!
Joey is a dunce, unqualified for a leadership role and proven to the public that we cannot trust him. He is controlled by rich developers and a big part of the PPM problems. Why you think Alden put Roy as leader instead of Joey? The polls do not lie. He is dart boy they are desperate need him in there. We know what we must do vote him out of office next election
Look what he and the planning board allowed to happen to Dixie Cemetery. Money is more important than the forefathers of The Cayman Islands. Shame on all of you.
That was an easy one. This government is awfully nervous about letting the people know what it is up to. It almost makes me think they are hiding things from us.
They be … ‘hiding things’.
Oh my, you think so.
WITH CERTAINTY!
Duhhhh
Duhh indeed. Its sarcasm – the “its almost if…” is a bit of a clue.
Thanks for noticing.
On the evidence of this ruling by the Ombudsman the government have been proven of doing exactly that. The question is why hide? The other question is what else have they been hiding over the last four years? How do they expect us to trust them when everything they say or do is shady? They ran on transparency yet have been the exact opposite.
They made their bed and now must lay in it. They have lost our confidence and trust and made the decision easy for me. I cannot put faith in persons that behave in this manner. This is poor leadership and corruption by all parties involved including Minister Hew, MLA Barbara Connolly, Cabinet and Ministry of Planning staff. Another example that Cayman has become a banana republic.
Ministry staff merely implement the policies of the Minister. Doesn’t mean they agree with them.
Well then we can replace the humans with AI run bots.
Civil Servants are there to exercise good judgment, provide advice, plan, manage and execute.
WTF?!!! Are we paying CO’s over CI$150,000 per annum to ‘follow instructions’? Get your rass out of here talking sh*t.
Time to drain the Cayman Swamp they all gotta go!
I just pray that in draining the Swamp that we don’t end up with the Squalor, 7:40pm.
Barbara is a nice lady but sheep for Alden
Joey is a greedy XXXX arhat cannot be trusted
Kurt controls them both
Barbara and Joey needs to go!
GTS and GTN will have capable candidates to replace them both in May 2021
Don’t hold your breath. The pool of available educated ethical candidates is very small.
None of this government can be trusted. Time has come to vote them all out
I agree, but who will take the responsibility when that does not happen? Which I predict will happen, and it will all sadly start over again, as the lemmings go over the cliff.
If the electorate does not vote them out, the electorate should be happy with what they get.
Minister of Planning Hew kept no meeting minutes or proof of instructions for a $2m project unbelievable! He needs to go. All the miscommunication and lies will catch up with on on Election Day. He used Barabra who was dumb enough to follow so da wha she gets too
Think you are going to find that either Cabinet kept no minutes either, or their coverage of this topic will be limited to something along the lines of “A discussion around Smith Cove took place.” and thats it.
Joey Hew and Barbara Connolly lied and were properly exposed. They need to be voted out in May for being useless and drones for Alden
The Season for Witch Hunting is on!
They are not fit for purpose. They had their chances and blew it. Their records speaks for itself. The got caught out for the lies so they must be held accountable