Rules needed on post-election horsetrading and speaker’s role
(CNS): The Constitutional Commission has issued a number of recommendations, including introducing more robust rules relating to the formation of a government in the aftermath of an unclear election and rules to preserve the impartiality of the speaker’s position. Alongside the process of how a government should take shape, the commission questioned whether a speaker should participate in post-election talks about the appointment of the premier and the formation of the government when the results are ambiguous.
In its annual update to mark this year’s Constitution Day on 4 July, the report noted the need for a Cabinet manual that would cover a number of issues, such as what happens in the wake of a general election where it is not clear who has won.
The Constitutional Commission said the development of such a manual that included a ministerial code of conduct has been proposed for several years. While the PACT Government implemented that code after coming to office, the commission believes the Cabinet manual should also set out guidelines for forming a new government.
Chairman Vaughan Carter said the commission had published explanatory notes in the wake of last year’s general election because it sensed “a degree of concern surrounding who would form the next government”. However, he said that further clarification of what should occur in this transitional period would be beneficial.
The commission’s update said the manual should incorporate a chapter on the formation of the government “which accounts for peculiarities of the local political landscape, the preponderance of independent candidates and the absence of two dominant political parties that often exist in Westminster-styled constitutions like our own”.
The commission also stated that “recent events have illustrated that the civil service would also benefit from improved direction as to how to operate in the period immediately prior to a General Election and the transitional period”. Citing the recent report of the auditor general that looked into how the opening of the overseas offices and Cayman’s participation in the Dubai Expo were handled, the commission noted that the deputy governor had announced the development of a formal policy.
This will introduce a “period of election sensitivity”, providing clear information about how civil servants and ministers should conduct government business once an election has been called and in its immediate wake.
The commission also made a significant number of recommendations about the speaker, such as his or her part after an election in forming and supporting governments, and the independence, integrity and impartiality of the speaker’s chair, following recent questions as to whether the constitutional rules in the Cayman Islands are sufficiently robust or appropriately respected for that post.
The commission has asked whether, on balance, it would be preferable for a speaker to always be selected from outside of the members of Parliament and if it was desirable to detach the election of the speaker from the post-election negotiations. While he was not named by the commission, the report raised very specific points that related to the current speaker, McKeeva Bush, such as his handling of a controversial Public Accounts Committee report and his assault conviction.
The commission members suggested that the Constitution and/or the Standing Orders should be clarified to ensure that the PAC’s “constitutional function is not frustrated by the speaker”. They also suggested making provision for the speaker to take a leave of absence, making specific provision for mental health challenges, and creating the mechanism, constitutional or otherwise, whereby a speaker can be held to account if convicted of or charged with a criminal offence.
The commission said it understood the Parliamentary Code of Conduct was in the process of being brought for a vote but questioned whether such a code would be sufficient to protect and preserve
the integrity of the speakership in all circumstances.
They also said highlighted a significant body of work that hasn’t been addressed, such as advice and recommendations submitted to government on the absence of a people’s referendum law and the failure to create district councils, as set out in the constitution. The commission said it was not asserting that government should take on board everything but welcomed some consultation. Overwhelming evidence of this failure to respond to its recommendations illustrated the need for a process to enable the government and the commission to engage over its advice.
“Otherwise, the Constitutional Commission’s work is effectively all for naught,” Carter said, noting that while he has had positive discussions with the governor and the premier as well as the opposition leader to discuss these matters, there has still been no substantive response to major outstanding issues.
See the Constitutional Commission’s reports and recommendations in the CNS Library.
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Category: Government oversight, Politics
Page 11 of the Constitution Commission’s update asks:
4. Whether the Constitution and/or the Standing Orders should make specific provision for the Speaker to take a leave of absence and for any consequential arrangements for the Speakership?
5. Whether the Constitution and/or the Standing Orders should make specific and more sensitive provision for mental health challenges?
6. Whether there ought to be some additional mechanism, constitutional or otherwise, whereby a Speaker can be held to account in circumstances where the Speaker is charged and/or convicted of a criminal offence?
How on earth has he kept his OBE? He is a low life criminal who brings disrepute to everything he touches – Come on PACT – you are now established – get rid of the speaker and any other dead wood and poach some decent progressives.
Lets make Cayman have a better reputation again.
Let’s keep it simple McKeeeva has been problematic from day 1 and he will remain that way until his Passing.
The rules are ignored by him and, Governments always seem to think he must always be kingmaker and, he must be consulted. Nonsense.
I long for the day when he’s completely ignored, in and out of the House.
Yep, What a clown show. Worse with pea brain kenny in the mix.
9:18 pm anyone convicted of drug traffing should never be allowed to rum for MP. People need to think that’s a very serious offence, it’s possible that it got hundreds of young people hooked on drugs and ruined for life. Make laws to be Sure that they cannot serve as a Members of Parliament or any high Government position.
We should model our government on the system used in Belgium. In 2010-11 they set a world record of 589 day without a government, only to surpass that in the Covid-19 pandemic by going 652 days without a government when the previous one collapsed in December 2018 until a new one was appointed.
Think of all the money we could save, and bad decisions that could be avoided.
Westminster system obviously not workable in tiny Cayman. In the absence of real parties, you’d be better with something that looked more like a mayor/city council arrangement, with the “mayor” (call him president, premier or whatever) responsible for all departments and the deputy governor eliminated. A civil service commission can protect the government jobs/pay. If the “mayor” and the council majority are different “parties” all the better. They will cut down on the number of backhanders that fly under the radar.
Your attorney general could do something about all these complaints. Not going to though.
Attorney General is not any help.
Just check on who granted him status. Should tell you all you need to know.
He’s useless!
Can anyone honestly tell me any current politician who is neither inept, thick nor crooked as hell? I’m struggling here.
Nothing going to happen with this story by the way. Non-starter. They won’t let it happen.
What about Andre Ebanks?
Here’s a quote from Cervantes.
“Show me the company you keep and I will tell you what kind of man you are”.
Is he supposed to boycott all of his duties because of the coworkers he didn’t choose to work with? Imagine if we all behaved that way – none of us would go to work ever again!
It’s the ones he chose to work with that tells you his character.
Indeed.
And that goes for the financial services industry also.
Ask him who paid for his campaign.
Oh Christ! Andre??? You really haven’t been paying attention have you ?
Has he resigned from the PPm yet ?
Matthew 26:14-16
What. Wait! So we are not following the Pirate code and third world rules anymore? Why the big change? Lot of voters are not gonna be happy Bobo.
Blah blah blah Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Nothing will change and no matter how many of us want big mac OUT, he will remain seated in some capacity making decisions that he should not be able to get his disgusting fingers on.
The fact that nothing he does embarrasses us enough to get him out shows just how low this island can go.
Not just convicts…known dealers also.
The rules should make it so convicted drug dealers, woman beaters and business men who can’t explain where their cash came from can’t be elected. I realise this would wipe out 1/2 the cabinet, but we can always replace them with people who haven’t been caught yet.
So essentially it’s been realised that there’s no real moral or integral compass amongst candidates or formation of Govt’s and unless there’s rules in place they’ll scurry their own agenda and could hypothetically use a Govt ccard for gambling because it doesn’t say they can’t, – sure, these are the people we need first in line to run the place. 🎲🧭
OMOV is better, and from the elected few, a premier should be chosen, though only by those MPs. I don’t feel that a public vote on a leader would be of any value.
The speaker should be a civil servant and not an elected member and therefore will serve through elections without the horse trading. Speaker however should be on a fixed term contract, automatically replaced (promoted) by the deputy speaker.
Jeez, I have plenty of ideas and the population of Cayman will have just as many. So this can’t be hard to organise. The only thing lacking in parliament is the political will to do what’s right, and not just to do something that prolongs someone’s presence on an inflated salary and pension. Come on, get it done now and move on to other important matters.
You have no clue how Parliament works (fixed term contracts ?) deputy speaker taking over ? Parliament is the supreme law making authority and cannot be restricted like that! The problem here in Cayman is that we keep electing not so honourable members who have no regard for the rules of society and they drag that attitude into the parliament
These guys won’t even comply with laws…..good luck with some silly rules. What a worthless selfish bunch.
Why is a Braccer, Lil Caymanian, East Ender and North Sider worth more than others? They are over represented while other districts are under represented.
People from the Brac are just better…
Not all of them, Bro. You and me might be the only ones.
Brac is best. Better than all the rest. Socialism at its finest. Umbilical cord not cut yet.
The Speaker should be appointed from those among us with no criminal history.
Perhaps the Auditor General’s Office + ACC or RCIPS financial crimes unit should chart the net worth of all MP’s before getting elected, whilst elected and as they leave office…this should also include all senior civil servants as they play an integral role is driving policies and policy implementation over the course of the time they are employed in these influential positions etc.
FYI – Horsing trading has happened after multiple elections with multiple elected governments and senior civil servants e.g. Chief Officers are moved around as they are responsible for driving the administrative arm of government resources/ministries/SAGC’s to accommodate certain agendas and to facilitate projects and insure that donors get their ROI for financial support etc.
Horse trading occurs to determine who will lead the government as there is so much at stake…The political marriage of convenience of the PPM + UDP leaders after years of acrimony and lawsuits in 2013 demonstrates anything is possible in Cayman politics.
Some key questions to be asked and answered include:
1. Are the rules/laws applied consistently across the board or is it subject to the person(s) involved?
2. How is corruption or abuse of office defined by the relevant authorities, the political players and power brokers?
When in doubt…“Follow the money”
Best regards
Johann Moxam
Chart the net worth? Because they are going to declare it? Or are stupid enough to take bribes directly rather than through corporate entities registered in other offshores? Hell we can’t even enforce the register of member’s interests and you expect a routine forensic audit of all MPs and senior civil servants.
It is possible if there is political will and the Governor’s office is serious about good governance, transparency and accountability.
No, it isn’t possible, because money is still the main driver, and greed wins every time over false promises.
So no chance at all since neither criteria apply lol.
Never mind declaring it, make it mandatory for any & all financial institutions, accountants & lawyers to directly report the information.
There should be two national votes (by all registered voters) for Premier and Speaker, which is more democratically chosen by the Caymanian people, alongside the one constituency vote for an MP.
Two consecutive election cycles have been affected by unproductive horse trading, which has been witnessed as a byproduct of the Westminster-style system extant in the Cayman Islands.
Too much concentration of power and compromises to be in power appear to cloud rationality and dilute good governance.
How exactly does it work when you have a nationally elected Premier with a majority elected government from a different party?
I guess if we were all smoking weed it would make sense.
That’s how it works (or doesn’t) in the USA. The President is not necessarily from the same party as the majority of MPs. However, i think that would make the system here worse and not better, as the Premier would have to make deals to get things passed. Pork barrel politics.
Orrie you should know that the initial part of your 2nd paragraph is incorrect. We have had the horse trading many, many times in the past, after elections.
Fun fact – the 2 MPs with the most votes last time were Chris Saunders and Kenny Bryant. Your suggestion overlooks 2 fundamental problems; the quality of the candidates produced by the current system, and the judgment of the limited voter pool. Broadening the pool by making it national rather than local certainty increases the costs of buying votes, but it doesn’t deal with the candidate quality issue and it doesn’t deal with the apparent susceptibility of large parts of our electorate to vote for complete numbskulls or rogues.
One of the key findings in the Commission of Enquiry report in TCI was that the limited voter pool bred corruption.
No difference here.
No difference in BVI.
I thought you studied law ??? WTH
Rules are needed to prevent convicts ever running for public office and from remaining in a parliamentary position if convicted whilst in office.
Convicts working in the Cayman Islands parliament?
This just can’t be!😲
These piddling suggestions will do you no good. There is no political will to be honest.
Do we now realize that we now have 20 elected members???
Who is the 20th member? It’s only 19 elected MPs.
19 plus the suggested appointment of a non elected speaker
If you want the speaker role to be non political, reinstate the governor in the speaker’s chair.
Be serious please
40 people (net) seem to think I’m serious, as opposed to your 2 (net) who presumably think you are.
And that is scary that so many people have no clue how parliament works and why the governor cannot cross the line and be a part of parliament which is made up of elected Caymanians. He is the Queens representative and therefore cannot constitutionally
Or according to convention enter that building without the invitation for a brief visit. To put the Governor back in parliament would set our democratic progression back 50 years. Omg my people, please please study history and politics it’s is so important to our survival. Stop making ignorant uninformed comments so the English people can laugh at us!!
That would be taking steps backward. Governor should not be Speaker.
A suitably qualified representative of the Governors office, employed specifically for the purpose, would be a good idea. There would be less accusations of favouritism compared to using a local person. I agree it should not be an elected MP.
The Governor says…”I fully support what the Premier and his government are doing”…”now who wants to take a photo of me as a fully support this cause… and when is the next beach walk?”
That would be one step backward !
They should have also recommended that the single member constituencies are abandoned and island wide elections take place going forward. Either give everyone up to 19 votes or a single vote. The system of getting elected by a few hundred people that you are able to bribe is not working.
Gerrymandering should have been made illegal way before OMOV!
Agree, sort of. I think we should all have one vote for district MP and another for Premier. Easy to write, easy to do. Perfectly fair. No horse-trading.
Also, I wish we would just do away with the party system. I don’t believe it serves the people nearly as much as the politicians.
Completely agree, except that additionally there should also be a national vote for speaker Speaker too.
Disagree. By voting for a party you have an idea (or are supposed to) what a government of that party would stand for. By voting for an individual/independent you have no clue what the rest of a government of independents might want.
@8:51:
You touch on the reason I did not cast a favouring vote for the new Constitution in the referendum. The Constitution officially enshrined the party system. Anyone with half a functioning brain cell would have realised this to be a grave folly. However, the people have spoken and the Constitution, complete with this serious fundamental flaw, became the law of the land. If you voted for the Constitution, you are part of the problem. The same mindless lot votes these clowns into office. The problem is not with the politicians, it is with the electorate.
The Speaker should be selected from the outside and not from the Parliament/elected members.
We will just trade the speakers seat being offered to an MP for support to something potentially worse – the seat being offered to someone in exchange for political donations.
Agreed.
Yes, there needs to be some guidelines to prevent all the BS that went on last year, ie m
Members being bullied to join a party in order for same to have the majority of Members to form a Government. This cannot be right under no circumstances. Good job and great recommendations Constitutional Commission!
Don’t you all worry, Honorable Speaker Bush will straiten this bunch of wannabees on the silly constitutional committee out. No one has the right to tell Big Daddy what to do or say!
There should have been a proper investigation as to the manner the press was involved in the post-election outcome of that last election.
.and of the Cabinet status grants.
Cabinet’s status Grant’s are often times very suspicious. Alden’s broken system, as started by MacKeeva.
…and, United Kingdom (British) Passports.
Amen!!!!
Perhaps the Unity govt should be investigated.