When and how are we gonna get out of this mess?
Ezra writes: Doesn’t it make you wonder what goes on in the minds of Cayman Islands members of parliament when they are called upon to discuss spending the people’s money? Is there a clear understanding of the business cases that drive their approvals? And is there any thought on how and whether, apart from value for money, there is intrinsic value and creation of a better quality of life for the people who they represent?
Added to this, is there any thought of how the development projects which they so eagerly approve affect and drive the need for increased infrastructure in virtually all aspects of life and how this largely affects a myriad of services, manpower needs, and the resulting unmanaged growth and its effect on the overall quality of life for the populace vis-à-vis the strain on schools, traffic and accidents, hospital premises, erosion of beaches, loss of natural habitats, etc?
What is in it for the people who live and work on these islands? Long lines of traffic, long waits at stores, and poor service at government entities because no thought was given to the connection between managed growth and runaway development, which now results in a scramble to upgrade almost every area of service, roads, schools, air and sea ports.
Strange that there are no plans to upgrade government hospital premises, which we were told recently are bursting at the seams, neither are there any projections for open park spaces and facilities throughout the island for the people to relax with their families with proper facilities, such as parking, toilets, benches, play spaces for outdoor sports and kids swings, etc. Not everybody wants to travel to the concrete, crowded Seven Mile Beach or hang out on football fields or at Camana Bay, the sole venue for music entertainment, which doesn’t come cheap with its overpriced restaurants.
Can these people we elect, who travel extensively, start to focus on what facilities are offered in other countries or regions where the people can congregate and enjoy quality time without being stuck at home with Netflix and social media?
We have seen the disastrous situation we are facing, where we now have to spend $1.2 billion on areas that we should have focused on years ago and would only be maintained to standard at this time. Can we expect better by recycling the same now-tired faces every four years with the same results? There is no plan on hand. Maybe they don’t know how to, and that’s sad and indeed shameful because we, the people, elected them.
We seriously need to consider who we elect as our representatives in elections. For over the past 20 years, we have sold the soul of Cayman and started and maintained its ever-looming demise because of a lack of planning and understanding of our environment, unmanaged growth, giveaways to developers, too many people in our limited land space, erosion of our culture, making us a minority, and so on and so on.
The good ship Cayman needs to be refurbished, with new maps, new engines, and a new crew who knows not just what to do but how to do it, and who will make and/or change the necessary policies and laws that will ensure the benefit of the Cayman population and that are fair and equitable to all who live on these islands.
Please, please, voting public, don’t be swayed any longer to sell your vote for a few dollars, fridges, stoves, boats and whatever else these jack-in-the-box politicians give you. Hold them to what they tell us they are going to do, and ensure that it makes clear sense and that we benefit from it — all of us, not just some.
Most importantly, be prepared to show that you care not just by being vocal about the wrong they do but by protesting peacefully in large numbers on the streets when necessary. We elect them. They must and will answer to us.
God bless these Cayman Islands.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Category: Viewpoint
And who decided it was okay to park blocking the handicapped crosswalk on Cardinal Ave.? Every day at least three A-holes block the handicap ramps with their cars. Not just for a few minutes, but all day, every day. I know our government doesn’t give half a crap about doing what is right or decent, but this is really annoying for mobility challenged persons. I wish them every kindness they have shown those persons.
My co-worker & I were talking about many of these issues today. I cry for my grandchildren who will never know the beauty of the beach I grew up with because of the greed and hubris of foolish men.
Y’all are flogging a dead horse to death! People will always be people, we try to elect the best of the worst that comes forward and hope that we get someone respectable to hold office. If that person doesn’t doesn’t show out then we just move on to the next in line, it’s a hit or miss system as we’re left to take a shot at whomever puts themselves forward.
I believe we have a couple of decent incumbents currently and just hope that they do right and keep their noses clean however, we all know what happens when you jump into the pig pen to fight the pigs, even if you win, you still coming out dirty!🤷🏻♂️But fight you must and your record/achievements will speak for itself, no need to buy votes if you’re getting the job done and satisfying you’re constituents!
It’s not an easy job but someone has to do it! It’s like the salmon swimming upstream, it may get eaten up by the Bear but swim upstream it must if it wants to accomplish its goal! This reasoning is why very good/accomplished and honest candidates hardly choses to put their hat into the ring, they don’t want to take their chances with the bear or fight with the pigs as their success rate are slim to none so kudos to those that give it a shot!
Having said all of that, I don’t support those that get elected and are just collecting public funds while doing nothing, just choose to go with the flow and not to swim upstream or fight the pigs in an attempt to make a difference! VOTE UM OUT!!! Nuff Said! 🎤
We are not plain and simple this place will inevitably be destroyed and become a third world backwater hamlet filled with a lot of hungry and angry mouths to feed crime and violence in the township will spiral out of control and the have and have nots will increase drastically all because we lack leadership and the unadulterated greed of the political scum we have elected.
The political scum are elected through vote buying paid for by rich people.
Rich people control the almost all of the poticians.
And….The uneducated unemployable NAU dependents imported, control Kenneth, Mac , Saunders and Seymour …with their VOTE.
When are we going to get out of this mess? When we hold the civil service to account. It is dominated by many from overseas, who do us harm.
We’re going to get out of this mess when Britain takes over and brings some integrity and control over the uneducated rabble that have been lining their own pockets.
Not just the politicians, but people like the Port Authority, civil service waste, and runaway importation of Jamaicans.
nothing changes until the populace changes, which means nothing changes until education reform which means nothing changes till successful educated professional caymanians with morals compassion and vision start to creep into the political system and we reach critical mass. Inevitable? Absolutely not unfortunately.
It’s for us, the portion of the populace that recognizes this, to support those people trying to make a change, to the best of our own individual capabilities. It’s for us to apply pressure where we can to demand stricter regulations on who can even run for political positions.
Standards and pressure.
It’s refreshing to know that there are others that see what is going on. There is hope.
I doubt that we will be able to change our form of democracy, as shown below (We seriously need to consider who we elect as our representatives in elections. For over the past 20 years, we have sold the soul of Cayman and started and maintained its ever-looming demise because of a lack of planning and understanding of our environment)
However, what the Cayman Islands should consider doing is establishing the position of Chief Scientific Advisor to Cabinet. The person in this position functions as scientific and technocratic gatekeeper to Cabinet. The role of this individual is a analyse all proposals prior to their being put in front of cabinet and drafting a white paper laying out the advantages and disadvantages, the pro’s and con’s and the benefits (if any) to the Cayman Islands.
This obviously removes having elected members attempting to make decisions on on subjects of which they have no knowledge.
I met the holder of this position in London in 2007, Sir David King, and had a number of outstanding conversations with him on climate change and its future impact on the UK, which are now effecting the country.
Half of the current cabinet reject science or facts.
The current politicians believe that getting elected all of a sudden makes them all knowing experts.
The very true principle now on display in the Cayman Islands:
A people get the government they deserve and deserve the government they get.
I don’t understand why Cayman doesn’t have more parks, the crown have land and it can’t cost that much to create one
more parks? name One
Touche
5 years plan:
• at least 5 Years moratorium on major development (high price residential real estate and non-essential industrial projects)
• Public transportation is up and running (will take at least 3 years)
• Zero waste strategy is adopted and implemented (will take at least 3 years)
• 🐘The Dump, the current one that is being capped, is completely eliminated by mining. Technologies for this new approach are available. Nothing else will TRULY solve the waste and pollution problem in Grand Cayman.
Now tell me what CIG will do?
Too late for the dump.
Most people don’t know that The Progressives signed away that land to Dart in September 2020.
That would take way too much work from the Civil Service.
CNS: Ask Alden, Dwayne, Joey and Roy to explain why they gave Dart the last North Sound waterfront land the Crown owned next to George Town Yatch Club.
Wow, you are a complete ray of positive sunshine!
“Nobody wants to come live here because too many people want to live here”.
In my opinion, I believe we should have opened the Eastern Districts for proper development 20-30 years ago. We wouldn’t have to go to George Town if we did. But Environmentalists thought it would be better to block development on the largest part of Grand Cayman. Instead they developed the West Bay stretch across from the hotels and condos ( swampland that didn’t need protecting). Making everything the richest class of people needed without even needing to drive a car or take public transportation. Seriously how can anybody not see the bias. The poorest class of people should not be blamed for poor planning. There would be cheaper properties to build cheaper apartments and homes. On the largest properties in Grand Cayman parks, schools, hospitals, mom and pop stores would have cheaper rent for shops in the neighbourhood. It used to be that way! Why not now? Simple economic principles more supply of land prices go down or stay lower.
I’m a Caymanian of many generations, and do not have a problem with those who have Cayman Status being allowed to run for election.
But what is needed even more is one person, one vote for each district. One person = 19 votes. That way it becomes practically impossible to buy your way into office. It would certainly make it much, much more difficult to do and also much, much more difficult to maintain.
A generous thought, until you realise how many Jamaicans we have here with Status.
What you suggest will result in Cayman’s early demise, as we WILL be turned into another Jamaica….
This will eventually happen as the offspring of Mac’s status grants become voters and eligible to run….then…independence, from Prosperity just like Jamaica.
explain your logic please
I keep reading comments about allowing Caymanians with “Status” to run for election. My question to your all is this … who have you all been voting for ? Seems to me that you have the right to vote because you are now Caymanian and the current members of Parliament would indicate that you voted for the people who are elected. So why are you all complaining now ?
PS. Hell will freeze over before you get the right to run for office so forget that! Wait your generational turn, so we can be sure that your offspring are loyal to the Cayman Islands and not the country from whence you came!! Simple. If that isnt acceptable, there is always the return trip home.
Most irrational thought I have seen in a long time. It does not take a great IQ to figure this rule is to protect the existing pool of candidates that are continuously re-cycled. If you repeat the same thing over and over expecting different results, as Einstein said you are mad. If the candidates were any good there would be no need for this protective outdated and quite frankly stupid rule.
Well aren’t you just lovely and welcoming
Caymankind @ 3:17 with the usual splurge of xenophobia.
Not wanting to allow Jamaicans to further ruin Cayman, is NOT Xenophobia.
Yet it’s apparently fine to elect Caymanians who have served in the armed forces of foreign nations, and have taken oaths of allegiance to those nations in order to so do.
We’re complaining because of the pitiful lack of quality amongst those who currently are permitted to run, and the use of nonsense about ‘loyalty’ to shield the incumbents from challenge whilst perpetuating the outrageously damaging concentration of power in a minute number of people, and pockets.
the like or leave it argument..zzzz… a clear sign of when a caymanian has lost an argument.
In the next 10 to 15 years both the electorate and the options on the ballet paper will look very different. The children of those whom you wish to ‘return home’ will guide this country.
GUIDE…? Yes they’ll guide it to ruin.
I so worry for my children and grandchildren who will have to live in Mac’s Jamaica, once known as Cayman, the jewel of the Caribbean.
I think you completely missed the point that the choice of candidates needs improving, people are voting for the best of a bad lot
maybe get a governor who cares about good governance?
Too bad that Sir Alden and his merry group, when they were in power, stripped the Governor of most of her / his powers.
We ran that guy out of town…
True that. Not sure we have had one since Tom Russell. May he rest in peace. He, at least, made this part of the world a better place.
Different time @ 11:03. Tom just went along with what Jim Bodden wanted and that’s how we’ve ended up with the runaway development and breakdown of society we have today.
politicians come and go! civil service needs reform as it lies at the heart of all the issues.
Yow really civil service needs shaking up but ya forget it’s the politicians who make the laws and control the purse strings so ya get the picture
2:57. its the civil service who is holding this mess together. If the civil service was to talk …..fireworks.
Give me a break. The Civil Servants don’t come work.
How about asking who authorised the purchase of a ‘not fit for purpose’ motor vessel at the DOE. Who authorised the ‘sold without seen’ procurement from Florida, why wasn’t a full survey commissioned before purchase/delivery, and exactly how the boat has managed to sink on two occasions.
Then perhaps ask why the vessel in question isn’t utilised for its intended purpose, and why nobody has been held to account for such a massive waste of public funds.
Must be an expat that did it, 2:43… oh wait….
Well, I think you are wrong about them (the elected Reps) not realizing the size of the problems, they know and most of them said ; I’m not going to touch any of those issues because they cannot be solved before next election and thus someone else will get the credit!
Our system allows the wrong sort of character to rotate in and out of power – to demonstrate that they don’t care about anyone or anything beyond their own account.
It just takes one Caymanian voter to start a sensible petition to amend the Elections Law to disqualify those with criminal records and/or current charges pending. There doesn’t seem to be any special wisdom or personal integrity conferred by having a Caymanian grandparent, so that qualifier ought to be removed to improve the quality of the pool of Caymanians available to serve the public and step forward to stand for election.
The Cayman Islands of today has grown well-beyond the capacity of generational homegrown administration. We need to embrace the untapped potential of a wider scope of Caymanian to meet the standards expected and challenges of the future. An enormous rehaul of the leadership suite is necessary, as well as some investigation into those propelling crooked deals, and scrambling records. Caymanian voters need to choose that future, or resign to the hopelessness of the status quo, and/or consider eventually leaving their own home for somewhere more dependable.
There are no corrupt immigrants.
Over my 30 years here I’ve seen many an immigrant fall into the same corrupt trap. First it starts with your work permit being held ransom. So unless you tow the line of your corrupt employer or succumb to subtle threats about being fired if you speak up you’re on the next flight out of here.
Even born Caymanians that know better are intimidated, suppressed and ridiculed by peers and coworkers to the point of quitting or even leaving the island.
This is a well entrenched, generational problem that those involved don’t even recognise being part of. It won’t be easy to eradicate since good moral and ethical behaviour is usually instilled by good parenting which is a rare thing these days.
This is absolutely true, one SAGC in particular that I know, practice bullying, and intimidation. Keeping their boards sweet while they manipulate their members. Employees seen as a ‘threat’ are quietly removed or suppressed.
You mean PACI….hit the nail on the head .
There are many corrupt immigrants. Some are in “service” of the government.
cool article…. who am I supposed to vote for?. my options are let the PPM sell everything or let the independent sell everything.
There will be options at next election 10:52, study them carefully and VOTE.
not holding breath…
who asking you to hold yastink breath 10:49 go wash ya mouth.
your comment is the same as the politicians, next time bobo, next time will be different
Just make sure not to vote for anyone who has ever held office before. It’d be good if they’d also demonstrated some level of competence and achievement in their career, too.
Good? Necessary, I’d say
I ask the same questions that you do. I have been encouraging us Caymanians to protest peacefully since the past administration had the bright idea to tie property purchase to PR applications. We refuse to; we seem to think that to be seen protesting is a cause for embarrassment — a stigma. We do not stop to think that if we do not protest today to bring about meaningful change, our children will pay the price tomorrow. We are paying the price today for what our parents let happen twenty years ago! We keep electing those people because many of us do not have the vision, interest, money (or drive!) to campaign ourselves. Our children need us to make a stand.
How about electing better politicians? Waving placards in the street won’t get anything done.
Your protest should be to find an honest candidate to back and get them elected.
Voters need to change the Elections Law to disqualify convicted criminals. They wouldn’t get hired in the real world, why are they shaping our laws and handling our money?
Misusing our money! Just look at the news over the last few days .. millions being used without authorisation!!!!
1:24 put on ya thinking cap if the present government start approving cut down all remaining mangroves in cayman we must edit until the next election and pick a better candidate? What you think seriously !!
You can only select better politicians if they exist.
I know I didn’t vote for this crew in Savannah but some how I ended up with these misfits due to the horse trading that did occur after the election.
Mr Panton and PACT government – enough is enough, when are you going to put in place a plan for the dump? The YEARS of dithering, time wastage and shifting goal pasts is so ridiculous that it has become tragically comedic. Just be better, please.
Dart haven’t put forth a deal that works for Cayman.
Nothing changes until Caymanian Status holders are allowed to stand for election. Absolutely nothing will change otherwise.
As unpopular an admission it may be, those currently qualified to run are shown repeatedly to be utterly inept, and usually clearly corrupted by the ease within the system they are protected.
Just look at your elected MLA/MP’s in the past 30 years. Now look at the businesses (multi in some cases) that so many of them own. Look at their holidays, their watches, their close ties with major developers/etc.
And look at how the protectionism continues unabated.
Rumors of a new class of potential candidates continue, yet they’re most likely run behind the scenes as usual by big business, vested interests, probabaly in Development or related.
Until the Governor/UK step in and say enough, allow persons with full Status to stand for election, we will never, ever, ever change.
We think our own people are looking out for us. Really? We are in desperate need for Consumer Protection Laws to clamp down on the clear price gouging taking place across all industries; at the clear banking cartel lobby and its continued rates and charges; and so on.
we are not looking out for ourselves, we are being continually suppressed by the very few at the top who continue to be taken in by the top dogs at finance and development.
Thats it, that simple. Same few families making all the money, and frankly, they don’t care about the rest of us. And the expat millionaires cannot beleive their luck.
10:13 AM wishful thinking . Be careful what you wish for . More misery and slaughter will ensue if those who claim to be caymanians Fe sure.
To be honest I think you’re wrong there. I think most people who come here, get PR and then get status have the same concerns as generational Caymanians about many things.
10:31 mentioned the banks. Think about it: nowhere in the USA/Canada/UK do banks charge the fees they do here. And look what it buys them; they’re all in Class A offices at Camana bay or downtown GT spending a fortune on office space. Upper and senior managers paid very well and still never seem to pick up the phones. They charge us to death to line their pockets and give us terrible rates on mortgages.
So I think both new and old Caymanians would agree this is BS and something should be done about it. It’s just one example but I think there are many more where both parties would be on the same page.
The idea that “new” Caymanians must inherently be at odds with generational Caymanians is wrong.
Let’s be honest, does anyone new or old like Kenny B? If someone got status tomorrow and was allowed to run against him next year would the lack of a Caymanian grandparent be the reason you didn’t vote for the new guy? What if he took care of his constituents and the country better than Kenny? How much does it matter who the grandfather/grandmother was?
Yes!! What value has Kenny brought to the table??
caymanians elect these people so you have no-one else to blame but yourselves.
and to make things worse, you also prevent the most qualified and successful people on island from being elected…
welcome to wonderland.
Go home before it too late yow! @9:28.
that the best you got????…..zzzzzz
do-nothing-ppm or no-plan-pact?????….neither thanks.
direct rule for 2 years while a new raft of political candidates are selected/vetted based on qualifications, experience and integrity. then we have new elections.
politicians and their policies are doing just as much to drive crime as the criminals who are out there robbing and stealing. When poor leadership leads your ship its bound to go down!
Well said. Shame it won’t change a thing. Lots of talk on these Islands but few with the minerals to put their neck on the political line. Putting ones head above the parapet just isn’t Caymanian.
We are nothing more than keyboard warriors in the Cayman Islands although we all know that things are going to hell and a hand basket rapidly.
Heading to over 100,000 people plus soon and our level of sustainability is rapidly going down. The quality of our life is deteriorating every day in every way.
Growth for an elite Caymanian group and Caymanian families while everyone else puts up with all the problems.
This place is becoming really sad. Really am concerned about our future.
A well written piece.
“…for open park spaces and facilities throughout the island for the people to relax with their families..”
There’re no parks, nature walks, or other places to escape crowds, traffic and noise. No wonder mental and physical health of Cayman residents deteriorates.
Parks, trails, outdoor playgrounds and open spaces are essential for health and wellbeing. Not optional, ESSENTIAL!
I am afraid that Grand Cayman has crossed the point of no return- the Dump’ growth and the absence of the 21st century waste management program strategy are turning the island 🏝️ into a hazardous place to live and raise children. One has to be blind, deaf and dumb not to see what is coming.
At this point it will require some truly brilliant minds, world class expertise and billions of $$$ to turn things around. CIG doesn’t even realize how bad things are, let alone what to do about it.
We have wasted our money on greedy politicians, past and present. What’s funny is that past politicians always seem to have more answers when they leave office than when they were in office, and the present politicians are more concerned with their compensation, pension, and benefits. Let us not forget about the severance pay issue and they all took it. We will not forget and the vote will echo our sentiment.
There is the beach .. but public beach is horrible, and it seems Governors Beach is going that way too SMH
Whatever happened to Kenny’s beach?????
Seven Mile Beach and Royal Palms crumbling into the sea demonstrate perfectly how Cayman is going.
There WAS a beach
Well, I think you are wrong about them (the elected Reps) not realizing the size of the problems, they know and most of them said ; I’m not going to touch any of those issues because they cannot be solved before next election and thus someone else will get the credit!
They believe capping the Dump and WTE Plant are the solutions. Wrong. Those were 20th century solutions. Zero waste and mining the existing Dump are the only solutions, but GIG as well as many cayman residents think otherwise.
Moratorium on all development and public transportation as they have it in Bermuda are the solutions, but CIG just keeps widening roads and turning grand cayman into Miami Beach (minus the beach)
You have somehow managed to get a daft idea into almost every single sentence you have written. Remarkable.
Well said!
Right on. Power to the people.
I personally feel that its time to end the one man one vote. Too many able to to buy their way in. Lost of examples in the last election. TIME FOR CHANGE!
Only if there are vote sellers. We the non-vote sellers must do our part to convince the sellers of the short sightedness of their decisions.
Nothing will change until those with Caymanian Status are allowed to hold office.
Or UK step in…
yah why elect locals to sell out to foreign interests, let’s just cut out the middle man and elect the foreign intrest!
Ooooff. Who’s going to tell him?
Nice theory but how do you imagine a “paper Caymanian” would ever get elected standing against sitting “MPs” who are more than happy to create public sector non-jobs for their constituents, buy voters gifts, lean on RCIPS to let “stuff” slide, lean on planning for developer “commissions”. Forget the number of them with highly conflicted family businesses and other “business arrangements”, we have MP’s literally beating the **** out of women on camera or convicted cocaine dealers and they get voted in time and time again. You think the kind of electorate who vote for these people are ever going to vote for some “Johnny come lately”?
Nailed it 1:03.
Put that on a referendum ballot
what are you suggesting as an alternative?
Neo-colonization.
I couldnt have said it any better my friend. I was beginning to think we had all drank too much of the Kool-Aid and fallen asleep!