UPM drops plans for future trends report
(CNS): Efforts by former premier Wayne Panton to address the chronic information gap in the Cayman Islands and find out more about the demographic, economic, environmental and social trends shaping the country and what direction it should go over the coming decades have been scrapped by the UPM.
In 2023, the premier’s office opened a request for proposals for experts to compile a report to give government leaders and the private sector a better understanding of local trends to make better policy and business decisions. However, following Panton’s removal from office, the request was cancelled before a contract was awarded.
Panton told CNS that he had embarked on the process to understand the trends and drivers shaping Cayman’s future and the needs and priorities of its people. He said the country doesn’t have this type of information, which poses a challenge to the government’s ability to understand what the future may hold and to respond to the risks and opportunities of that future.
“Not having this information also poses a threat to the resilience of the country and its ability to prepare for future threats,” Panton told CNS.
He explained that the aim was to pull together a range of information and data in one place to help policymakers and the broader public prepare for potential future scenarios for the Cayman Islands. If the government had the information it needed to identify opportunities and threats facing the country, it could prioritise longer-term policy or resources with the aim of preventing costly social, environmental or economic problems in the future.
But shortly after he resigned as premier, just as the RFP had wrapped up and researchers were about to be awarded a contract, the RFP process was cancelled. Given the $1 billion budget required to run the government and the value of the information that would have come out of the project, its estimated cost, which was well under $200,000, wasn’t a particularly expensive endeavour. He said he was surprised and puzzled over why the initiative had been cancelled.
CNS has made repeated attempts to contact Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly’s office, both directly and through the government’s communications department, but we have not received a response to our questions about the reasons for the cancellation of the RFP and whether or not the government intends to redo it or do the work in-house.
The lack of comprehensive data in government has historically contributed to poor decisions. But after taking office as premier and forming the PACT government, the group of independent MPs had agreed, as a government, that everything it would deliver would be based on the needs and wishes of Caymanians.
To do that they needed to understand the long-term aspirations of the people they serve, the drivers of change, the future trends and scenarios related to risks and opportunities.
At the start of 2023, Panton said Cayman needed to define a shared vision, establish a list of priorities for a sustainable future and decide on the kind of physical, economic and social development and at what pace. Undertaking the type of research and collecting the data envisioned in the Future Trends report was critical to that aim.
In a speech after being voted into office, Panton spoke about the widely held perception that Caymanians had failed to benefit from the rapid development and economic growth of the last decade.
Excessive physical development and a growing population have continued since, but the UPM has not made any moves to address the fundamental problems that have fuelled Caymanians’ commonly held view that their country is lost.
Local people feel they have lost control of the future of the Cayman Islands due to dwindling public access to beaches, the erosion of Seven Mile Beach, the development of luxury properties pricing local people out of the housing market, the rapid and recent population increase due to increasing low-paid labour, the failure of Caymanians to advance in the workplace, alarming traffic congestion, the continued absence of a public transport policy, a shortage of schools, and problems over access to healthcare.
See the original documents that were issued for the RFP below.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
God help us (and I don’t mean Dart) if our politicians do anything to find out what the people want. What their vision of Cayman is, What their needs and desires for our future are. They just might find out it is different then their developer/financiers want for Cayman. By not doing this study they can just blindly do what they are told, while claiming “Gee I just assumed that is what the people wanted.” Same old song, same old dance, same old rich developers calling the shots and buying our politicians. Meanwhile se just sit on our butts and lit it continue.
“Information gap”..?
I’ll tell you for free.
Jamaicans are outbreeding Caymanians and taking over, led by Mac, Saunders Kenneth and Seymour.
A more truer statement has never been written.
One day very soon we are going to hear the story of the former Premier who removed his shirt and asked a female colleague to scratch his back!! I will leave it to you to decide which former Premier it was!!!
charts and diagrams simply don’t work and cause confusion.
this is what happens when you don’t take the team on the journey with you.
this is what happens when you choose a team that doesn’t even know a good journey when the see it.
Don’t you mean a former governor, the one who was recalled to London then dismissed..?
No, not the one who couldn’t keep it in his pants.
“keeping users safe”.
Nobody is safe on our roads Bobo.
Cayman needs delivery of an integrated bicycling transport policy, as part of the long-promised NRA transport plan, supported with legislation protecting these corridors from intrusion, keeping users safe, using available international urban planner expertise, hardware, software and orgware. There are so many problems easily solved with a regular amount of foresight, boosting quality of life and visitor experience, while also not costing very much to implement. We are already paying people to be doing this. https://dutchcycling.nl/expertises/cycling-strategies/
and a donkey path
We just need to decentralise building in the west and allow development in the East. If people didnt have to go there we wouldn’t need a 6 lane highway . If you really think about it. West bay leaders who blocked the highway from being built to the East is what has created this problem. Can’t you see you can’t stop the 10 story buildings in the west? The East-West Arteriel highway is what NEEDS to be built ASAP. Then if only Government offices are built in the middle of the island say in the area of Frank Sound 6000 cars would be going East. The rest will follow, larger commerce etc.
move some services to the Brac.
plain and simple.
lots of back office jobs can move there.
No, we okay over here. Any back office job that you can do over here – well you can do them in east end or north side. Or learn from the china covid-19 thing – more work from home.
What jobs exactly ? Any jobs that are cloud server based can be done, you know, remotely.
The jobs are in the computer. It’s inside the computer.
No Surprise. They are simply dropping the pretense that what we collectively think matters, or will make any difference to them. This must be part of the new ‘transparency’ movement.
Cayman does not have responsible governance. No amount of authoritative technical expert reports and/or commissioned consultant surveys will influence the all-knowing imbeciles we elect, or the friends they appoint to benefit. They don’t even rely on the ESO data or Electoral Boundary Commission findings. They genuinely believe that God has chosen them to assume power, and exercise it.
Do we still have a governor?
We haven’t really had one with substance since Gore.
You forgot Duncan Taylor. The only one who took on MacKeeva and his shenanigans.
“pricing local people out of the housing market”, you mean like by giving personal loans to people to facilitate the flipping of high value properties they can’t otherwise afford?
Direct rule by the Dart organization as they are the best at what they do.
Soon come bobo.
you clearly have never done work with that ‘organization’.
you clearly don’t understand sarcasm.
Vulture Capitalism and Government extortion?
No, wouldn’t want facts and data to get in the way of traditional decision making.
They’re certainly ensuring we never get any accurate or relevant facts or statistics, perhaps because they want us to believe the fictional ‘statistics’ they produce now.
Wayne is either totally naive or deliberately obtuse. He foisted this rabble of clowns on the country and made Ministers out of the unqualified, incompetent and downright dangerous.
What has happened in the last 3 years that you honestly believe wouldn’t have happened under the PPM banner?
For starters the PPM would not be in power: that is good enough for me. The PPM have proved that they, just like PACT/UPM are not fit to hold power.
We spared ourselves at least one GT dredging disaster for starters, with SMB water turned milky white and out to sea for miles. Missing also is the unwanted 50 story Disney Princess Castle over the underpasses to nowhere. Glad that’s not there. Dart would have also dredged the North South, and cut a channel through to SMB north of the Kimpton for their marina. Many other horrible “development” plans approved and environmental considerations set aside, while also greenlighting hundreds of millions in additional unaffordable debt.
Last I heard it was we the people that elected “this rabble of clowns”. It was all he had to work with.
Juliana, McKeeva, Jon Jon, Joey, Kenny, Kathy, Heather, David, Barbara, Issac would all be broke and jobless if not for politics. They are unfit to represent this country in any capacity. None understand anything about sustainability and planning for a better cayman in the future
No Joey and not Barbara, 11:50, but spot on for the rest.
You forgot Jay. How could you do that? The Pirates of the Caribbean!
Juju is the worst leader this country has ever had. Brackers are idiots for voting for her!
Who else would they vote for 11:45? Any Bracker with get up and go has got up and gone long time, leaving some wrecks like you know who and rock iguanas.
She can have the Brac but she needs booting as Premier.
There are many good Brackers living on Grand Cayman that could still run for office in Cayman Brac. You don’t have to live in your district to be an MP. Many of the current ones don’t, although it would be more helpful if they were, then there are the others like Alden who lives one block over from his district and never does anything for the people of Red Bay but ask them one every 4 years to vote for him..
My point is that if Brackers want to ensure that Julie is unseated next election, they need to find someone they support and can elect to rid this country of her forever.
I’ll tell you this much many Brackers are tired of her and don’t want to see her running again..
We don’t have a Governor as Sir Alden very effectively stripped the Governor’s position of it’s powers.
Out of the 2,000 or so Brackers, only 266 voted for her. That should tell you something about Juliana’s popularity amongst “her” people.
And yet it only took 266 votes to be the winner.
totally disagree with you on that 11:45Am. Juju has taken care of the voters in her district. She has taken care of family members and extended family members. She has taken care of her fellow Church brothers/sisters. She has ensured projects are being done in her district, land being bought by government in her district.
You may call the people of Cayman Brac East idiots, but her supporters seem to be benefitting from her being in charge.
I for one truly hope she reneges on her promise not to run in 2025. Who in the hell we going to get then? Rudolph Dixon who immediately left Cayman Brac after losing last time – owing a number of people money. Elvis McKeever, who runs his mouth but hardly says anything of substance. What about that the woman convicted of fraud who is over here running a facebook site about Cayman Brac (i think her mothers house has burned down in spot bay a year or two ago).
There is the recent appearance of Dan Scott – a person who certainly does not need the meager salary of an MP – and does not know a significant amount of voters in the district where his house is.
So with the exception of Dan – there is a concern over the character of all the others who may or may not run.
Dan is trying to pull a “wayne” with his money.
@3:27
Can you define “taken care of the voters in her district??” What are these things, favors, cash, hams, turkeys, using Government money to buy them land? It sounds to me like they are bought and paid for…What about all of the other people that are not her church brothers and sisters, family members and extended family members?
I hope everyone realizes that Julie only needs to ensure that these 250 or so people is all she needs to remain in power and she knows that she can hoodwink anyone one else that gets elected to ensure that she continues to keep at least one of the highest paid top jobs in the Government…I’ll give her this much she knows how to work the rest of the idiots…When was the last time Julie wasn’t in a position of power. During her entire time, she has either been Speaker, Premier, Deputy Premier or Cabinet Minister and it doesn’t matter which Government is elected..
We foolish Caymanians don’t see how stupid we are electing them every time..They have gotten rotten rich off our backs by throwing us a couple of Turkeys and hams..They are so cheap now that we don’t even get the new washing machines or fridges like they used to do.
Morons have no clue what “planning” means!!
The bigger question is why the capability to produce this report does not already exist within the PWD – Roads division? How does PWD – Roads set its strategic objectives and priorities?
Who’s holding them accountable?
Give it a rest, Wayne’s shit stinks just as bad as the rest of them.
it’s critical thinkers like you that should be ban from voting.
Au contraire mon frere, it is illiterate persons such as yourself who should be banned from voting.
How’s the Standards in Public Life enactment/enforcement coming along?
Who was it that formed a goverment with a convicted woman beater and a convicted drug dealer again? Do remind us.
PPM for a decade. Or you mean most recently?
Revisionist history Cayman style.
#standard
usual cig and civil service incompetence.
any comment mrs governor?
The Deputy Governor Franz Manderson and his protected minions that are ineffective as Chief Officers, deputies and CFO’s in multiple ministries need to be fired for their incompetence and failure to provide transparency, good governance and value for money. They are directly responsible in multiple projects for the mismanagement that costs this country hundreds of millions annually.
The country is going broke because of the madness in the civil service. They could never hold those positions in the private sector or last this long in any positions where results matter.
So replace them all @11:43. But, er, who with?
Private sector individuals with proven competence and integrity:
Marco Archer
Sabrina Foster
Brett Basdeo
Winston Connolly
are amongst the names that come to mind.
Gloria can stay. She seems pretty good.
Really? non of these individuals any experience leading a large organisation like a Ministry. Get a life. You just don’t understand the Government.
The civil service implement the policies of the government. The chief officers get their orders from the ministers and pass those orders on to the staff to be carried out.
The madness doesn’t originate with the civil service it originates with the government and ministers voters vote into office.
True true and true. If you are on the Brac and want something done – you don’t go to Mark Tibbetts, Justin Bodden, Chelsea Whittaker or any of the other civil servants – just contact Juliana. She has all the Brac civil servants running up and down and all around by simple directive.
One minute you see PWD staff all at Watering Place Grounds, the next minute they are all at Spot Bay Cemetery, the next minute they are all clearing the land across from her church in Watering Place, the next minute they are clearing trees here or there. The only leadership the civil servants show is being obedient lackeys
11:43
Are you dumb or plain stupid.Dont blame the civil service because you voted in clowns that didn’t have a job even in the private sector.
the civil service is doing a masterful job keeping this country running.
you need to understand that the advancement in self government ushered through by the PPM gives the elected government almost total control on all domestic matters. There is nothing wrong with that. But we are expected to elect persons who can actually run a sophisticated country.
Spare me the sad song Wayne. You were Premier for 3 years and did nothing. and don’t use your colleagues as excuses, if you knew it was not working out, you could have simply asked the Governor to call early elections.
You are only concerned with keeping power and being Premier for your own nefarious reasons.
Ps. Has Sabrina re-paid that short term loan yet?
Not your loan or business. A private transaction between friends
Stop your foolishness and have some context: shall we start digging into all the undocumented and undeclared affairs and interests of all 19, see who comes up smelling of roses? I bet my bottom dollar WP and AE would be at the top compared to all 17 others.
“Shall we start digging into all the undocumented and undeclared affairs and interests of all 19, see who comes up smelling of roses?”
You drive a hard bargain, but find your terms acceptable. Yes we absolutely should.
If only we could.
We seriously need this bible bashing dictator out now!