Anti-corruption pledge becomes secret

| 12/04/2021

(CNS): Following the launch of the awareness campaign to highlight election corruption, aimed at keeping the 2021 elections clean and transparent, a key element of it has now become a secret. The General Election Against Corruption Today (ACT) Education Campaign included invitations to the 50 candidates to publicly sign a pledge to uphold standards while competing for a seat.

But the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Elections Office have now said in a joint release that the names of those signing will no longer be made public. In what appears to be a glaring contradiction to the fundamental principle of the campaign, they said this was because some candidates were upset about the negative implications of not signing.

The release stated that the purpose of the campaign is to support efforts by the Elections Office to fight against corruption and meet the growing public call for accountability, transparency and better governance, and to denounce any form of corruption in the Cayman Islands as a whole.

Nevertheless, the release issued on Monday said the public pledge by candidates to commit to fighting against corruption would now be secret.

“The ACC and the Elections Office understand that there has been some concern that the publication of the names of those candidates who publicly signed the pledge might draw a negative inference for those that have not. It was therefore agreed that we would no longer publish the participating candidates’ names,” the release said.

“For the avoidance of doubt we note that the affirmation of both the Candidate’s and the Voter’s Pledges are only one of the many tools used to promote anti-corruption efforts.”

CNS has contacted the Elections Office and the ACC about this the turn of events regarding the pledge and why those who will not sign should not be identified, and we are awaiting a response.

The ACC and the Elections Office thanked the candidates and the general public for the support expressed since the launch of the campaign but they did not give a satisfactory explanation about the abandonment of the pledge to all intents and purposes.

“This support has been highlighted through candidates’ advocacy against corruption during debates, public forums and campaign meetings; and by voters through seemingly increased reporting and complaints of voter influence and public concerns about some activities and comments on the campaign trail,” the release stated

The Elections Office said it had also conducted a special information briefing, and while 120 agents turned up, only eight candidates attended.

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Comments (22)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Unless I’m missing something… There are 50 candidates listed. And there are 50 candidates signing the pledge (per CNS). So there is not one candidate who is not signing, and therefore there can’t be any suggestion of bias for or against any candidate for not signing it. The whole article is nonsense. Is it a case of a slow news day, and some junior hack needs to make up something ?

    CNS: Sorry, I cannot account for your lack of comprehension skills. I have no idea how anyone could not understand this paragraph, which is a direct quote: “The ACC and the Elections Office understand that there has been some concern that the publication of the names of those candidates who publicly signed the pledge might draw a negative inference for those that have not. It was therefore agreed that we would no longer publish the participating candidates’ names,” the release said.

    However, for the avoidance of all doubt, I have amended the first paragraph to make it abundantly clear for the peanut gallery that the aim was for all 50 candidates to sign, not that they did.

    • Anonymous says:

      At the outset, the ACC and Elections Office also specifically asked ALL 50 Candidates to take a selfie with their signed pledge and post to their social media pages using hashtag #ACTCayman2021, so their votes could see it. According to the internet, only one candidate followed those simple instructions, and even then, not until about 5 days ago. Why was this exercise so hard, and are those personal pledges a secret now?

  2. Anonymous says:

    Why they had to pull it? Because as a public service entity they can’t be seen to be taking sides. So if someone was, say, off sick the day the other kids signed and you draw a negative inference about the kid that was off sick suddenly the supposedly neutral groups have unfairly influenced the election. Which is something they should have thought about in advance and either not done this photo-op or stuck to their guns and published it. All they have done is make themselves look weak and silly. (And the politicians silly also, but at least they are embarrassing them in a neutral manner. 🙂

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    • Anonymous says:

      Sorry 10:19, your comment shows weak validity with the analogy a poor representation. By withholding the list and the reasoning for it they have now conversely allowed the potential for the election to be influenced by corruption possibly emboldening less principled candidates.

      The ACC board by extension has now become the same as that in which they’ve assumed the charge to protect against spurning the ACC Mission Statement and walking a fine line with adherence to the Code of Conduct.

      I wouldn’t even completely agree with your closing couple of sentences, all they’ve really done is shown themselves to be a complete waste of time if they they’re afraid to “ “To enhance the stability, prosperity and reputation of the Cayman Islands by sustaining the confidence and trust of the community in the integrity and good governance of its government and public institutions” in such instances as important as the general election.

  3. Anonymous says:

    This wreaks of corruption…period

    Where is the pressure coming from to not release the names.

    anyone running worth their salt would have signed it..What are they hiding?

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  4. Jotnar says:

    The most disturbing element of this is that the ACC think it’s apparently their job to conceal the identity of people who have refused to confirm that they uphold the law on corruption. What?

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  5. Anonymous says:

    “all are encouraged to download, print and take a selfie of themselves with the pledge and post on social media in support of this initiative with the hashtag #ACTCayman2021”

    Google the hashtag images and there’s only one…Joey Hew from 4 days ago. #irony

    • Anonymous says:

      Joey worried! PPM Worried..

      Anything they can do now to save themselves they are doing..

      I don’t care who they are PPM or not, sign the damn thing because if you don’t it says to the public you are corrupt.

  6. Courtney Platt says:

    Hooooo boy, this one’s making it into the next Rundown for sure! 😂🤣😂🤣

  7. Corrupt To the Core! Vote them Out!! says:

    …” this was because some candidates were upset about the negative implications of not signing.”

    ????!!!! Sooo, some candidates are NOT willing to sign a pledge about anti-corruption? Hhmmm, well if that doesn’t shed more light on what we already know is widespread corruption within our gov’t, I don’t know what is!

    Our community deserves to know who WILL NOT sign this pledge, aka, who’s stupid enough to not just sign it even if they know they’re corrupt to the core! All the more reason to vote these idiots out of office!

    IT’S TIME FOR CHANGE!!!
    #votethemout

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Zzz, if you are a candidate and have signed, post your name and a short message here…

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  9. Anonymous says:

    Who is the current Anti-Corruption Commission Membership?

  10. Anonymous says:

    The pledge is already Gazetted Law and baked into ambient reality. If an aspiring MP thinks not signing the pledge releases them of past or current or future liability, then it’s a disqualifying lapse of judgement. The ACC should be referring all those that won’t or haven’t signed for further investigation, since it’s in effect, a Suspicious Activity that needs to be Reported. Good timing too, because the Cayman Islands needs to prosecute a bunch of these to remove itself from the sanction lists. It’s hard to imagine a politician being THIS tactically dumb, but I guess this is Cayman.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    I kind of thought this was the whole point?? We WANT to know who I not willing to sign up..

    B A N A N A R E P U B L I C of C A Y M A N

    How do these people not understand that they are making a mockery of the people of Cayman?
    This is why corruption is rampant here. They do not even understand what it means.

    This is SO messed up. It is no longer funny anymore.

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  12. Anonymous says:

    ACC’s new stance reeks of the very purpose it was surely established to resolve ?

    So what we really need then is an AACCC, the Anti, Anti Corruption Commission’s Commission, – fixed it, Governor Roper must know someone, carry on.

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  13. Anonymous says:

    The biggest joke. Makes the whole thing a total waste of time. If candidates don’t want to sign then the public should be made aware. Everything is becoming less transparent in Cayman. Secret concession agreements etc….so much for good governance oversight by the UK govt.

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  14. Anonymous says:

    Boy, you can read some bs… If that is the case ACC, do away with the whole pledge then. kmt

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  15. Anonymous says:

    You just couldn’t make it up.

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  16. Anonymous says:

    Only in Cayman. So the media is somehow banned from showing the list?

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  17. Anonymous says:

    F’ing ridiculous. There should be a negative inference in respect of those that will not even commit to not being corrupt.

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