Allegations over special interests fly in fiery forum
(CNS): Chris Saunders (IND), the incumbent for Bodden Town West, not only criticised his opponents but also the Chamber of Commerce when he came face to face with his challengers at the Candidate Forum on Monday night.
Saunders, who was prepared and articulate throughout most of the evening, took advantage of the platform better than most candidates in the Chamber-hosted forums to go on the attack and call out the problems of influential money and “special interests” in local politics.
Saunders took several swipes at former MP Osbourne Bodden, but they were aimed mostly at Bodden’s TCCP colleagues, as he has clashed with several of them. In March 2023, during the PACT administration, he was fired as labour minister by then-premier Wayne Panton, who is a founding member of the TCCP.
He also took aim at the CINP and their BTW candidate, Haymond Rankin, as well as the Chamber members, who he said had lobbied against his efforts to make meaningful changes to immigration policy during his two years in Cabinet.
Saunders, who has said he would support the PPM over either of the other parties to form a government, began calling out the special interest from the start, saying that he was running for office once again because the job was not done.
“The special interest control of our government, our policy makers, our public servants is too much to bear,” he said. The forum would show the special interests at work, he said, and the work that the “consultants had put into place” would be on display — a reference to the CINP.
He accused candidates in general and other politicians of reading out what they are told to say by those who control them. But he said that with the government’s massive looming liabilities, it was time to keep the special interests in check.
He accused these unspecified special interests of stopping the plans for the subsea cable so their rich friends could retain control “of the very system that made them rich”, which leaves others suffering and struggling. Saunders said this election was about rich people financing a campaign, having “hired a whole pile of people to run” to maintain their interests.
After Bodden bemoaned the high cost of fuel, Saunders accused him of hypocrisy since he makes his living from a gas station. However, the TCCP candidate denied he was getting rich, saying it was the wholesalers that were making the money, not him.
Rankin also challenged Saunders on the special interest allegations, asking how, as minister of finance and economics when the CUC contract came up for renewal, he had failed to seize the opportunity to get a better deal for the people, and noting that the government in which Saunders had served had also failed to sort out the solar panel rollout.
Saunders’ first of several jabs at the Chamber of Commerce came when he was asked a loaded question by panelist Shomari Scott about public transport. Scott said that public transport can be very costly for a government, but in Cayman, there is a private system where the bus owners absorb all the costs.
Saunders pointed out that many things are costly, such as the police, prison, and schools, but the government needs to be involved in these things because the private sector doesn’t always get it right.
However, his suggestion about an overpass for Red Bay as one of the solutions to Cayman’s traffic problem may have gone down well with voters in Bodden Town. This is an idea that has been dismissed by past governments and the NRA on numerous occasions, not least because of the impossibility of building such a structure without a massively disruptive impact on daily traffic for a long period.
Saunders also blamed the Chamber for preventing him from enforcing the law when it came to work permits. When asked about making the work permit system more efficient, he said he had already told Chamber members that the system shouldn’t be reformed to make it more efficient for them to get more permits but to give Caymanians an opportunity to get work.
He argued that the freezing and deferring of thousands of permits when he took office, even though he was crucified by his PACT Caucus, in particular Panton, and the press, resulted in over 1,000 Caymanians finding work.
He said the business community is abusing the system, as illustrated by the fines that WORC have doled out. He said he wanted to make it more difficult for employers to get permits and to give Caymanians opportunities instead.
Bodden echoed Saunders’ view that the system was failing because of a lack of enforcement and the abuse of the system, such as employers making workers pay for their own permits and unofficial labour brokers that take a cut of the foreign labour they are exploiting. He also spoke about moratoriums on permits for some types of jobs.
As Saunders argued the benefits of a single-pay health insurance system, he took aim at the CINP, accusing its leader, Dan Scott
Dan Scott (CBE candidate) is the leader of the Cayman Islands National Party. He was EY regional manager until his retirement in June 2023. More, of wanting to privatise CINICO.
He also accused Scott, a former chairperson of the Cayman Islands Education Council, of failing to help Michael Myles with his apprentice programme, even though Myles is now running with the CINP. Saunders said Scott was one of those who had visited him when he was minister to get the permits he wanted through more quickly, but Saunders said he had refused the request.
Throughout the night, Rankin stuck to the CINP line that Saunders is an incumbent who has had his chance but has failed to deliver and should be voted out.
On Tuesday evening, the chamber will host the clash between the sitting premier, Juliana O’Connor-Connolly
Juliana O'Connor-Connolly (CBE incumbent) is running with the PPM. She is the current premier and has been minister of education since May 2017. More (PPM), and would-be premier Scott, the leader of the CINP, in the Cayman Islands’ smallest constituency of Cayman Brac East.
Check out the CNS Election Section interactive map to see who is running in each constituency.
See the list of candidates and their party affiliations here.
Category: Election News
Change writes: Every constituency has the same issue when their MP becomes a minister. It is not that they stop caring about their area, but Cabinet members have no choice but to tackle issues at national level, and that takes budget, meetings, reports, travel, conference calls, sitting with lawyers to streamline bills and laws — all […]
3 baya points.
The white pseudo elites here hate and or fear Saunders.
Chris was fired from his Ministry when he passed the law to remove the abusively Fast Temporary Work Permits.
They were reinstated the day after he was fired!!
He is also hated for his links to Mac. But Chris is a great watchdog and worker!
”He [Christ Saunders] argued that the freezing and deferring of thousands of permits when he took office, even though he was crucified by his PACT Caucus, in particular Panton, and the press, resulted in over 1,000 Caymanians finding work.”
Regardless of how people like to slander and hate on Chris, he is the most educated and aware MP I have seen in decades.
He combed those Government books and new the details, he challenged questionable data and was also much faster at processing Stamp Duty waivers for Caymanians! Caymanians are now waiting weeks and months for waiver letters and risking losing the properties they are trying to by and the deposits they put down on those properties! Do you think Julianna gives a hoot how long young, first-time Caymanian buyers must wait for her signature on a stamp duty letter? She couldnt give a crap as she globe-trots and basks in her own self-righteousness.
Caymanians better wake up and start doing their own research instead of sitting around listening to the gossip and lies being spread about the few candidates that actually have this country at heart!
Be careful with candidates who are spending, spending Government money and not taking in to consideration the impending global economic and geopolitical influences that can quickly change the winds of capital for this country.
And one wicked Hurricane like Ivan can easily level unfinished developments and impede country income from land sales – not to mention lower land value from massive damage and beach loss.
We must get Government leaders who are willing to save money for this country instead of STEAL, stash and hide it for themselves and cronies.
Thanks Chris for your input.
Wait a minute, is Saunders saying the PPM are free from special interests? Who knew? Well thankfully now i know who to vote for, anyone in the PPM because they are absolutely not in the hands of any major developer or utility supplier or major importer of consumer foods and goods for wholesale and retail and definitely not aligned in any way with real estate and development brokers.
Good to know. Long live the PPM (Pay Per Minute)
Dart, CHEC, Cireba, FCCA – can unna think of any others that are clearly leading the PPM around on a short leash?
Yes…add the pro Cruise pier gang kissing up to Kenny, who is kissing up to Mac, who is kissing up to CHEC …and we’re the ones who will be screwed , having to pay for their love fest.
What came through loud and clear was Saunder’s massive chip on shoulder hatred .
When he says he’s running again “because the job was not done” he’s referring to his ambitions to take us closer to Independence.
Sinister and dangerous pandering to his Jamaican garrison.
Like CMR or not, exposure of Saunders’ behavior in office, intimidation, harassment of staff who fear going to work even, is Inexcusable.
Add that to Incompetence and personal power agenda , all make Saunders just plain dangerous and unsuitable for public office.
Stay in your Ghetto Saunders where you can fester your hate in your garrison.
Hatred or frustration? Because may Caymanians right now have loads of frustration that can be mistaken for hatred. frustration of the system, the expats, the island, the workforce, the education system…
So, after putting PPM on blast for the ReGen project signing while he was a Minister of Finance, and subsequently while he was an Opposition MP, Saunders is now willing to join them? Wonder why?
Time to get rid of Saunders who has in his professional life demonstrated gross incompetence, and disgusting behavior in his personal life.
Power gone to this arrogant man’s empty head.
Blunders is the most dangerous political candidate. I want him to show the data that proves that 1000 Caymanians got jobs because his xenophobic board deferred a few work permits.
I want to see the data, too—but if it is true, he has my vote because I want him to do it again.
It’s not true. He likes to throw out dubious statistics and quotes to make himself seem more credible. He goes on the attack because he wants to put his opponents on the defensive before they can call him out on actions that he cannot defend.
Civil servants too scared to speak up after seeing how Mac’s accusers suffered.
Saunders is relying on their silence to hide the fact that he was fired for more than the “official”!reasons.
Why can’t any of them say who the “special interest” people are?
Let’s see – Chris Saunders, Jay Ebanks, Isaac Rankine, McKeeva Bush do not belong to any political party cause NONE OF THEM WANT YOU!!
It goes without saying – companies and individuals who are being enriched under the status quo who have no interest in a more equitable society. The people who get upset when you point out wages are stagnant, and the cost of living is rising and workers are struggling, that businesses here regularly mark prices up citing costs and go laughing all the way to the bank because we are a captive market with few alternatives. The people who disregard the fact that playing by the rules, working hard and being able to support your family is an increasingly difficult aspiration. The people who tut tut when you mention that maybe every motivation or guiding principle for our society need not necessarily be profit or personal gain. The people who have the money to bankroll the parties that put their interests first and stay in the shadows themselves.
I will remind you all – within 2 months of the passage of Hurricane Ivan, the LA had to be convened in part to pass a law to prohibit price gouging because businesses here were trying to extort survivors on basic necessities. The ‘profit at all costs, damn all the consequences’ mindset that we imported from the US and let fester here in the 80s and 90s has done more damage than we can even begin to calculate, far more than importing cheap labour or oft repeated claims of impiety and irreverence.
Lets not play these games and act like we don’t know who the special interests are here
The ‘us vs them’ in Cayman has never really been Caymanians vs foreigners – it has ALWAYS been rich vs poor whether its rich foreigner or rich local. They are in a big club, and we ain’t in it.
If you don’t know who the ”special interests people are” you must be living in the deep bushes of queens highway
We would have to be deaf, dumb, blind and down right silly not see it. Thing is, once someone gets elected they are sworn to secrecy. They cannot tell us anything but clues, and if you are dense, then you do not get the message. We pay their salaries, yet we are left in the dark! It does not matter who you vote for, once they get in, they will not be able to be transparent with us. They are not allowed to. We choose our cabinet with our lil’ yellow pencils, so… vote wisely.
And I always wonder why we are required by law to mark our ‘X’ in pencil instead of permanent ink???