Bryan commits to end immigration abuse
(CNS): At the Chamber of Commerce Candidate Forum on Thursday, Kenneth Bryan
Kenneth Bryan (GTC incumbent) is deputy premier and tourism minister with the UPM while campaigning with the PPM as deputy leader of the party. More, who appeared confident of his own reelection on 30 April, said that immigration reform and stopping the abuse of the work permit system would be his main priority if he is part of the next government. Bryan is running for a third term, this time on the PPM ticket, facing challenges from first-time candidates Anthony Ramoon (TCCP) and Carmen McField (CINP).
In yet another forum where the newcommers missed the chance to hold an incumbent to proper account for the outgoing UPM government and his own record in office, Bryan said that immigration problems had fuelled the country’s “over-population”, which in turn was fuelling a list of other problems facing the community, such as the housing crisis, traffic troubles and rising crime.
While the PPM has been associated with causing the new spike in the population of the Cayman Islands, which began before COVID-19, Bryan has always pushed for immigration reform. He stirred up controversy when he posted billboards around town calling for that reform after Dwayne Seymour, his UPM cabinet colleague at the time and now his PPM colleague, took over the portfolio.
During the forum, he claimed he would be part of a government committed to stopping the abuse of the work permit system and people entering the country illegally.
“The biggest issue is immigration,” Bryan said. “The growth in the population was not planned properly, and it is causing the negative effects we are seeing. We have to do better at the controls of our borders, not only by sea but also by air,” he said, adding that if immigration were addressed, it would help solve many of the country’s other challenges.
He said that Cayman needed to slow down the population growth, though there would always be a need for expatriate workers to fill skills gaps if they are qualified and there are no qualified local job seekers. “But the question is who is deciding if they are qualified or not.”
Bryan, the current tourism minister, said Cayman had always been a welcoming place but should not be over-welcoming when the local people are suffering because they can’t get jobs or afford a place to live.
Asked how he would address Cayman’s growing welfare bill, Bryan said immigration was at the heart of that issue as well. Making sure Caymanians have access to the opportunities in this economy would reduce dependency.
First of all, the immigration system and the “mess created over the last thirty years” had to be fixed, but until this was done, those in need should not be neglected. He said it was unacceptable for an elected government to watch people starve to death or have nowhere to sleep.
When asked about the long-running revitalisation programme in the heart of the George Town Central constituency, all three candidates said they were not happy with the outcome so far. The project is seen by many as a major failure given that for years the capital has suffered significant chaos because of it but it has provided little benefit to the capital in general.
If anything, the project has undermined local businesses. A number have had to close because the work has gone on for so long, reducing the limited accessible parking in the capital, blocking access to downtown businesses and covering stores and shoppers alike in dust.
Ramoon said the capital was dying, and Cayman’s heritage has disappeared from it. He pointed out that having revamped buildings wouldn’t help because it was about people and culture, as well as the lack of open space, benches, shade or even restrooms.
McField, who accused the government of wasting money, said all she could see was new pavers and asked why there had not been conversations with all the downtown businesses. “It has failed,” she said of the project.
Echoing recent comments by TCCP Leader André Ebanks
André Ebanks (WBS incumbent) is the leader of The Caymanian Community Party. He has served as financial services minister 2021-2024, and deputy premier 2023-2024. More, Ramoon said that if the party secures a majority, they will be seeking to re-integrate all school children, expatriate and Caymanian, into the public school system.
The way the Chamber has been wording its questions on education has promoted the organisation’s position that there is a significant gap between the outcomes of private and public schools. However, in reality, there are only a few private schools that are consistently ahead of government schools and, as noted by Bryan, this is largely because the private schools can pick and choose their students.
Ramoon said whether the gaps were real or not, that perception had to be addressed. “I believe in integration,” he said, adding that it was critical to the larger society to help us all live together and improve the social fabric of the community. He said that integrating local and expat students would help improve the understanding between those who come here and the Caymanian people.
During the forum, McField took some shots at the last government over its poor financial management. She said there had been a lack of fiscal leadership and governments had to learn to manage money. That observation was confirmed the following day when the UPM government, of which Bryan is a part, released its public finance update, as required ahead of the election.
The update revealed that the UPM minority government had turned what an expected operating surplus of almost $55 million into a more than $26 million deficit.
McField said that increasing revenue streams, diversifying the economy or introducing a lottery “or anything that we want” would be a waste of time because the government had to first learn to manage public finances. Saving money on one end and then just loosely spending on the other was the problem, she said. Spending “has to make sense”, she said.
On Friday, the Chamber hosted the three contenders in George Town South, one of the five open seats, all of which are likely to be significant in determining which group forms the next government. Check back to CNS later to see how well Craig Frederick (PPM), Aric Lindsey (IND) and Gary Rutty (CINP) answered the Chamber’s questions during one of the most lively and engaging forums so far.
See the full George Town Central forum on the Chamber’s YouTube channel below:
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
Put up a big illegal billboard or two, that’ll fix it in no time.
Yes Kenny, fix abuse please, Abuse of office like installing illegal billboards, like Dumb DuhWayne abuse of his power by not paying his minimum wage employees their health insurance.
We can ALL fix ALL of the other Abusers by not voting PPM.
Bryan promises to fix immigration…yeah right if the immigrants who vote for him allow him to stop their relatives from coming to Cayman.
His real priority which he didn’t mention, is to get weed legalized, gambling permitted and cruise piers built.
The $450Million cruise project will be really fun for him with all the travels and treats for him to “negotiate” our cruse deals….probably with Mac in China.
Sorry, but weed will not be legalized. People will still get arrested and put in jail but it will not show in their police record.
Thank you 7.13 for the correction.
The overriding concern remains that weed will become more commonly used , as the stigma of a recorded offence will not be on the table.
You can still get a US visa so no big ting.
US Visa application question:
Have you ever been arrested?
It makes no difference if you were convicted or not, or the conviction is recorded or not. You answer it truthfully or face the consequences for misleading (or lying to) US Immigration officials.
What about the abuse of police officers or drug laws?
Bryan is a shallow showman who just wants to be re-elected, after that the pocket lining, five star freebies and first class travels start .
Of course first , Joey will have to be overthrown to give unfettered access to the country’s cash register.
Don’t vote PPM ..can’t take another 4 years of deception from this narcissist.
Seriously, is there a plant or liquid the incumbents are all taking that has them totally and utterly oblivious to anything outside their own high-paid, jet-set, dinner party lives?
Kenny, Joey and the rest – all telling us what needs to be done. All been in power for so long already. And all seem to think its a done deal, they’re all getting back in, Caymanians be foolish enough to take more of the same.
Are we this foolish? Are we going to let Kenny (what party will he be with by end of year? who knows?!) and Joey (so many obvious conflicts its cartoonish at this point) get back in.
This is all crazy. Or maybe we need the same plant and liquid so we can be as delirious as them.
i give up. We gonna get what we deserve if we vote these incumbents back in. They will do nothing.
“However, in reality, there are only a few private schools that are consistently ahead of government schools”
This needs a major asterisk attached to it. Only a few private schools consistently outperform government schools according to the absolutely ridiculous rubric system we use for Weak, Satisfactory, Good, and Excellent (or whatever they’re using now).
That system of scoring the schools is criminal. We’ve got something on the order of 30-40% of students GRADUATING government schools who are not proficient in English, and even more not proficient in math.
I don’t care what scoring system you’d like to use: that many illiterate graduates indicates a FAILURE OF THE ENTIRE SYSTEM AND EVERY SCHOOL FROM 1ST GRADE UP!
Are there kids getting good grades and education ad JGHS and CHHS? Yes, absolutely. Does that mean that every teacher in that school is bad? No. But the reality is that the aggregate number of kids GRADUATING from our schools who are this uneducated means, by definition, that the system as a whole has FAILED to educate them.
Calling such schools “weak” is too kind. Calling them “satisfactory” or “good” is criminal.
Nobody should be remotely satisfied that more than 30% of our kids are graduating illiterate. Find one parent who will publicly state they’re “satisfied” with an illiterate 16 year-old kid who’s gone through the entire education system and spit back out at the end being this uneducated.
Furthermore, if you expect expatriate parents to allow their kids to go into the government school system, I’d love to see the carrot and stick you’re going to use to do so. If it’s anything short of totalitarian dictator BS, it won’t work. And if it is totalitarian dictator BS they’ll leave. And before everyone says “good riddance” realize that when they leave, so will all the good teachers that they insist on being here. And then all that will be left is our abysmal excuse for a school system.
It’s 2025, the world is moving fast, and OUR kids will be left in the dust if WE collectively don’t demand more.
Wayne and André were gone when Julianna and Bryan approved the budget. Will you vote for them, so they can continue spending like this? ⤵️
https://www.gov.ky/content/published/api/v1.1/assets/CONTC87F4E70F8254559AD5BCEA8C3DCFD28/native/Cabinet+Post+Meeting+Summary+No+43.25+-+2025-02-25.pdf?channelToken=c915417e96ad49e2bcda2e4d22158c40
Wow!! This was an eye opener!! 😠
Thanks for posting
No kidding! Cayman Brac Roads depreciated/decreased 2.3 million????? Have you SEEN Cayman Brac 1/2 roads? Will Water Authority ever stop digging it up? Will the plethora of deep potholes ever be fixed? Will the road ever be fixed?
How far would $2.3 million go toward making bike/walking paths on the sides of the main drags on the Sister Islands? Could just a little more make a vast improvement which would make the people (who take their lives in their hands to bike) and tourism vastly safer and more prevalent?
Both remain complicit.
Correction. Andre was still there and fully part of the 2024-2025 budget approval in 2023.
And Wayne was right behind him, pulling his strings.
Julianna was Premier since 2023, so all of this deficit rests squarely with her leadership.
I thought Bryan had done well, but since he was part of cabinet squandering so much money in the last nine months, I do not think he, Julianna or any of them in that group deserves to be re-elected. They need to feel the voters anger at the polls. They should be sued for malfeasance, actually.
Its comical after 4 years the incumbents get up on these stages and tell us what the problems are, problems they fostered for the last 4 years. Now they want to tell us they will fix it. This is a slap in the face of sensible, intelligent voters. Kenneth, Julie, Dwayne, Joey and their accomplices should all be voted out.
But listening to the GT voters and some BT voters actually makes you wonder.
Makes me wonder if I’m still in Cayman, or am I in Jamaica.
PPM’s additions of Dumb dumber Juju Kenneth, with Mac and Saunders as reserves , I don’t think Cayman will remain Cayman for much longer.
Not voting PPM this time.