London Talks Off?

Leader of the Opposition,
Hon Kurt Tibbetts

Monday, February 2, 2004

The constitutional talks scheduled for later this week in London may be in jeopardy after an alleged disagreement that arose during a meeting between HE the Governor Bruce Dinwiddy and the Leader of Government Business, Hon McKeeva Bush last Friday afternoon.

Sources indicate that one issue that was discussed was the offer of the Opposition People's Progressive Movement (PPM) to give up one of their seats at the negotiating table for the informal talks to the non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and the possibility that NGOs might be represented at the sessions at all.

Representatives from five different NGOs made personal appeals to the Governor last Thursday to be allowed to attend the new draft constitution modernisation talks scheduled for this Thursday and Friday.

NGO's represented at that meeting with the Governor included the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce, People for Referendum, Concerned Citizens Group, the Cayman Ministers' Association, and the Forum.

In response to the request by members of the NGOs for permission to attend the talks, the PPM offered to give up one of its own three seats. 

The United Democratic Party (UDP) also has three seats allocated to them for the sessions.

After much debate on the draft constitution, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) invited the governing UDP and the PPM for further discussion in London, but excluded the NGOs, although they had been represented in the last series of talks in the UK on the subject in December 2002.

It is known that Minister Bush was not happy with the NGOs' contributions in those last constitution talks, and that he is not in favour of having them attend the upcoming discussions.

The NGOs, however, have been very vocal recently about being excluded from the talks.

Sophia Ann Harris and Pastor Al Ebanks, co-chairs of the NGO Working Group co-wrote a letter to the Governor, dated 23 January expressing their discontent for being excluded. "We strongly oppose the recent decision by Her Majesty's Government (HMG) to hold private closed discussions… because we believe that any meetings on constitutional modernization should be held in the Cayman Islands and should be open to members of the public and the media." 

The NGOs concluded their letter by stating, "To deny the people of the Cayman Islands the right to fully and freely participate in these discussions is a clear violation of our fundamental human rights and your UN obligations." 

In a letter to HE the Governor Bruce Dinwiddy, the Hon Kurt Tibbetts, Leader of the Opposition, wrote, "We believe that these organizations should be afforded at least two places at the table and to facilitate this we are prepared to give up one of the positions that have been accorded the Parliamentary Opposition at the upcoming talks in London on 5 and 6 February 2004." 

Mr Tibbetts made his concern for due process clear. "We are delighted that the Chamber of Commerce and the other non-governmental organizations now wish to become involved in the discussions with the FCO about the proposed new constitution because we have always believed that their perspective is important to the outcome of the process."

Through press time, the Governor had yet to respond to the NGO's request to join the talks, although it is understood that word is expected from the FCO on the matter on Monday.

When contacted for comment last Saturday, Alison Bach, the personal assistant to the Governor, could only confirm that Mr Dinwiddy and Mr Bush did in fact have a meeting on Friday.

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