Cayman Net News: Ministry and Portfolio Funding No Longer Automatic

Ministry and Portfolio Funding No Longer Automatic

Reader comments:

Sounds like a good idea if it can be done without the usual "All's fair in love and war" method that is so prevalent in the Civil Service when someone has the power to say "Yea" or "Nay". How well I remember back in the good old days (?) of the 70's when money was doled out by the quarter, not yearly. One particular year in Cayman Brac, we got our first quarter vote, and my Head of Department in good faith, went over the limit on a very important project that was under way. We did not get ANY funding for the next two quarters because there just wasn't enough revenue for the Votes to be given. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the then District Commissioner called me with the sad news that there would not be any funding for the fourth quarter. I said "Never mind that, I would just like to get the second quarter to balance the books". That was a hard Christmas for everyone with no money to hire people to clean the roads etc. to get money for their families. In this case it was lack of funds, but what they are talking about now, is withholding funding because the performance of the department don't meet the whims of the "powers that be". Pardon me if I have a suspicious mind - Eyes Wide Open Caymanian