Voters nervous

Kearney Gomez, Elections Supervisor	Edna Moyle, PPM, North Side

Mario Ebanks, WBA	Bo Miller, Independent Candidate for North Side

Wednesday,  April 27, 2005

The democratic rights and the right to freedom of choice of the largest group of electors in the Cayman Islands are reportedly under threat from a law that, ironically, has existed for years to strengthen the democratic process. 

Fear is now evident as Cayman Islands’ civil servants who have been seen attending public elections meetings have expressed concern about being seen at the meetings and have stated that asking questions of candidates is an absolute impossibility for them.

Asked about the reason for the fear, one civil servant said, “They sent around a letter recently about not attending meetings.”

When asked to describe what exactly they feared, the civil servant in question said, “losing my job.” Another said: “I’m just afraid. You never can tell these days with what’s happening around now.”

Concerned about the contents, Supervisor of Elections, Kearney Gomez said it was normal to dispatch a letter reminding civil servants of the rules under General Orders of the Civil Service that prohibit civil servants from joining political parties or holding office in any political groupings. “I have not seen the letter that went around this year,” said Mr Gomez. “However, it is my understanding that the letter went a bit further than that. If this is the case then this would clearly undermine the political process and implant a fear factor.

“To exercise one’s right to vote one has a right to be part of an audience where they can gain information and be able to exercise their vote intelligently,” Mr Gomez added.

Under Section 95 of the Elections Law, reference is made to the illegality of exercising influence on anyone that will induce or compel that person to refrain from voting. The law states, “A person is guilty of undue influence if he directly or indirectly, by himself or by any other person on his behalf makes use of or threatens to make use of force, violence or restraint to inflict any temporal or spiritual injury, damage, harm or loss upon or against any person, in order to induce or compel such vote or refrain from voting.”

Edna Moyle, member of the Legislative Assembly and a candidate in the district of North Side running on the People’s Progressive Movement (PPM) ticket said, “When I was in Government we could have no part in political parties but that did not stop us from attending meetings. 

“However, persons now fear that they will be victimized for attending meetings. 

“I understand that a lengthy memo went out to civil servants and that included, among other things, that civil servants are not allowed up to one hundred yards of where a political meeting is being held,” added Mrs Moyle.

Underscoring that civil servants should be encouraged, rather than deterred from participating in the electoral process, Ms Moyle said that civil servants are mature people who know how to conduct themselves. “They know they have to work with whoever wins,” she said.

“As a former civil servant, I don’t see where the General Orders should prevent anyone from being educated on what candidates have to say,” said Mario Ebanks of the West Bay Alliance (WBA).

“A lot of civil servants may assume the law to be draconian. But there are others whom I have seen holding senior positions in the Civil Service and are still openly involved in key areas of the incumbent’s political campaign. How can this be when others are so fearful?”

Bo Miller, Independent Candidate for North Side added: “Civil servants should understand that no politician has the authority to fire a person. It is understandable that one would not want a civil servant on a political platform with the potential of disclosing Government secrets, but it is quite scary when we don’t see anything wrong keeping persons away from normal participation in the political process.”

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