EDITORIAL

Return to decency and values

Thursday,  May 19, 2005

This week in the Cayman Islands, as the country streams into calm after the election turmoil, it is opportune for us to reflect that Caymanian common sense, exercised by the electorate, has turned this country away from decadence and opened the way for a return to values for which the Cayman Islands is known – order, honesty and common decency to one’s fellow man.

There are lessons here for our leaders who have been recently chosen for seats in the Legislative Assembly; lessons, in fact, for all candidates. For the outgoing party, the lesson is clear: serious errors in judgement were committed by the United Democratic Party (UDP) and once the alarms were raised concerning them the error was compounded by positions of arrogance and, in some cases, bombast.

Perhaps, the previous Government mistook the populace’s disinclination for conflict to mean that the population was unaware of the transgressions, but as Caymanians themselves, they should have known that the people of Cayman would wait to speak at the ballot box.

Whatever the reason, the transgressions did take place and for the UDP not to accept that – we all make mistakes – is to further diminish their future as a party.

In that scenario, as well, it is not immodest for us to say that this newspaper played an important role in bringing to light the transgressions. We persevered with these revelations, often alone in the media doing so, in spite of revenue being denied us. We persevered despite the gutter tactics from some former Ministers of Government.

Our staff spread the news as it came to us, despite efforts at intimidation, and through that stream of reports Caymanian common sense saw through the smoke and mirrors, and the last-minute launching of projects, and the last-minute flurry of so-called damaging documents.

For the incoming party, the lesson must be that as they undertake this fresh start given them by the voters they must do so with the understanding of how easy it is in a conservative population to come to believe that one’s power leaves one free to act without fear of retribution.

In defeat, one previous sore Minister of the UDP administration was heard to say, “I don’t know what happened.” indicating that, in his mind anyway, his performance had been such as to assure re-election.

We are squarely now at the point of a significant turnaround in this country to a degree that surprised not only the outgoing but, to some extent, the incoming Members of the Legislative Assembly as well.

And therein lies the most important lesson of all for the new Government to keep in mind.

The people want a return to fair dealings and adherence to procedures in the deliberations of their Cabinet and in the duties of the Ministers in their respective portfolios; they want a return to respect for each other and for an end to victimization and to even threats of victimisation.

They want an end put to attempts to influence civil servants by the showering of money; ultimately, they want, as one voter put it outside a Bodden Town polling station, “for decency to come back to Cayman”.

Not only do they deserve that; by their votes they are clearly demanding it.
To a significant degree, in most of the country, the people have demonstrated they understood how close we were to the precipice.

That lesson, too, has been learned.

The PPM’s motto throughout the campaign has been government you can trust. We intend to hold them no less to this commitment.

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