EDITORIAL

Constitutional advancement must not be overlooked

Friday,  January 20, 2006

In a speech at this week’s Cayman Business Outlook 2006 conference, the Leader of Government Business, Hon Kurt Tibbetts gave what he called an “overview of Government’s plans for the New Year”.

He proceeded to outline eleven “broad outcomes that government’s policies and activities are directed towards in 2006”.

Although some of these are clearly relevant to the business and economy of the Cayman Islands, e.g. supporting the economy, open, transparent, honest and efficient public administration, and sound fiscal management, some are directed more at the quality of life in these Islands, such as crime and policing, traffic congestion, conserving the environment, and strengthening family and community.

Conspicuous by its absence was any mention of constitutional advancement, an issue that in several forms has figured prominently in public and political discussion and debate in recent years. Indeed, it was an issue leading up and during to the last election campaign.

Constitutional advancement was an area where change was resisted during the past four years, with political expediency apparently overriding the progress of democracy in the Cayman Islands.

During this time, the situation degenerated from the sublime to the ridiculous, with the then ruling United Democratic Party adopting four different positions on the issue within the space of eighteen months, culminating in their announcement that they were in favour of single-member constituencies in George Town, but not in the rest of the country. One might add that they were indeed right to be concerned about their electoral prospects in the capital.

Part and parcel of constitutional advancement is the adoption of an enforceable Bill of Rights. Those in power prior to the last election perpetuated the approach of previous governments in resisting change in this respect. 

As Cayman Net News revealed in 2004, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office finally admitted that it has been the Cayman Islands government all along that has prevented Cayman residents from complaining about abuses of human rights.

Granted, we saw the usual government reaction – the establishment of an ineffectual committee to pay lip service to the issue without the real changes that are urgently needed being made.

Since then, yet another committee has been appointed, along with proposals for at least one non-governmental organisation (NGO) to jump on this bandwagon of sorts.

We remarked some months ago that the Turks & Caicos Islands, a sister British Dependent Territory in the region, had successfully concluded talks with the United Kingdom Government on constitutional reform with an agreement for an advanced constitution for the territory.

The Turks & Caicos managed to achieve in a relatively short period of time what the Cayman Islands have been bickering over for several years.

Amongst other things, the Turks & Caicos negotiated a reduction of the Governor’s reserved powers and the curtailment of his ability to enact legislation unilaterally or to act without or contrary to the advice of the Cabinet. 

The post of Chief Secretary will be abolished. There will be an enlarged and strengthened Public Service Commission, on whose recommendations the Governor will be bound to act unless instructed otherwise by a Secretary of State.

These factors ought to be of equal interest to us here in the Cayman Islands, in addition to our own earlier controversies such as the adoption of single member constituencies.

In our view, progress towards a modern constitution incorporating the customary human and civil rights enjoyed by those living in more enlightened countries is equally important to our continued economic success as any of the other factors enumerated by the Government of the day.

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