The ICL/NuanceDeal: "I Told You So"
Sir:
A couple of years ago I told the Caymanpeople that the day the Island Companies (ICL) was granted a localcompanies control licence (LCCL) was the day to remember in futureas the day of doom. Thankfully soon after, the decision to grantICL a LCCL to operate locally as a foreign owned company was reversed.Even though it was only an appeal, we at least held out hope andcontinued to pray that the powers that be would continue to upholdthe laws and practices of our country, or at least leave alonethe way in which business had always been done in Cayman, andwhich had proven to be very successful.
Now again I say that all of Cayman, thosewho love their country and its people, those who would not sellout their country at any price, must remember the date of Monday30 July 2001. It is my opinion that this is what should alwaysbe remembered as our "D-Day" the day that Cayman was"SOLD OUT".
We elected a new Government in November2000, and had great hope for the future, because we felt we neededa change, and we got it.
We trusted these new elected members, andI have personally supported most of them from 1984.
I suppose that because of what took placejust after elections, with all the deal- makings, the choppingand the changing, and the back-stabbing over the election of ExCo,we should have been fearful of what the future held.
I say all of that to say that no matterwhat "excuses" they may give the Cayman people, andno matter what little good that ExCo may claim that can be gainedfrom granting a LCCL to ICL, it can never outweigh or even comeclose to the bad it will cause to Cayman and its people.
The decision in the past to grant ICL thelicence was upsetting, but this decision is just plain sad becauseit is a decision made by the very people we elected to representand protect us. All governments are elected to represent All Caymaniansand "the common good," not just one person and themselves.
This decision will now make it impossiblefor Caymanians to stay in business because we cannot ever hopeto be able to compete against large billion dollar foreign companiessuch as Nuance. Some small Caymanian owned businesses have alreadyfelt the pressure, and a couple have already been forced out ofbusiness, and nuance has the nerve to say that "it does notintend and has no desire to drive out competition in the CaymanIslands or to dominate the tourist-related market." Do theybelieve that the Cayman people are so stupid that they can insultus with a remark like that? What other reason is there to getinto business other than to profit? This company is the secondlargest duty-free company in the world and cares only about moneyand profits, Not one bit about Cayman people. This is a fact!Do you believe that as soon as they are no longer making a profitthey will stay in Cayman?
The most important fact that Caymaniansmust realise now is that any large foreign company can come intoour island and compete against the local companies. It will bethe small companies that will suffer first! Because all our locallyowned companies are small in comparison, these big companies willrun us out of business, and we as a people will all be workingfor large foreign-owned companies. Worst still is that the vastmajority of the millions of dollars made by these foreign companieswill not stay in our economy and the results will be disastrous.
In future no young Caymanian will take the gamble (or risk) tostart their own business knowing that they will be run out ofbusiness in a short time by a large foreign owned company.
The supermarkets, the printing companies,the real estate companies, record shops, the car companies, theclothing companies, duty-free companies, you name it, will soonbe foreign owned, because it is now legitimate.
All these types of businesses have beenowned and operated by Caymanians in the past, and it is becausethe Caymanians have done so well in doing so, why these largeforeign companies want to exploit the success. Why now changewhat we have been doing so successfully for decades. It is becauseof the protection that was given to companies like ICL, in thepast that they have become successful. Now the owners want totake away that very same protection that helped them. Why? Isit greed?
Even though I cannot understand the positiontaken by foreigners like the Governor and the Attorney General,it is a little excusable because they are not Caymanians. Evenin the case of the so-called owners of ICL who have shown themselvesto be what they really are over the years, it is not totally surprisingwhat they are doing. But for our newly elected government, whowe put our trust in, to betray the Cayman people and the "CommonGood" for one or two people and themselves, it is truly sadand shocking. As I said, no excuse can possibly justify this decision, and this is only the beginning of the facts that will be revealedin the near future.
I end by having to unfortunately say goodbyeto the great times in which Caymanians could proudly own theirown businesses. Even though we may not feel it today or tomorrow,the time is now near for those who decide to stay in Cayman andtry to fight it out, that we all be owned by foreigners who donot give a damn about you or me.
Please Cayman remember this day and pleaseremember who is responsible. We will not forget the betrayal,and we will not forgive because it is the next generation thatwill suffer most.
Chris Wight
PS: I cannot understandhow the new ExCo can destroy in six months what "our goodold Caymanian people" have built up and protected for manygenerations just for the benefit of one minority Caymanian shareholder.