Letter to the Editor
Responsible Government-An ElectedDictatorship
Winston Connolly
Dear Sir
The Government (by that I mean the ExecutiveCouncil) has far too long dictated, without accountability. Thattheir dictate must prevail whatever the merits of other arguments,is that of autocracy and not social democracy. How do they dothis? Through cronyism and fear of repercussion and censorship.
-Yes Men' (or like-minded people) defeats healthy exercise ofpower as it requires people who will not hesitate to say whenthey think something is wrong or communicate truths that are unpalatable.This, my friends is called responsibility and leads to collectiveleadership. There are no checks on Excos power. This in itselfis a threat to the fundamental principles of democracy. This groupmimics dictatorship because there's nothing to stop them. TheBackbenchers-the so-called mouthpiece of the people-are eithersympathetic to the Government or would like to be in the governmentor are powerless do anything to thwart the government and thisis the dangerous mix we have-the mix which artificially makesfor an elected dictatorship.
If there were satellite groups of government who could discussissues such as these which were not merely an appendage of thesame government then they would come to the forefront more often.These groups, however defined, have truncated powers, which arealso dictated by Government-as no one will bite the hand thatfeeds them-especially not when it would mean loss of positionor revenue or both. Any such group in reality is a toothless beast,powerless to true monitoring and providing checks and balancesin name only.
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Censorshipof the press, hidden deals with outside nations, all these havecome about in front of our faces and yet the power of spindoctoringhas eroded our senses of hearing and sight.
The current Government has betrayed their constituents. Thereis no government accountability to its citizenry. That's not sayingthat all have deliberately done so.
The way our system works makes it hard-almost impossible really-forthe backbenchers to stick up for their constituents. They havebecome little more than a rubber stamp to the will of the executive.They speak when they are allowed, are muzzled when they say toomuch and sometimes even ostracised for their insolence.
The reality is that the country is run by five individuals. Allunelected by the people directly. Along with their Ministers whohave tremendous influence over public policy and sometimes thecareers of individual backbenchers even. It is they who determinewho is rewarded and who is punished.
Government is accountable to the populace every four years, inthe interim there is little that elected representatives (backbenchers)can do to influence policy; once a decision is taken by the Government,there can be no deviance.
To effect any change the backbenchers are forced to promise compliancefor future Government proposals-a sort of pay the devil scenario-thesystem is no doubt autocratic. The Government holds far too muchpower over the backbenchers who are effectively made into shortterm amateurs-happy for scraps and a pay cheque some of them couldnot get in their wildest dreams anywhere else but Parliament.
The problem of executive power is not a new one to Caymanian politics.There has long been no one to question them about their actions.A task once seen as tedious and time wasting in a banana republicgovernment is far too important to ignore now. Parliamentary committeesshould be able to question government. We do not even have theability to ask the government in any format to be accountable.Efforts can be made to embarrass government or ask them abouttheir operating procedures as a first step, but there is a longway to go before the backbenchers have the ability to significantlyinfluence Government practices.
Committees seeking this should have no governmental ties whatsoever.If so it would just be a case of history repeating itself, wherereports have been commissioned and then shelved and forgottenafter soothing the outrage of the people. More power must be givento committees and more democratising reforms should be implementedto give more power to the backbenchers.
The measure most apt to give the backbenchers and the people morepower is that of binding referendum. If Government were more progressive-mindedand not so caught up in its arrogance and power it would allowthe citizenry to petition the government to holding binding referendumon important issues. A discussion paper on direct democracy wheregovernment-initiated and citizen-initiate referendum come to headwhere the wisdom of the people (highly specialised in Cayman)is taken into account. Direct democracy could provide Caymanianswith the means to thwart unsavoury ambitions of an overzealousgovernment.
A Bill of this nature would force the government to hold a referendumon any measure petitioned for by a certain percentage of the votersin the prior national election. Petitioners would present theirmotions to the Clerk of Executive Council and then have a periodof time (a year in the most sensible case) to gather the requiredsignatures. To save money the referendums could be held concurrentwith elections, and could eventually be conducted electronically.
The current system is completely incompatible with technologyand the information age. Today, with Backbenchers having to voteby the -whip', the legislative assembly is a place of party agenda(without the defined party system of say Britain) and enacts thewills of bureaucrats an not the will of the people. If the governmentwants to pass an agenda which is 'in the best interests of thepeople' more transparency and more participation by the populacewould mean that it would actually be IN THE BEST INTERESTS OFTHE PEOPLE.
Winston C. Connolly Jr.