Editorial
Local Summit to Agree on the Constitution Necessary
With just over two weeks to go before the Constitutional Review talks in London, five local organisations have called for the discussions to be held in a more inclusive forum in the Cayman Islands.
These organisations, the Chamber of Commerce, Caymanian Bar Association, Cayman Ministers' Association, People for Referendum and Concerned Citizens Group, feel so strongly about the issue that they have presented a letter to H.E. the Governor, Mr. Bruce Dinwiddy noting their disapproval of the proposed London meetings.
Reports indicate that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has already made arrangements to facilitate the meeting in London on December 10 and 11. It is therefore unlikely that there will be any changes at this stage.
This, however, does not invalidate the importance and relevance of the position taken by these five groups which represent large and important sectors of the Cayman Islands.
Their argument is that all of the people of the Cayman Islands will be affected by changes to the Constitution that may be agreed upon during the private discussion, and that an essential step will be to allow for further public discussion, debate and education on the final draft constitution before it is tabled and debated in the Legislative Assembly.
This is not an unreasonable position to adopt and it demonstrates the maturity of a people who, although not independent, have the courage to assert to the United Kingdom that they must have a say in their own affairs.
As the groups rightly said, having a meeting in London with selected members of Government and the Opposition will prevent the people of the Cayman Islands from participating fully in the constitutional talks. However, the pre-constitutional talks summit which will take place here this coming Friday will certainly advance the process of coming to a consensus in London.
Those who support the meeting being held in London may well argue that special interest groups already had an opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns about the proposed amendments and that these positions which were sent to London, would have already been taken into account by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at this stage.
The truth of the matter is that even if the talks are held in Cayman, it is unlikely, given time and other constraints, that every person who wants to have a say in the proposed amendments to the constitution would be able to do so.
Still, if the meetings were to be held here, it would give the people of the Cayman Islands a sense of security and comfort to know that regardless of the outcome, they would have been part of an inclusive process with respect to the shaping of an important documents such as the Constitution which is the supreme law of the land.
There is nothing wrong with changing the course, but the longer the process takes the more anxiety, suspicion and tension may surround this exercise.
It may very well be that the meeting in London is the first of many such meetings and that the FCO may recognise the wisdom in having at least one follow-up session in the Cayman Islands.
In the circumstances, it is therefore of utmost importance for the United Kingdom Government to communicate the steps to complete the process of constitutional modernisation.
This is necessary, not only in the interest of transparency, but so that concerned Caymanians can have supreme confidence in the system of constitutional reform.