By Pam DaCosta and Tad Stoner
tad@caymannetnews.com

Leader of the Opposition Hon McKeeva Bush on Friday defied elected officials, and possibly the UK government, by releasing copies of the previously secret draft constitution, proclaiming the public’s right to know.

“The Opposition is happy we’re close to the point of having Freedom of Information in this country and I’d like to thank all involved,” Mr Bush told the Legislative Assembly on Friday morning, 5 December.

Mr Bush said he thought it appropriate to let local media houses see the 84-page document, forwarded by UK drafters to George Town after late-September talks hammered out a set of working proposals.

“We’ve had a constitution document brought back to our country and many calls have been [heard] to release the document, and I see no reason why we can’t do that. They [elected officials] say ‘not for public’, but I see no reason why we can’t do that…I now lay it on the table and please make copies for the public to see it,” Mr Bush said, asking the Serjeant-at-Arms to place it before the House.

Minister for Education Hon Alden McLaughlin protested the move: “You can’t do that,” he said.

“I just did,” Mr Bush replied.

The lengthy eight-chapter document opens with a 28-point Bill of Rights that includes surprise sections on treatment of prisoners; an explicit right of privacy; a marriage proposal guaranteeing freedom “to choose to marry a person of the opposite sex”; a government obligation of environmental protection; a right to education; and creation of a Human Rights Commission.

The draft document has already created controversy as non-governmental organisations have protested section 16 on non-discrimination, claiming its open-ended listing of categories of people exempt from discrimination could allow “inappropriate relationships”, a long-standing code word for same-sex marriage.

In other chapters, the document mandates a series of appointments, comprising a Caymanian Deputy Governor to head the civil service and stand in for the Governor; a premier; and a nine-member Cabinet which will include a Deputy Premier and the Attorney General, whose inclusion had been contested by the ruling People’s Progressive Movement (PPM).

The document also creates a Minister of Finance, a Director of Public Prosecutions and a National Security Council, while leaving open at 17 or 18, the numbers of elected legislators.

While leaving in place most of the Governor’s traditional powers, the constitution requires Cabinet consent to apply locally any “international agreement, treaty or instrument” that would affect domestic legislation. The clause allows lawmakers to oppose automatic extension to the Cayman Islands of UN or European agreements deemed locally inappropriate.

A Judicial and Legal Services Commission, chaired by the Chief Justice, will appoint the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Grand Court judges and magistrates.

Finally, both the Office of the Complaints Commissioner and that of the Auditor General, now occupied by John Epp and Dan Duguay, are enshrined in the document, along with a Commission for Standards in Public Life that will set “the highest standards of integrity and competence …to ensure the prevention of corruption or conflicts of interest”.

Citing prior agreement with the UK, Mr McLaughlin protested the proposed dissemination of the draft constitution by Mr Bush.

“These documents were sent to him and contained part of a condition that its disclosure not be made public, by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office,” the Minister said. “It is not for public content. It was not a condition imposed by the government of the Cayman Islands, but imposed by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.”

Acting on Mr McLaughlin’s admonition, House Speaker Hon Edna Moyle declined to accept the document, eliciting an uncompromising response from Mr Bush.

“This document is no great state secret. If you don’t allow me to lay it on the table - I’ll give it to the newspapers,” he said, marching from the chamber.