Politics

(CNS): In the wake of a public rally in opposition to government’s proposed Dart deal, the premier will be hitting back by hosting his own public meeting this evening (Tuesday 21 February) in George Town on the same spot. McKeeva Bush says he will be updating the public on the cruise ship dock and “other matters”. Following the meeting hosted by local activists against the ForCayman Alliance, the premier will be emphasising the need to get projects going to create jobs and generate business to kick start the still flagging economy. The meeting, which will be broadcast live on Radio Cayman, will be held at Celebration Park Next to the Courthouse at 7:30pm.

(CNS): The West Bay groups fighting to keep the West Bay road open and the Bodden Town coalition aiming to keep the dump out of their district were joined by the opposition leader and two other MLAs on Thursday night as they stepped up their campaigns at a public meeting. More than 250 people turned out for the gathering, which focused heavily on opposition to government’s proposed deal with Cayman’s biggest developer. The activists and politicians all spoke about the pressing need not to give up the fight over what was described as the gifting of crown land to the Dart Group and other elements of the deal, which they all believe will in the long run be detrimental to the people. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
 

(CNS): Arden McLean and Ezzard Miller say then are confident of getting at least twenty-five percent of the country's electorate to sign their petition for a referendum on changing Cayman's voting system to single member constituencies. The two MLAs said at the official launch of the petition that their goal was to get 5,000 signatures from registered voters to support the call for government to adopt the Boundary Commission recommendations of 18 constituencies across the Cayman Islands. Miller and McLean have set November as the target date for the people-led referendum, leaving government enough time to conduct the 2013 general election in accordance with the result of that national ballot, which they say will be one man, one vote.

(CNS): The district representative for East End has challenged the government to show the audited financial figures for the year ending June 2009 to demonstrate how the $81 million deficit emerged. Arden McLean said he still questions the claim by the premier that the previous government, of which he was a part, had left a deficit of $81 million.The PPM former Cabinet minister says he has evidence that on the eve of the election the financial secretary had told the Cabinet that the deficit was running at around$18 million at the end of the third quarter. McLean said he would produce the note even if he went to jail, as he called on the current government to prove the claims it was making against the PPM.  

(CNS): The two MLAs who are elected to the Legislative Assembly through the democratic process of one man, one vote are hoping to spread that democratic principle to the rest of the country before the next general election. Arden McLean, the PPM representative for East End, told his constituents last night that they could set the example to the rest of the country by signing the petition that he and his fellow MLA Ezzard Miller, the independent member for North Side, are organising to bring about single member constituencies. The MLAs will be petitioning registered voters in order to trigger a people’s initiated referendum and force the hand of government to change the voting system.

(CNS): The opposition leader has stated that if the government had deliberately searched the world over it could not have found a more inappropriate company to develop the cruise berthing facilities. Alden McLaughlin said it appeared that wherever China Harbour Engineering Company was working there seemed to be concerns of one kind or another. Despite his own belief that there is a pressing need for cruise berthing in the capital, he said that government really should reconsider this current proposal. Not only is CHEC the wrong company, the project has become much wider than had ever previously been intended and has turned into a financing deal that will in the long run be paid for by Cayman.

(CNS): The Save Cayman, West Bay Action Committee and the Concerned Citizens Group will be hosting a public meeting on Thursday evening at 7:30pm in George Town on the court house steps to outline the issues relating to the proposed closure of what is now understood to be close to 4,000 feet of the West Bay as well as the proposal to move the landfill to Bodden Town. In opposition to the proposed deal government is negotiating with the Dart Group, PPM member for East End Arden McLean will also be hosting a public meeting in the district Monday evening at 8pm, where he will be addressing that and other issues.

(CNS): The independent member for North Side has denied running a dirty campaign against the premier and his government stating that all he wants is answers. Ezzard Miller stated that the only reason the premier believes it is dirty is because he doesn’t like the legitimate questions that are being asked. The MLA has also questioned the premier’s claims that he is facing excessive bureaucratic harassment stating that the premier is simply struggling to follow the legal processes and procedures which have been set down to protect the people. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)

(CNS): Despite claims by the government that it is getting to grips with public finances, the opposition leader has said that the administration is once again facing problems paying bills. Alden McLaughlin said that several authorities have not been paid money expected from government, including CINICO, the National Roads Authority and Cayman Airways and, he added, it appears government is now anticipating yet another deficit this year.  The opposition leader said government needed to update the country on what is happening with the public purse and it needed to hold a Finance Committee meeting to regularize the executive spending and budget changes.

(CNS): A complaint has been filed with the country’s Anti-corruption Commission over the $5 million cash donation the Dart Group made to government in connection with the ForCayman Investment Alliance. North Side representative Ezzard Miller says it appears that the payment by the islands’ largest developer to government falls foul of section 15 of the anti-corruption law and needs to be investigated. The independent MLA told CNS that he has made an official complaint with the commission as he says the money seems to have been paid to influence an outcome and not as a transaction on the crown land it is seeking to swap.

(CNS): The concept of a solar powered water plant caught the attention of Cayman’s deputy premier recently at the Seventh Ministerial UK-Caribbean Forum in St George’s, Grenada. Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, who is also the public works minister, said of the many issues discussed at the forum she was "particularly interested in the difference stages of nation building some countries were in” and pointed to St Kitts and its efforts to implement a water unit that was almost all solar powered.

(CNS):  At least two members of the Legislative Assembly and a leading member of the Concerned Citizens Group will be heading to the UK shortly to deliver the ‘other side of the story’ regarding the various projects that the government plans to sign up for and the issues surrounding proper process and the premier. Ezzard Miller says that Arden McLean and AliceMae Coe have already agreed to join his delegation to London, where he plans to meet with various FCO representatives, foreign affairs committee members, MPs from the Labour Party and the British press in order to raise the various concerns of those opposed to what government is doing.