Talks stay secret

(CNS):  The second round of negotiations with the UK on a new Cayman Islands Constitution open tomorrow, but besides the opening session and the concluding session, the four day talks will, once again, be held behind closed doors. Beginning Tuesday, 13 January, through until Friday, 16 January, daily, they will take place at the Westin Casuarina Resort, Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts said.

“The format will include an opening session wherein all participants are welcome to deliver an introductory statement,” he said. “This session will be open to the public and the media and a final concluding session on Friday morning will also be open to the public and media.”

Tibbetts said the sessions were closed at the request of the UK government. At the last round of talks Sir Ian Hendry, the leader of the UK delegation, said the negotiations cannot take place against the backdrop of political posturing. However, the opposition United Democratic Party did leak various details from the first round as they had persistently stated that the talks should be open and transparent.

Leader of the Opposition McKeeva Bush openly circulated the draft document, which was composed by the UK in the wake of the first set of negotiations. Since then, both the opposition party and the two religious groups have raised concerns about the content. The Cayman Ministers’ Association (CMA) has said that the draft is still unacceptable in its current form. The issue of freedom of religion and the fact that the constitution doesn’t explicitly prohibit at any future time the possibility of same sex marriage are some of the concerns with regards to the bill of rights from the religious groups. The establishment of a National Security Council is also one of a number of other issues that the opposition has objected to.

The opening session on Tuesday should see the various representatives, including the Chamber of Commerce, the Human Rights Committee, the Seventh Day Adventists and CMA, as well as the government and opposition, making their introductory statements based on the draft and raising their specific concerns.

The Leader of Government Business said that this second round of talks will determine whether the final round will take place in London in early February. The timeline, which has already been reduced further after the scheduled December talks were cancelled as a result of Hurricane Poloma striking the Brac in November, is tight if the government is to have a fully drafted and agreed document to put up for referendum at the same time as the May General Election.