Kudos to PPM, voters

I wish to first thank the leadership, members and well wishers of the PPM.

Over the past three years we have all worked hard to put together an organisation that, as we have said many times, is not a mere election winning machine.

It is you the members, together with the leaders of the PPM, who have helped to mold the Movement into an organization that has the needs and aspirations of the Caymanian People at its core. We can all feel justly proud of our Movement and of our victory at the polls.

But the work is just beginning and I know that I can count on your assistance in the weeks and years ahead.

I also wish to thank the volunteers who assisted us during the campaign and on Election Day.

Everyone did a fantastic job and worked long and hard. It was inspiring to see so many individuals give freely of their time and pull together to do whatever task was required of them.

Thanks also to the candidates from all sides for having the courage to put themselves forward for election.

However, a special thanks to the candidates of the PPM. You were democratically elected by the membership of the PPM to serve as our candidates in the general election; and you have now been elected by the country to serve as our representatives and to form the next Government.

I have every confidence that you will do the PPM and the Cayman Islands proud and will return good governance to the Legislative Assembly and to move the country forward socially, politically and economically.

Thanks too to the media for ensuring that the public was informed and for also giving them a forum to air concerns and opinions.

A huge thanks also to the Elections Office staff and volunteers, the Police and the Special Constables for playing a key role in maintaining our democracy and in ensuring that we had free and fair elections.

But most importantly, I wish to thank the voters for going out to cast their votes and assisting the democratic process.

I know that in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan many of you are still struggling to get your lives and homes back in order.

I also appreciate that there are those who over the past several years have become distrustful of politics and perhaps doubted whether your vote really could make a difference. In the end many of you decided that it did matter and that you cared enough about your country to make the effort to vote. And you voted overwhelmingly for a PPM administration and for a new direction for these Islands; so I also thank you for your vote of confidence in the PPM.

I would add that I believe that the overwhelming support for candidates from both the PPM and the UDP indicates that the country is willing to give political parties a chance.

It now behoves both parties to work diligently to help politics in the Cayman Islands mature and to defend democracy and good governance within the country as well as within the ranks of the party itself.

Political parties need to ensure that we educate our membership and the general public on important issues as well as seek their views and listen to their concerns and to indeed help make the lot of Caymanians better.

In so doing we will help ensure the success of the party as a tool for political and social progress.

I believe that the PPM as a democratic and people-centred political movement, formed from the grassroots up, is miles ahead of the UDP in this regard and this was demonstrated by our success at the polls.

We in the PPM intend to strengthen and improve our movement as a people centered political and social organisation.

The UDP, if they wish to play their part, will need to rethink their failed approach to party politics and to governance overall; and I hope sincerely that they will indeed do so.

In closing I will paraphrase a statement recently made by a very learned gentleman while addressing a post election gathering of PPM members and volunteers: ~

‘A group of people with integrity, unity, and good intentions who work diligently and fearlessly toward a just cause can move a mountain’.

He was of course referring to the success of the PPM in winning over the electorate by showing that we are indeed a better alternative to what some in society had perhaps considered an undefeatable UDP Government.

But I wish to apply this thought to the country as a whole and suggest that it is now time for us to unite as one people and move forward with integrity, to work diligently and fearlessly for a just cause – the betterment of all the people of these Islands. Together we can move mountains and build a better Cayman Islands; one where all of our people can live the Cayman dream of hope, peace and prosperity for generations to come.

Chairman,

George Town District Branch

People’s Progressive Movement