A couple of weeks ago, Cabinet Minister Arden McLean commented that the Silly Season was upon us, the time when politicians say just about anything to discredit their rival politicians.
Normally, the Silly Season starts in the months leading up to a general election, but in this case, it seems to have started well in advance. Barring something unforeseen, the next general elections won’t take place until May 2009, some 20 months in the future.
In some ways it is difficult to tell if the current Silly Season is just a continuation of the one surrounding the 2005 general elections, or an early start for the next elections.
Indeed, in the realm of 21st century Cayman politics, it seems the Silly Season never ends, and that the animosities surrounding the various accusations, innuendos, name-calling and other insults are far more insidious than just silliness.
One person recently remarked that the behaviour of our politicians reminded her of young children bickering on a playground.
There are probably a lot of the residents of this country getting tired of the childish behaviour of some of our elected representatives. We expect a certain amount of banter at election time, but we don’t expect it to go on indefinitely.
Instead, we expect our representatives to do what they were elected to do; serve the people of the people this country. We certainly have enough challenges facing us as a country than to have MLAs wasting energy on games of political one-upmanship.
Another Meeting of the Legislative Assembly began on Friday. After a relatively civil morning session, the afternoon brought, to paraphrase one of the MLAs, silliness.
This week, one of the items that will be debated is a Private Member’s Motion concerning the need for an anti-corruption law. Ironically, a discussion anti-corruption bill was laid on the table of the House on Friday morning.
Given the backdrop of numerous recent allegations concerning official corruption coming from members of both sides of the House, it is easy to see where debate on this issue could lead to a ugly melee in what is supposed to be a place of dignity.
Ultimately, no one scores any points with the public from such a display, and Parliament is only tarnished by it.
We hope our politicians will step back and look at their actions a little more critically, and refrain from bringing the Silly Season into hallowed halls of the Legislative Assembly.
Related Videos
