A debate is forming as to whether the United Kingdom can insist a Bill of Rights be enshrined in Cayman’s new constitution.
Last week at a Constitutional Review Secretariat meeting, Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts said a new constitution must contain a Bill of Rights.
‘Every communication we’ve had with London going back as far as 2002… told us that any new constitution must contain a Bill of Rights,’ he said. ‘So we have to get beyond that point.’
Cabinet Minister Alden McLaughlin has also stated the UK would not accept a new constitution without a Bill of Rights.
Leader of the Opposition McKeeva Bush disagrees it is compulsory to have the Bill of Rights in the constitution and would rather see human rights enshrined in legislation. However, he conceded the UK has wanted to see Cayman adopt a Bill of Rights going back to the 2002 constitution talks in London.
‘They said they wanted a Bill of Rights, but they never said it had to be included in the constitution,’ he said.
In addition to Mr. Bush and the Opposition, many members of Cayman’s clergy have expressed a preference of having the Bill of Rights enshrined in legislation rather than in the Constitution.
Mr. Bush said that during the previous negotiations with the UK he consulted with Professor Jeffrey Jowell – who is now advising the current government on the constitution modernisation process – and there seemed to be an option for Cayman.
‘His advice was that [the UK] does not have a constitution in writing, so they can’t object to the territories putting a Bill of Rights in law. He said we just have to push for it that way.’
However, at a public meeting last November, Mr. Jowell indicated a strong likelihood the UK would insist a Bill of Rights be included in the constitution, but his statements were not definitive.
‘I think it would be difficult in negotiating with the British government not to have one,’ he said, later adding ‘there’s not much room for negotiation there…’.
Last week, in testimony before the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Meg Munn, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Parliamentary under-secretary of state was not definitive either as to whether a Bill of Rights must be included in the new constitutions of the UK’s Oversees Territories. In fact, she appeared to indicate the matter was open to negotiation.
‘In terms of constitutions now being discussed for those territories that have not put new constitutions in place, it is our view that they should include issues relating to human rights, so that is part of the negotiation.’
Mr. Bush believes the Cayman Islands Government can indeed negotiate the issue.
‘We just have to fight for it,’ he said.
Although Mr. Tibbetts is under the opinion the UK is insisting a Bill of Rights be included in the new constitution, he has asked for clarification on the matter.
‘I have written to Meg Munn and asked her if she would provide written clarification on the exact point,’ he said Friday, adding that the request was made the week before and that no response had been received as of yet.
The Caymanian Compass also wrote to Mrs. Munn last Thursday seeking clarification on the matter, but has not received a response as of yet either.
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