Government ministers have left open the possibility of a public vote on Cayman’s revised constitution once negotiations with the United Kingdom are completed.
Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts said if the planned referendum gets a favourable result later this year, and talks with the UK finished within a reasonable time frame, it is conceivable there could be another vote on the draft constitution.
‘With regards to having a referendum after a constitution is drafted, we have not ruled that out,’ Mr. Tibbetts told a group of 30 West Bay residents Thursday night. ‘What I would not like for us as a country to have to do is be boxed in; that there is a commitment to do a referendum at that point.’
The suggestion has been made several times in the last three months of constitutional reform debate in Cayman, and was discussed again Thursday during a meeting at the John Gray Church Hall.
Resident Benson Ebanks actually said government should scrap the referendum now scheduled to be held before talks occur with the UK in favour of holding one after negotiators return with a draft constitution.
‘At that time, my view is, you would have a document that has been agreed by all parties and the public would know what they are voting for, as opposed to what they might be getting,’ Mr. Ebanks said.
Mr. Tibbetts said the government remains committed to holding a referendum before negotiations with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on a new constitution because they believe the Caymanian public should have its opinions heard in London.
‘We are not wanting to go to negotiate what we wish; we want to make sure you have the opportunity,’ Mr. Tibbetts said.
Mr. Ebanks said during the meeting that he was not advocating the government hold two separate referendums.
Mr. Tibbetts opined that doing so might be redundant.
‘Once we get a satisfactory result from (negotiations with the UK), we certainly are going to, when the draft (constitution) comes back, have public discussions on it,’ he said. ‘Once everybody’s happy with it…we don’t want to have to do a referendum if nobody says we need one.’
‘It’s not that we’ve ruled that possibility out, but I wouldn’t like for us to say ‘yes, we will do so’ if it is totally unnecessary.’
Ideally, government officials have said they will take the publicly supported recommendations on the constitution to the UK, giving them a stronger position to negotiate from. When talks are complete and a draft constitution is drawn up government would then have to present to document to the Legislative Assembly for debate and passage.
Mr. Tibbetts anticipated the referendum and negotiation process will likely take until year’s end to complete. He said holding another public vote at that time would mean it would likely be held around the same date as the May 2009 general elections.
‘None of us would negotiate a constitution and agree to it if we know the people are not going to be satisfied and happy with it,’ he said. ‘If we were to make that mistake, then we can go home before the (May 2009) elections.’
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