Editorial for November 4: The circus continues

Last week, we learned from the
auditor general that 21 of 37 various government entities have failed to submit
their 2009/10 financial statements by the deadline required by the Public Management
and Finance Law.

This failure is not a one-time
occurrence, but an ongoing, blatant disregard for the law.

At a time when the Cayman Islands
needs to show the world more than ever that it is a legitimate jurisdiction
that operates under the principles of law, we don’t know how anyone can take
our government seriously when, year after year, it fails to give a proper
accounting of its expenditures.

Successive elected governments have
thrown up their arms, saying they are powerless to address the situation
because it is ultimately the responsibility of civil servants to produce the
financial statements. Although the last part of that statement might be true,
the government is far from powerless in this situation.  All it would have to do to address the situation
is put civil servants – perhaps only department heads and those responsible for
producing the financials – in noncompliant government entities on 75 per cent
wages and we believe the financial statements would progress fairly quickly
after that.

The question becomes whether there
is any political will to adopt such a measure. 
If there isn’t, we should probably just sit back, get some popcorn and
watch this circus continue indefinitely, as the reputation of the Cayman
Islands goes down the toilet.