Online poll: Civil servants and petitions

A large majority of respondents to last week’s caycompass.com online poll think civil servants should be able to sign petitions against a government proposal. 

Civil servants are generally not allowed by the Public Service Management Law to participate in political meetings or activities. Cayman’s Constitutional Commission recently reviewed the law with regard to signing petitions and found that the law was not clear on the issue. The Commission’s findings basically mean civil servants sign petitions at their own peril. 

Several petitions have been circulated recently, including the Save Cayman petition, which hopes to stop dredging in the North Sound, something Premier McKeeva Bush has said he wants to see happen.  

Of the 496 total poll respondents, 366 – 73.8 per cent – thought that since Cayman is a democracy, civil servants should be able to sign petitions against a government plan. 

“Yes, but at their own risk,” said one person. “They are entitled to an opinion, but if I spoke out against my employer and he found out, then I am putting my job at risk no matter what sector I work in.” 

“If civil servants, who are usually in the best position to view, understand and articulate how all pieces of a project work together (or don’t), aren’t allowed to protest, even though it may be in the best interest of the people, then do we, the voting populous, stand a chance of getting our money’s worth, so-to-speak, from those whom we put in office in the first place?” commented another respondent. 

“Civil servants are not part of the elected government but regular people doing their job and should therefore be allowed to act like regular people,” said someone else. “Isn’t that what freedom of speech is all about, voicing your opinion?” 

“In theory absolutely,” one person said. “In practice, they do comprise such a large portion of the voting Caymanian population that it does raise some concerns.” 

The second largest segment of respondents, 93 people or 18.8 per cent, did not think civil servants should be able to sign petitions since they knew the rules when they took the job. 

“Can you imagine a Ford employee publicly saying that Toyota builds a better car?” commented one person. 

“If the poor voiceless civil servants want to sign petitions, let them get real jobs in the private sector where they don’t get to leave work early nearly every day,” said someone else. 

Another 18 people – 3.6 per cent – said it depended on the circumstances. 

“The reason this is such an issue here is because such a large percentage of voters are civil servants,” said one person. 

Nine people – 1.8 per cent – said only certain civil servants should be able to sign petitions.  

Ten people – 2 per cent – responded ‘I don’t know.”  

Next week’s poll question 

To what extent do you prepare for hurricane season? 

Very much 

A good amount 

Not much 

None at all 

I don’t live in Cayman 

To participate in this poll, please visit www.caycompass.com