When I arrived in the north of London, Notting Hill Gate to be exact, in 1972 and began work as a youth and community worker, one of the first new terms I learnt was “sus”. Day and night young Afro-Caribbean youths were being arrested under suspicion of doing this or doing that. The alarming fact to me and others was that the police did not have to have any evidence to make an arrest, just suspicion that a crime had been committed or was about to be committed. The conduct of the past and present auditor general is a constant reminder to me, of this British undemocratic practice.
Yet the PPM and this newspaper constantly laments on the correctness of the past and present auditor general actions, which are apparently motivated by sus. To them Cayman would not be Cayman without his efforts to rid this colony of corruption and mismanagement. So much have they lamented on this that the holder of the office is elevated to the position of white knight, on white horse, in white armour. And in their clamour to rid this colony of McKeeva Bush and the UDP they may have forgotten the principles of democracy and natural justice.
When elected in 2005, the PPM went against parliamentary custom by appointing one of their members chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. Now out of office they have totally forgotten that the auditor general must also have checks and balances. No man regardless of race or nationality is infallible, thus democratic systems were designed to check the infallibility of even the most superior among us; not just the premier.
The governor appoints the auditor general but the AG answers to the people by way of their Parliament (section 66(2) PM&FL). We do not have direct democracy in this colony any more so than in metropolitan Britain or in America. The sovereignty of the people is expressed in their actions only during periodical elections and thereafter sovereignty rests with their parliament. Therefore, calls by this newspaper for the speedy delivery of audits to the press and therefore the people is a misunderstanding of the role the people play in modern democratic systems.
The people have their representatives and it is only logical that these representatives should first examine and consider the contents of each audit and add their comments before releasing them to the people by way of the media. Any other way would subvert the principles of democracy and pervert the possible course of justice.
The scale of justice demands that there are at least two sides to the understanding of reality or the interpretation of the facts. Therefore, this one sided rush to judge by the powers that be is a dark reminder of the ”sus” policy carried out against Afro-Caribbean youth in London and other parts of England during the earlier period I referred to. No wonder then that the premier was angered.
The governor and the auditor general may therefore benefit from a closer look at the Public Management and Finance Law 2010 Revision, as well as the Standing Orders of our Parliament before again mounting their white horses and riding into battle. Section 77(5) reads: The Public Accounts Committee shall make their report upon the report of the auditor general on the accounts of Government before the auditor’s report is laid on the table of the House and both the committee’s report and the auditor general’s report shall be laid at the same time.
If the working of our democracy is too slow and unreliable then perhaps there is to be others to take most of the blame for this sad state of affairs than the British government, which waited too long to socially and politically assist with the political and social elevation of our Caymanian people. The present premier is not perfect and I feel he has made a grave mistake by not staffing his office with persons with political understanding and experience. But I trust he will continue with his policy of nation building and his support for our churches, regardless of the opposition of the PPM and the eurocentric “sus” politics of the auditor general.
Frank McField
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Now that the Auditor General has made his point, and the people are aware of the crappy way government has been handling the books we are all watching. This is the age of information. That old lock-up behind closed doors finagling the people funds has to go, or at least be transparent and timely. I say timely but not at the expense of our rules and regulations. If the Auditor General was elevated to the position of a knight it was because we needed a hero to act on behalf of people interest. Scare tactics and points to England policing policies toward criminals of Caribbean decent is not creditable when looked at from a Caymanian perspective. As the commissioner once said some of these need to be harassed, and if I may add, sent packing.. The premiere although elected by the majority must not forget the minority, for regardless who is elected to high office we as a people have over the ages put in place rules and regulations that should be followed.. Red tape is proven process made policy.. We don’t want anyone cutting our red tape, and we don’t want our senior civil servants who administer these policies to be removed, put on administrative leave, or over-ridden.
The AG is reporting to the people, who do you want these savvy politician the premiere should fill his office with to report to and for. We want and will have more involvement that your suggested minutes at the poll booth.. Get over it and get our books straight, and involve the people as much as possible in decision which effect us all.. Thank you?