Dozens of people gathered in Heroes Square to witness the shadow session of the Legislative Assembly held by opposition and independent members Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, inside the Legislative Assembly Building, members of the ruling Government moved ahead with the 18 July referendum election on single-member constituencies and one person, one vote.
Leader of the Opposition Alden McLaughlin said it was imperative to discuss his and independent MLA Ezzard Miller’s motion of no confidence in the leadership of Premier McKeeva Bush before the Government proceeds with any other matters, including one person, one vote.
“Now that is a very, very important issue, and we are keenly interested in it and its outcome. But we do not believe the Premier has the moral authority to continue to deal with the business of this country while under the weight of three criminal investigations for which he has offered absolutely no explanations. So what we have decided to do is boycott the proceedings in the Legislative Assembly today by way of protest because our lack of confidence motion is not being dealt with,” Mr. McLaughlin said.
Before one person, one vote discussions got under way Wednesday morning, Premier Bush criticised opposition members for walking out of the Legislative Assembly.
“The work of this legislature is important. We are all paid and we are paid very well… The opposition benches are empty. They’re empty because they can’t have their way,” said Mr. Bush.
He added: “I am not going to be guided by mob rule. I don’t care how many people they bring, you can see their wish for 1,000 people fell far short, by about 960. So, I guess they are being militant and they have made their call to arms and they are now in Heroes Square. I hope they don’t plan to become a hero after walking out of this house. Their job is to be sit here and deal with the issues because they are paid to do so.”
Mr. Bush told the Caymanian Compass Wednesday afternoon, “If Alden wants to conduct a mock vote, he should conduct one on the matter of the $350,000 that [former UCCI President Hassan] Syed absconded with from the community college.”
One person, one vote
Mr. Bush said the Assembly will consider the no-confidence motion “sooner than later”, but only after dealing with the referendum.
“They want the no-confidence motion. They will get that at some point. Government has set that down to deal with referendum matters. That’s a national issue and a matter of national importance, not a motion based on baseless allegations that we do now know anything about,” Mr. Bush said.
While Mr. McLaughlin and Mr. Miller argue that the threshold for approval of the one person, one vote referendum should be a majority of votes cast on 18 July, Mr. Bush said he’s sticking to the higher threshold of a majority of registered voters. That is the requirement set by the constitution for people-initiated referendums. Mr. Bush said it is appropriate to have the higher threshold because the referendum seeks to alter the core of the electoral process, and that’s not an issue that should be potentially decided by a sliver of registered voters.
“The Government is trying to be as fair as possible. We are making sure the bar is not set any differently than what was set in the constitution. Why should we lower the bar? No. You can’t lower the bar on democracy,” he said.
When introducing the motion, Mr. Bush said that two amendments would be made to the wording of the bill – to make the polling day of 18 July a public holiday and to make the outcome of the referendum binding. At a press conference last month, opposition members highlighted that nowhere in the original wording of the proposed bill did it state that the outcome of the referendum would be binding.
With no opposition in the House to debate the hot topic of the one man one vote referendum motion, the discussion of the motion lasted only about two hours and the motion passed, though not unanimously as Deputy Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly voted against the motion.
She explained that she was bound to vote against it because it would divide Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, for which she is an elected representative, into two constituencies, which her constituents did not support. The two islands are currently one constituency of the Sister Islands, which returns two elected representatives.
Mr. Bush said the United Democratic Party members could vote their conscience on Wednesday’s motion and on Thursday’s debate on the actual bill to introduce the referendum, and were not required to vote along party lines.
Opposition members returned to the Legislative Assembly for Thursday’s debate on the bill, which passed.
Drama outside LA
On Wednesday morning, the opposition and independent members sat in on the opening of the Legislative Assembly session before marching out in protest and holding their own meeting across the street. While all members were inside, Royal Cayman Islands Police Service officers sparred with supporters of the opposition who had gathered on the sidewalk in anticipation of the mock parliament.
Police said they had been given instructions to order the crowd to relocate across the street and off the curtilage (immediate surroundings) of the Legislative Assembly Building. The focus of the contention became Consuelo Ebanks, who, using a walker after a recent hip injury, argued she should not have to move out of the shade. Police had retrieved a rolling chair from inside the Legislative Assembly Building for Ms Ebanks to sit in outside. Later, officers told her that they had been told to take the chair back from her, because she had no intention of actually going inside the building.
Police did not say whose instructions they were acting under. However, Premier McKeeva Bush said, generally, instructions regarding crowds at the Legislative Assembly Building would have had to come from Speaker of the House Mary Lawrence.
“The House has rules and regulations. People can’t come into the precincts of the legislature unless they get the permission of the Speaker. It is not normally done in any country to have a crowd on the steps of the Assembly while the Assembly is in session,” he said.
“The Speaker has every right. She is in charge of the precincts of the Legislative Assembly,” Mr. Bush said.
During the conversation between protestors and police, one officer made contact with the camera of Cayman 27 reporter Kenneth Bryan, who then claimed the officer had assaulted him. In a separate moment before the opposition’s meeting, Mr. Bryan said he is interested in standing for election to the Legislative Assembly next year.
Ultimately, police did not take the chair away from Ms Ebanks, and the crowd was allowed to remain underneath the shade tree in front of the Assembly Building. After opposition members walked out of the Assembly, Mr. Miller took the chair across the street to Heroes Square. Sitting in the chair, Ms Ebanks was named ‘Speaker’ for the shadow session.
Related Videos
