Editorial for 21 September: When gov’t should step up

By
Staff
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One member of the Public Accounts Committee has come forth
to let us know that we got it wrong, in part, about paving private property.

We reported that government has, in the past, paved private
roads and parking lots and that some of the committee saw nothing wrong with
the practice.

Former Leader of Government Business and George Town MLA
Kurt Tibbetts took umbrage with the notion that he approved paving of private
parking lots.

He said he hasn’t and doesn’t.

But he and former governments have approved paving of
private roads in the past for the good of country.

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In the past subdivision developers would sell lots and build
houses, but in many instances the roads were so bad that those who bought in
couldn’t reach their new homes. In that case, it is understandable that
government would have to step in. Nowadays if you’re going to build a
subdivision, you must have the road infrastructure in place first, as it should
be. It is now the onus of the developer to build those roads and get them OK’d
by government.

The issue before the Public Accounts Committee was about the
paving of private – and especially commercial – parking lots, not private
roads, which is where the conversation was steered. The Auditor General’s
Office found that in many instances those who benefitted from the gracious
offer from Deputy Premier Julianna O’Connor-Connolly offered to pay for the
works done on their private parking lots, but were told that no, the service
was free, thanks to the sitting government of the Cayman Islands.

We concur that government should have stepped up to the
plate in past when developers weren’t doing their best to provide adequate
roadworks in their subdivisions. But paving commercial and private parking lots
on the government dole is still wrong.

As we’ve said in past editorials, this action in many other
countries would lead to sanctions and at the least, the money spent on these
private parking lots should be repaid into the government’s coffers either by
the ministry that ordered the paving or the beneficiaries.

 

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Thanks for an excellent editorial.

    There is no precedent for government paving private parking lots. The Deputy Premier could have found that out from her colleague Minister Scotland who served many years at PWD – even if she didn’t want to ask me:).

    A programme to allow private parking lots to be paved while the road works was going on could have been advanced and justified on the basis that there is no commercial paving operation in Cayman Brac and it is likely to be a long time before one becomes commercially viable. The current economic climate could have been used to justify more lenient payment options, secured of course by liens on properties.

    The fact that such an approach was not taken is consistent with the current culture of ‘we are the government and we run things’. Sadly, there is no need for HOW things are run to be either affordable, legitimate, in the best interest of everyone or capable of passing the common sense test.

    What we also see manifested is that in spite of how many people see WHAT is being done as inappropriate, the culture of party politics is that the members of the party will stand by their delinquent colleague regardless of how ignorant it makes them look. What is of paramount importance to them is the preservation of ‘the party’; not the good of the people they ‘govern’ (not ‘serve’).

    As I have previously stated publicly, I share your view that these expenditures should be recouped.