‘No undertaking’ on 9 November date
Premier McKeeva Bush on Wednesday accused UK officials of creating a “misleading picture” of what was discussed during a 20 September meeting with Britain’s overseas territories minister.
Mr. Bush’s comments, sent to the Caymanian Compass in a statement from his press secretary Wednesday, also left open to question exactly what fiscal requirements may be passed into law when Cayman lawmakers vote to include the UK’s Framework for Fiscal Responsibility into law later this year.
A statement sent to the local press earlier this week from Governor Duncan Taylor’s office read: “In a meeting with Minister Simmonds at the [UK] Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 20 September, the premier said that he would bring the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility to the next meeting of the Legislative Assembly, which would not be until 5 November,” the statement read. “[Mr. Bush] also gave the minister an undertaking that the [framework], as signed in November 2011, would be transposed into law that same week, and by no later than 9 November, 2012.”
Mr. Bush’s statement Wednesday indicated that he had made no promises to the UK with regard to the entire framework being enacted into law.
“Premier Bush…stressed that it was necessary, and important, for the government to consult with the private sector on the [Framework for Fiscal Responsibility] prior to the bill going to the house,” the statement read. “At no point did the premier indicate that the ‘entire [framework] as was signed in 2011 would be enacted into law’. None of this is made clear in the statement from the governor’s office.”
Moreover, Mr. Bush said no date of 9 November had been given as a deadline for the framework to be transposed into law.
“Premier Bush did reassure Minister Simmonds that Cayman will cooperate in putting the [framework] into law,” the statement from the premier’s office read. “The premier did give an assurance of the [framework] bill going to the house by 5 November, but as to further timing of the legislation he only indicated that it ‘should take no more than a few days to have it passed and to have the [governor] give assent to it to bring it into effect’.”
One of four key principles required by the UK of the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory, prior to its budget receiving approval from the UK earlier this year was the enactment of the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility document into law by September.
Cayman Islands Premier McKeeva Bush and former UK foreign office minister Henry Bellingham signed the agreement in late 2011.
The framework is an agreement that sets out a number of spending restrictions, management and audit requirements, as well as bidding processes for the government to follow. It’s believed the conditions of the framework will be embedded into the territory’s Public Management and Finance Law.
The document calls for controlling government expenditure; limiting new borrowing; realigning the territory’s revenue base; improving the performance of statutory authorities and government companies; and reducing government costs by working in partnership with the private sector.
It outlines a number of requirements for delivering value for money with regard to projects and to ensure the government’s procurement process is handled above-board
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Here we go again. Parallel universes indeed – but then Mr Bush has always lived in his own universe. He beats the classical 3 monkeys paws down.
McKeeva Bush is pushing the Cayman Islands into confrontation with the United Kingdom at every turn…any and every excuse will do, for him.
This will lead to either of two things…
A UK takeover and suspension of Cayman’s Constitution, similar to the TCI…or…
An ultimatum to set Cayman’s timeline for independence from the UK.
What Mr. Bush fails to understand is that unless that independence desire and timeline comes from the majority population of Cayman through a national referendum, all he is doing is setting himself up for a takeover of his government.
Thankfully, he has less time to do any more serious damage to Cayman’s current status, with elections bearing down in less than a year…8 months, to be exact.
Cayman’s voters should know by now what they need to do to safeguard themselves and their country from McKeeva Bush.
Let’s hope that they do it !
It is worrying the potential damage the honorable premier can do to our country in the next 8 months given the damage he has already done in the last 2 months alone. He needs to be stopped now!
Our Premier is always in denial on every point critical of him or his policies as well as being on the wrong side of history. This is not his fault but ours for electing a party such as his. We have to change this very soon. He is one of the few leaders on the planet that denies basic human rights to his people and that is not good for a forward moving democracy.
Politicians have tuff skin and heads as well. Wiggle room he is looking. Lets hope all the important parts of the FFA is put into law.