It seems quite odd to us that suspended Electricity
Regulatory Authority Chairman Joey Ebanks has accused, via his Facebook page,
one of our reporters of “attempting to destabilise” the country only to make
the following comments a few days later:
“I have absolutely no expectation of justice. However, what
I do have is sufficient to cause disruption in the governance of this country
from ERA staff, board, Parliament, Cabinet, Dart and CUC.”
Sorry, but who is attempting to destabilise the country?
We’ll give readers a hint; it’s not Cayman Free Press.
Mr. Ebanks’ defamatory and ridiculous comments aside, the
recent events involving the ERA board audit and concerns of theft reported by
the auditor general within the Cayman Islands Airports Authority, have shown
one thing as clear as day: For the sake of stability and good governance in
this country, our lawmakers and Governor Duncan Taylor need to approve sunshine
laws as soon as possible to ensure that appointed boards and commissions start
holding open meetings.
The requirement of having to come before the public every so
often and bring the business of government’s tax-supported entities into the
sunlight, so to speak, would help nip many of the matters the auditor general
and police are investigating in the bud. This open meetings law should apply
broadly, including certain committees and subcommittees of the Legislative
Assembly. Ironically, it was an article written in December 2010 that revealed
a closed-door legislative subcommittee was being held to review the FOI Law,
which landed the Caymanian Compass “in trouble”.
No one in the public had any idea such a subcommittee was
being held prior to that story, although announcements about an overarching
committee of the whole House had been made. The public has still not seen the
minutes or records of the decisions of that subcommittee. Yet some of the same
lawmakers who voted to prosecute this newspaper and one of its reporters for
daring to make public such a thing are now clamouring for sunshine laws and
open meetings. Legislators need to act to prevent the spread of a cancer that
will eat this country from the inside out.
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The Open Accountable Committee of the Vision 2008 exercise recommended that all government committees and authorities be open to the public, or at least their Minutes. That was 15 years ago. Soon come, eh?