Derrington ‘Bo’ Miller is GT candidate

Derrington “Bo” Miller is a well-known entrepreneur and businessman, who has been active on the political scene for years.  

He was born in North Side, but has maintained business connections and a residence in George Town since the 1970s. He got his first taste of politics from the old North Side veteran Craddock Ebanks, who served in the Legislative Assembly for 33 years and Bo was involved in his campaign as a teenager. Since then, he has been involved in many campaigns including those of Mr. Ebanks, Edna Moyle, the former National Team and his own 2009 effort, where he was also a George Town candidate. 

He has a background in finance and accounting and, as an entrepreneur, has established and operated businesses in financial services, hotel and condo tourism development, international trade, retail and environmental protection. He likes to say that he took part in every type of business opportunity that Cayman had to offer during the past 40 years. This is the type of experience that Cayman desperately needs today. Folks who have done things and have that reservoir of knowledge and experience to draw from – not those who believe they might be able to do something. 

Cayman was built of two pillars, its peoples and its clean, safe environment; both of which are under severe stress. Our initial development started with these two being in harmony, but something happened along the way. We substituted “greed and speed” for people and proper planning. As a result, we left a generation behind and our environment is now being destroyed before our eyes. 

“It’s for these two reasons I am running for office,” Mr. Miller said. “Over the years, I have worked with successive governments and in most cases I was ignored, insulted or both. I believe in tackling the hard tasks and most politicians are only interested in the next election, not the next generation. I believe it is time for a paradigm shift in our economic model, which must include our people. The old model has expired. The world has changed and Cayman must as well; what we did 5 to 10 years ago will be no more. We are heading to a new place and that place must be to honour our solemn obligation to our children and grandchildren to leave them some opportunities and choices as well.  

“The current path we are on will not take us there. Our people are losing hope and our youth no longer dream like I did when I was a young man. I saw poverty as a disease from which I knew I could recover through education and hard work, and I did. I want that same dream for the young people of today, not to languish in Northward. 

“Cayman has reached the stage where we can no longer send the clowns to the rehearsal, we must now send the performers who have already rehearsed. We have one last time to get this right.” 

In 1980, Mr. Miller brought a group of his friends together and established Cayman’s first think tank. “[That was] the young Caymanian Businessmen Association, which included some of Cayman’s top brains who went on to become leaders in commerce and government. This group foresaw and warned of many of the challenges we face today; but as usual, government was not always willing to accept the truth.” 

Mr. Miller has been an owner and developer of hotel and condo developments and in the 1980s was instrumental in bringing some of the greatest country music artists from the US to become partners in the Treasure Island resort. It was perhaps the finest period in tourism in our history and many of these owners/artists were free promoters of Cayman all around the world. 

He is a fierce defender of protecting the environment and believes that our failure to properly address the necessary infrastructure needs when we were rolling in cash will be a major challenge for us to maintain a safe, clean quality of live as well as provide a first class tourist destination. 

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