Letter to the Editor
I am writing about the party system again. The party system needs to be demolished. Before, when we had an Exco (selected by the members) and not all the fancy names and titles, things were much better. Certain titles go to peoples’s heads and most often make them corrupt and they forget their ‘real’ responsibilities.
Our Islands do not need division amongst the people and this is what the party system is creating.
We need UNITY.
Remember the saying, united we stand and divided we fall. No one should really know who is voting for who.
People should remain friends and vote for who they think will do the best for our people and our beloved Islands.
The party system is only brewing trouble in our Islands as it is doing in some other parts of the world; some very nearby. This has caused people to become enemies and it has gone as far as bloodshed; it has even caused the loss of life. This is not a joking matter and is something that must be taken seriously.
Political meetings are not to be held for name calling, taunting etc. Who can vote for those type of individuals? It is a sign of immaturity and hatred. We must stop this back-benchers, opposition etc. We must go back to “The I’s Have It”.
I look forward to these changes being made in the very near future. A party is OK, but that not a political party. I pray that the newly elected members will do what is in the best interest of Caymanians and our beloved Cayman Islands. I believe the people can start to initiate the change by not wearing the T-shirts that are being provided by the different political parties. This in itself is causing division amongst the people.
Dora A. Ebanks
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Thge problem with Cayman’s system is not the party system itself, it is that the parties do not stand for anything other than the promotion of their own members and supporters.
Unlike in the US (democrat/republican) or UK (labour/conservative) there is no distinctive ideology or set of policies which sets the two parties apart. Broadly speaking, they mouthe the same platitudes about investment, jobs and stewardship of the economy.
The only true differences between them are personal ones between the candidates. They are not parties – they are tribes, or gangs if you like.
The result of Cayman’s experiment with the party system has been simply to establish a mechanism for alternating power between elections among two separate clubs, who take it in turns to exploit the benefits of office for their own and their supporters’ ends.
I would challenge both the UDP and the PPM to explain what ideological or philosophical differences exist between them, or whether their policies really do just add up to accusing each other of incompetence.
If I am correct, and the party distictions are illusory, then they are also deeply damaging. We get candidates opposing each other for the sake of opposition, rather than because of any true difference of vision, and winning the fight becomes more important than achieving the best outcome for the islands.