Political parties hold general assemblies

Both the United Democratic Party and the People’s Progressive Movement held their general assemblies in George Town on Saturday. 

The parties introduced their full slate of candidates at the assemblies, with the PPM putting forward 15 candidates and the UDP fielding 12. 

Progressives  

The PPM will be running candidates for the first time in the traditional UDP stronghold of West Bay. The four nominees will be Captain Bryan Ebanks, Woody DaCosta and Ray Farrington and the previously unannounced candidate Dalkeith Bothwell. 

Other Progressives’ candidates include party leader Alden McLaughlin, Kurt Tibbetts, Marco Archer, Joseph Hew, Lucille Seymour and Kenneth Bryan in George Town; incumbent Anthony Eden, Wayne Panton, Osbourne Bodden and Alva Suckoo Jr. in Bodden Town; and deputy party leader Moses Kirkconnell in the Sister Islands. 

Anton Duckworth, who has served as chairman of the PPM for 10 years and who had been expecting to step down as chairman – so much so that he gave a farewell message at the conference – will remain in that role after his nominated successor, Patricia Estwick, announced that she would not be accepting the position for personal reasons. 

According to the PPM, between 500 and 600 people attended its five-and-a-half-hour assembly at the Family Life Centre in George Town. 

In his speech to the party general assembly, Mr. McLaughlin indicated that his party had no plans to introduce austerity measures, which he said had worsened economies in Europe. He ruled out the introduction of direct taxes, including payroll, property and income taxes and promised to roll back “many of the counterproductive taxes” to help small businesses in Cayman. 

He said the PPM would attempt to renegotiate aspects of the ForCayman Investments Alliance agreement – a deal between Dart and the UDP government – and seek an undertaking from Dart “not squeeze out small Caymanian businesses”. The Progressives also oppose part of the agreement involving the creation of a dump in Bodden Town following closure of the George Town landfill. 

The first big audience response to the leader of the opposition’s speech though came when he addressed the closure of a section of West Bay Road – another part of the alliance deal, saying it was “unnecessary and a threat to the safety of those who live in West Bay and use the West Bay Road”. He added that the road closure would adversely affect businesses as traffic will be diverted and called for a “middle solution” to be reached that would allow two-road access to West Bay.  

“We believe it is possible for the road to remain open with a significantly reduced speed limit and that this will allow the planned hotel development to proceed and remain viable,” he said. 

Among the other steps Mr. McLaughlin said his party would take to help turn the economy around included:  

Changing the rollover system by eliminating key employee status and allowing anyone on a work permit for more than seven years to apply for permanent residence; 

Bringing in a minimum wage; 

Establishing a Small Business Fund to provide loans to small businesses; 

Concessions for established businesses based on new hires, with bigger reductions hiring Caymanians; 

Reviewing work permit and licence fees for the financial services industry; 

Introducing the National Conservation Law; 

Promoting alternative energy through duty free access; 

And implementing the Education Modernisation Law, which was passed by the Legislative Assembly four years ago but never implemented. 

UDP 

With roughly 120 people in attendance at the UDP conference at the University College of the Cayman Islands, the party faithful heard from among the roster of candidates who would be vying for seats in this year’s general elections on various issues regarding the party’s platform. 

The UDP’s list of candidates includes party leader McKeeva Bush, Captain Eugene Ebanks, Bernie Bush and Velma Hewitt for West Bay; Mike Adam, Ellio Solomon, Jonathan Piercy, Walling Whittaker, Renard Moxam and Rayal Bodden for George Town; and Theresa Pitcairn and Chris Saunders for Bodden Town. 

The UDP’s new chairwoman is Tessa Bodden. 

“We will reduce unemployment by 25 per cent in our first six months by making sure that certain jobs are for Caymanians only and increasing opportunities for small businesses and our youth,” declared candidate Mr. Whittaker, who opined that currently it takes too long for contractors to get “red cards” and insisted that this was retarding business and thus economic growth. 

In addition to medical tourism being brought to Cayman, Mr. Whittaker said that tourism figures for this year are the highest they have been in 12 years and that more than 71 Caymanians are employed on the Shetty Hospital project. 

The UDP’s platform includes: 

A fair working wage for all 

Beginning a national apprentice programme  

Setting up a National Micro-Finance Scheme to give start up loans for business 

Begin building the new airport  

Introduce comprehensive energy policy for Cayman that will reduce utility bills by 20 per cent over two years 

Providing 300 new single and multi-family affordable homes  

Move the authority for granting work permits from the Immigration Department and reassign it to the National Workforce Development Agency  

Following Mr. Whittaker’s remarks, party leader McKeeva Bush rose to speak, to resounding chants from those in attendance. 

Mr. Bush enlightened his supporters with regard to his plans for the future and told them what some of the priorities would be for the UDP moving forward. 

“We will do away with the rollover policy and put in place a system, whereby work permit holders cannot get status and they will sign on their permit saying that they understand that,” said Mr. Bush, who added that a government for all the people was still the one of the UDP’s mantras. 

“Party politics is not bad, people. It is about having a consensus regarding the issues and knowing where you stand. Though I must tell you that this has been the most difficult four years of my 28 in parliament. We have succeeded but more could have been done,” said Mr. Bush, who lamented about having to travel and sell Cayman Islands bonds, “when the People’s Progressive Movement had left office with four years of unaudited accounts in their wake”. 

The PPM, which held its conference at the Family Life Centre, is putting forward 15 candidates, while the UDP, which hosted its assembly at the University College of the Cayman Islands, is fielding 12.