McLaughlin knocks unanswered parliamentary questions

House Speaker Sir Alden McLaughlin on Tuesday registered his displeasure with the lack of government responses to Parliamentary questions after only two out of the 19 filed had been answered.

“This Parliament meets very infrequently. It is absolutely abhorrent to democracy for ministers not to be in a position to answer questions asked of them,” McLaughlin said as he addressed the issue in Parliament.

When the House convened on Tuesday, the absence of parliamentary questions was evident on the Order Paper, which sets out the House business to be conducted during that session.

McLaughlin took issue with this as he reminded that the current meeting had been rescheduled from 5 July to Monday due to Hurricane Beryl’s passage.

Members, he said, would have submitted questions 10 days in advance of the 5 July meeting.

“That means that ministers and the ministries and departments have had 28 days to produce answers to the 19 parliamentary questions which were submitted. Yesterday [Monday] we had two answers and no other answers have been submitted,” McLaughlin said.

Many of the questions have touched on key outstanding issues ranging from the ReGen project, which government has been silent on for months, as well as the Poinciana mental health facility and the third undersea cable.

Questions on Cayman Airways’ third Twin Otter aircraft and the long-awaited Sexual Harassment Bill were also submitted.

McLaughlin said questions are “a critically important part of the whole parliamentary scrutiny”.

He said the Parliament meeting is unlikely to go past this week and called for the questions to be addressed.

“I am urging ministers to do whatever they can to ensure that answers are submitted so that the Parliament can carry out its critically important role as scrutineers of the executive,” he said.

Last month, a new report looking into Cayman’s parliamentary effectiveness found several challenges to its success as a legislature ranging from transparency issues to the absence of a code for members’ conduct and perceived hindrances to its independence.

The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s Benchmarks for Democratic Legislatures report, which was completed following an intensive review last year, found several areas within the legislature that do not meet the international standard for good governance.

“The Parliament should also provide oversight of state-owned enterprises or those agencies or entities funded or subsidised by the people of the Cayman Islands,” it said.

Tributes and condolences

As the session progressed, MPs and the speaker took the opportunity to pay special tribute to Cayman’s first Deputy Governor Donovan Ebanks as they recounted memories with the stalwart civil servant.

Ebanks died on Sunday, 2 June at the age of 71.

MPs also extended condolences to families within the community who also lost loved ones.

They offered words of support and comfort to the families of two young Caymanians who recently died in separate suicides.