Among the many firsts that Jane Owen has experienced during the 14 months she has been governor of the Cayman Islands, trying to get some sleep under a desk at the height of Beryl – her first hurricane – was perhaps the most uncomfortable.
As the Category 3 storm bore down on Cayman last month, Owen says, she felt a “combination of scared and fascinated” as she spent the night at the Government Administration Building where she witnessed the emergency response firsthand.
“I was impressed with what we did as a community at every level, how people were prepared,” she told the Compass in a recent interview. “They moved to the shelter if they needed to, they took time to prepare. All of that was really, really top notch.”
She said she was left “relieved and pleased” with the response, noting that there was a great sense of everybody supporting each other when she saw efforts across government, the voluntary sector and the private sector.
and pleased” with the response, noting that there was a great sense of everybody supporting each other when she saw efforts across government, the voluntary sector and the private sector.
“We were part of the executive group that were managing the effort and meeting regularly to agree how we were going to take decisions and take it forward. All of that seemed to work really smoothly and I think helped us to get through it,” she said.
During her night in the government building, she said, she would often look out on the wind and the rain at various different points as the storm raged.
She tried to get some rest during that time, however, “it was quite tricky trying to sleep under the desk”.
“I’ve discovered in this building that if you move your arm, all the lights come back on in all their blazing glory,” she recalled jokingly.
As peak hurricane season nears, Owen is urging the community to guard against complacency when it comes to storm preparations, and she stressed that being in a state of readiness for the next storm encounter is important.
With projections for an extremely active season ahead, Owen reminded residents that being storm ready is vital.
She said she was grateful that the islands were spared serious damage in Beryl, having heard stories from Hurricane Ivan’s passage 20 years ago.
“We’ve come such a long way, but I constantly find myself talking to people who had that experience and learning from them, and I think we should all as a community continue to do that,” she said, adding that it is difficult to imagine what the experience was like and the huge amount of sea surge that swept the island back then.
The governor also acknowledged that Beryl’s passage was a time of “unease and trepidation”, especially for residents who moved out of their homes for safety.
100 guns on streets
Governor Owen, turning her attention to her responsibility for national security, lamented the lack of responsiveness to the ongoing gun amnesty efforts.
She said it was “disappointing” that a mere four guns had been turned in thus far. The most recent was handed in over the weekend.
“We know there’s nearly a 100 firearms that we know of that have been involved in various crimes that are moving around in the community. So yes, it would indeed be very good to have more weapons handed in,” she said.
Residents, she said, have ample opportunity to surrender any weapons in their possession without fear of prosecution.
However, she warned when the amnesty period ends on 11 Aug., “there is no doubt that we are going to be moving forward to look at stricter penalties”.
She said apart from the recently passed Firearms law there will be a “comprehensive joined up approach” across the whole of government to try to combat the threat of illegal firearms in the community in “an even better and an even more targeted way”.
“That is definitely our intent,” she said.
Governor Owen, who chairs the National Security Council, did not got into detail on the next steps after the amnesty ends.
“If you’ve got a gun in your possession, now is the time to hand it in and that is the simple fact of it,” she said.
One year in
Owen, after having recently marked her first anniversary as governor, said she remains in awe of the islands and its people.
“I’ve really appreciated the opportunity to do this role. I feel that I’ve had so much support from right across the government, the community, every different sector in Cayman and I’ve been trying to listen and learn. I feel I’ve now learnt quite a lot about how Cayman operates,” she said.
Owen said she continues to be impressed with Cayman’s institutions and its professionalism, adding that “the amount of talent that we have here on the island is exceptional”.
She said she thinks the main challenge she has seen in her role is the threat to “our way of life, which actually more often than not comes in the form of our security”.
Cayman, she said, is a great place to live and to invest and she wants that stability to continue.
“We are still just about the safest place in the region but we should not take that for granted and it’s so difficult if it gets to any kind of a tipping point. So, for me, the big challenge is how do we make sure that we do not go in the wrong direction on security,” Owen said.
Speaking to the UK-Cayman relationship, Owen said it still remains very cordial and there is a “huge amount of mutual support”.
She said she knows the UK is considering how it moves forward with its overseas territories.
With a change in the UK government, the new ministers will need to think about how to proceed with talks that began under the previous government regarding a new strategy for the overseas territory.
“But I have no doubt that they have great ambition and great commitment to continuing to working in partnership,” she added.
She pointed to the upcoming visit of UK Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle to the Cayman Islands this week as a testament to that relationship.
Hoyle will make an official visit to the Cayman Islands from 31 July to 3 Aug., and a special meeting of the House of Parliament will be convened Thursday to mark the occasion.
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