André Ebanks dismisses rumours of rift with premier

Deputy Premier André Ebanks has laughed off suggestions of a spat with Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, telling the Compass, “I’m not aware of any issues between us.”

He added, “We have a professional relationship.”

Speaking at a constituency meeting in West Bay South on Thursday, Ebanks fended off comments about a rumoured dispute between himself and the premier over a potential fee hike for the government workers credit union.

One attendee told Ebanks: “The two most senior politicians in the country have taken a shot at you,” adding, “Juliana might not have meant to throw you under a bus – she meant to throw you under a train”, a comment which was met with applause by others in the room.

This was a reference to the premier calling into Radio Cayman’s ‘For the Record’ show on 28 Aug., saying she was not “throwing her deputy under the bus”, but that a discussed fee increase for the Civil Service Association Co-operative Credit Union was not going to happen.

For his part, Ebanks explained that a broad mandate was given to ministries to see where government revenue could be increased, describing it a ‘sense check’ to see where would be appropriate.

“It’s a very straightforward and simple exercise for the caucus to decide in the future,” he said. “It was not a bill that was me walking into Parliament saying that they must pay, it was just can we have a look around. Where can we get fees without hurting anybody too much … and then we’ll vote.”

At the same meeting, Ebanks revealed for the first time how the new ID cards were going to look, passing round a sample for residents to examine. There are currently 20,000 cards on the islands in a secure location, he said, with a trial of 100 people due to take place near the end of the year. After that, it would be rolled out to the general population on a voluntary basis.

He expected early adopters of the ID card to be civil servants and the financial service sector, he told the Compass, adding that he hoped for around 25% of the population to initially sign up through organic growth.

‘Swipe and move on’

“Once you have this, that should be all you need to show,” he said. “One document in your hand and it will give you back the time spent taking your documents from one place to another, dealing with traffic and finding a parking space. All you have to do is swipe and move on.”

The card will include information such as name, date of birth and nationality. Government is planning to set up a one-time process for ‘unacknowledged Caymanians’, so they can submit their information to the immigration authorities and then be issued with a card.

In October, said Ebanks, the government hopes to put into place the new Financial Assistance Act, which will reform the Needs Assessment Unit. “There is the opportunity to move the country in a very positive direction,’” he said, “where in exchange for benefits, those who are able are matched to either an apprenticeship, an internship, a traineeship, volunteer work or traditional employment, so you can intervene in someone’s life and turn them into a productive … citizen, contributing to the country [so] it’s not just about benefits.”

He added: “If we are really going to turn the country around and have everyone pitching in, those who are receiving benefits who are able, should be doing something else to help out. There may be some squeals about it … but if you change nothing, nothing changes.

“At some point you have to try something else, to get people moving again. This isn’t pie in the sky, we’ve had trial runs and there are beautiful stories of people who’ve gotten a chance and started making their own money and telling me that they’re never going back to NAU.”

Also on the government’s agenda over the next few months is modernising the Older Persons Act to strengthen the rights of older people, and updating the Adoption of Children’s Act to make the adoption process smoother and speedier.