Parliament suspended until start of new session

The Cayman Islands Parliament has been suspended until the opening of the new 2024-2025 session of the House, which is expected to take place in early October.

The suspension of the House follows the proroguing of the 2023-2024 session of Parliament on 18 Sept.

Governor Jane Owen issued a proclamation on 18 Sept., which has been gazetted, effectively closing the 2023-2024 session.

“The proclamation marks a suspension of the business of the House. However, Members of Parliament (MPs) continue to hold their electoral seats, Parliamentary committees continue to meet, and Cabinet continues to function regardless of the end of the Parliamentary Session,” a Parliament spokesperson explained, indicating that further information about the next session will be released shortly.

“Once the Governor, Premier, and the Speaker consult on a date for the new Session, the Governor will issue another proclamation to formally begin the 2024-2025 Session. Members will then be notified of the date for the First Meeting,” the spokesperson said.

In a statement Thursday afternoon, House Speaker Sir Alden McLaughlin announced the First Meeting of the 2024-2025 Session will take place at the House of Parliament on 7 Oct. starting at 10 a.m.

The statement followed the issuance of the governor’s second proclamation for the start of the new session.

McLaughlin reflected on the previous parliamentary year as having “been a dynamic and eventful Session”.

“We witnessed significant shifts in Government leadership and key portfolios,
tackled important legislation, and engaged in essential debate over the Government’s budget, spending, and policies,” he said.

These events also included McLaughlin’s appointment as Speaker last November.

He added that his appointment “was an honour”, as was his hosting of Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the UK House of Commons, on his first official visit to Parliament this summer.

“Now, we look forward to a fresh start and the important work ahead for our nation,” McLaughlin added.

The new session, once called, will eventually culminate with the dissolving of Parliament, which has been tentatively set for mid-February.

This will then make way for the general election, which the Elections Office has previously said is expected to be held Wednesday, 16 April 2025.

While this has been the date the Elections Office has been working with based on the 2021 general election, the official date has yet to be announced.

Preparations are also under way for the holding of the referendum on cruise berthing in the Cayman Islands. The date for that vote is also yet to be announced.

It is expected that the motion to seek lawmakers’ support to trigger the cruise referendum will be brought to the House at the next session.

The motion was recently filed and is seeking a resolution from the House whether the question, “Should the Cayman Islands develop cruise berthing infrastructure?”, be declared a matter of national importance.

The motion is also seeking a resolution from the House that the question be specified in a bill and brought by the government to Parliament for debate in accordance with Section 69 of the Constitution.

Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan will be piloting the motion in the House.

The Parliament statement confirmed that the “Referendum on Cruise Berthing Infrastructure” will be on the order paper for the session.

Members will have until 5pm on Monday, 30 Sept. to submit any additional Motions to the Clerk.

Also on the agenda for the House will be the Information and Communications Technology (Validation) Bill, 2024 as well as various annual reports detailing the activities and expenditures of government ministries, departments, statutory authorities and other entities, the statement added.

Any new bills would be considered in the following meeting, given the constitutional amendment in 2020 that changed the consultation period from 21 days to 28 days.