Caymanians will finally get their say on cruise berth question

After months, if not years, of uncertainty, Caymanians will finally vote in a referendum on the future of cruise shipping as MPs have voted in favour of the Referendum Bill.

After a lengthy, passionate and at times acrimonious debate, which ran over two days, Parliament passed the Second Reading of the Referendum (Cruise Berthing Infrastructure, Gambling and Cannabis) Bill, 2024, with 13 votes in favour and five against on Wednesday afternoon.

Government and opposition MPs voted in favour of the bill, as did independent MP Chris Saunders, while all five members of the newly formed TCCP voted against the bill. The bill will now go through a committee stage and the Third Reading before officially becoming law.

Emotional debate

While cruise shipping dominated much of the debate, MPs also gave their views on the questions of decriminalising small amounts of cannabis and introducing a national lottery, the two other issues included in the bill.

The most emotional moment of the debate came when Minister of Tourism and Deputy Premier Kenneth Bryan gave a tearful account of how he was affected by mistakes he made “when I was a young, stupid boy”, which led to supportive applause from the floor of the House.

Three referendum questions in total will now be put to voters on Election Day, Wednesday, 30 April. Alongside the question of whether the Cayman Islands should develop cruise berthing infrastructure, voters will be asked whether they would like a national lottery in the Cayman Islands and whether having small amounts of cannabis should no longer be a criminal offence.

The questions, which will now be put to voters, are:

• Should the Cayman Islands develop cruise berthing infrastructure?
• Do you support the introduction of a National Lottery in the Islands?
• Do you support the decriminalisation of the consumption and possession of small amounts of cannabis?

The debate, which began on Monday, continued on Wednesday afternoon with Parliament restarting more than four hours later than scheduled. TCCP leader André Ebanks was the first to speak and pulled no punches, saying from the start that there was a “fundamental flaw surrounding the bill”, calling it “rushed, sloppy decision-making” and adding, “Fundamentally the bill is incomplete, ill-timed and, therefore, ill-advised.”

He went on to say that, whatever the outcome, “The bill is set to plunge the community into acrimony”, and said that the risk of a ‘no’ vote was high due to the lack of information put before the public.

“It is the duty of the government to provide the people with all the relevant facts … in a process which inspires confidence rather than confusion,” he said.

“The risk of a ‘no’ vote is high, leaving a future government in an awful, almost untenable situation with the cruise industry screaming for action, but on the other hand … having to face a majority of votes that advised no.”

It was a similar theme with the cannabis vote, he said.

“We are being asked to vote on a concept without any specifics,” he said.

“The lottery is yet another smokescreen … The public doesn’t have sufficient information to make an informed decision … just blanket, vague questions simply to perpetrate a smokescreen.”

He added, “Leadership is not about blindly following a process that is flawed. Leadership is about ensuring that the process itself is sound.”

He concluded his speech by talking about discussions before he left government, leading Speaker of the House Sir Alden McLaughlin to caution him over the risk of breaking Cabinet confidentially.

“Nothing can erase the conduct the whole country has witnessed … over the last four years,” Ebanks said.

“It gets to a point where one just can’t conform to go along to get along, knowing you’re part of continuous smokescreens. Staying in that is quitting on the country, or, as the TCCP did, terminate a relationship with malfunction, terminate a relationship with unbecoming conduct, terminate a relationship with inept policymaking, to protect the country.”

Other debate contributions came from opposition member Moses Kirkconnell, MP for Cayman Brac West and Little Cayman, who called cruise berthing “an opportunity for income for this country” and said, “If this is a step to get us closer to saving time and moving forward, for the cruise industry to participate in our economy, then it is the right thing to do.”

He compared Cayman’s cruise industry with other industries, saying, “If you make things easy, you will be successful in business. We have made things hard. We have not kept up with what our competitors are doing.”

MP for Bodden Town West Chris Saunders quoted figures from recent reports on the economic contribution of cruise tourism in the Caribbean, which showed the falling numbers in workers in the cruise industry in the Cayman Islands and falling satisfaction levels from cruise visitors to Grand Cayman.

“I think having this referendum is a good move, a good idea,” he said, “because getting a steer from the people we serve, the people that we trust to elect us, cannot be a bad thing.”

Opposition given thanks

Winding up the debate, Deputy Premier Bryan first paid tribute to Opposition Leader Joey Hew for supporting the bill, thanking him “for his constructive approach and willingness to engage in a way which puts our country first”.

In a lengthy and passionate response, Bryan said, “This is not the time for doubt … We either move forward with a pier or say goodbye to cruise tourism as we know it. It is only a matter of time.”

The minister was warned several times by the speaker against becoming too personal, as Bryan accused Ebanks of “sitting on the fence” and “leading from behind” by letting his TCCP colleagues speak first.

“If he does not take charge of his own party, then how can we trust in him to take charge of the country?” Bryan asked, hinting that former premier Wayne Panton was in fact the real leader, remarks he swiftly moved on from.

He also hit out at the rest of the TCCP member contributions, saying, “It shows that the members do not understand the importance of a pier to saving our cruise tourism industry.”

He added, “Hesitation in the face of necessity is not caution but paralysis. Hesitation will not just cost us time but the future of our cruise tourism industry. We are running out of time.

“We are talking about protecting livelihoods. We cannot afford to stand still while the world continues to move forward.”

Personal journey

He concluded his closing remarks with an emotional and personal statement on the issue of decriminalising cannabis.

“Many members don’t know what it’s like to have a criminal record, what it does to their life, but I do,” he said.

“I made a mistake when I was a young, stupid boy … I paid dearly for a long time and if it wasn’t for good people around me giving me a second chance, I wouldn’t be here today, standing before you in this honourable House as the deputy premier of the Cayman Islands.”

Supported by applause from fellow MPs, he continued, “That’s when you don’t give up on your people. And that’s what we’re trying to protect — real lives, real stories and real people.”

He added, “Everyone deserves a second chance and that’s what this government is trying to fight for.

“We’re talking about ensuring that young men and women are not saddled with a criminal record for the rest of their lives for minor offences. A single mistake should not be a life-long barrier to opportunities in education, employment or emergency medical care.”