A motion to extend the National Community Enhancement programme, known as NiCE, to run year round was defeated by nine votes to seven in Parliament on Thursday after passionate speeches from both sides of the chamber revealed how very differently they viewed the programme.
Deputy Leader of the Opposition Kenneth Byran, who proposed the motion, said NiCE was “an essential service to our country”, while Minister for Caymanian Employment Michael Myles called it “a vote-buying programme” and “an insult to the Caymanian people”.
The programme, which runs in Grand Cayman for several weeks each winter, is open to Caymanians aged 18 and above, offering $10 an hour to work on clean-up projects around the island.
Opposition motion defeated
The Private Member’s Motion, brought by George Town Central MP Bryan, was seconded by George Town West MP Pearlina McGaw-Lumsden.
Speaking in favour of the motion, Byran said it “speaks to our values as a country and to the dignity and the well-being of our people … to fulfil a simple but yet powerful objective to beautify our islands and provide economic opportunities for Caymanians.
“It is a programme that reflects who we are as a people: industrious, proud and committed to keeping our communities clean, safe and attractive, not just for ourselves but for all who come to our shores. Whether it is cleaning our roadsides, clearing beach access paths, painting the kerbs, or removing sargassum from our coastline … the programme has become an essential service to our society.”
He said every year, hundreds of Caymanians apply to take part in the programme, which already runs year-round in Cayman Brac, and “gain valuable work experience while fostering a sense of pride and ownership in the beautiful Cayman Islands”.
His hopes that the motion would be supported across the House were swiftly dashed.
Giving the government’s response, Myles said, “The NiCE programme is nothing more than a bandaid. … Expanding it represents an insult to the Caymanian people and a failure on our part to have a programme that supports employment and a transition into [the] normal workforce.”
He said that there were people in Cayman Brac who had been in the programme for a decade and still weren’t in full-time employment and, therefore, had no health benefits or retirement plans.
Newly elected MP Myles, who has worked in job training and development for the last eight years, said, in his experience, NiCE participants were “handicapped by this programme — the moment an employer saw NiCE on their resumes, they could not get employment. We had to help them clean up their resumes and give them the required skills in order to ensure that they were employable.”
‘Missed opportunity’
He added, “In my view, it has been a missed opportunity for the past 15 years of its existence to invest in something more meaningful to our country. What this motion intends to do is kick the can of Caymanian training and employment opportunities further down the road.”
He continued, “This motion proposes that our people don’t deserve full-time employment with healthcare benefits, pension plan, vacation and sick benefits; that they deserve to be unemployed for long periods of time,” adding, “the NiCE programme is nothing more than a vote-buying programme.”
He said that, instead, the priority should be upskilling and retraining Caymanians for jobs currently done by work permit holders and that barriers to employment such as transport, mental health issues and childcare should be addressed. He also supported the creation of a national workforce database.
Opposition Leader Joey Hew challenged Myles’ view of the issue, highlighting the challenges faced by vulnerable Caymanians who are struggling to make ends meet but who are happy to have the opportunity to make a living.
“We have to take off the blinders,” he said.
Winding up the debate, Bryan showed his disappointment that the issue was “thrown under the bus with such disdain”, pointing out that six current members of government were in support of the programme.
“I can tell you this: no matter which country you go to, there will always be a small pocket of people who would need this type of programme to have an opportunity of an income, and when they don’t have that opportunity, they’re left to other measures [such as] illegal behaviour or the welfare state — neither one of them are good.”
Motion not passed
Voting for the motion were opposition MPs Joey Hew, Kenneth Bryan, Pearlina McGaw-Lumsden, Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, Ray Tatum, Roy McTaggart and Dwayne Seymour.
Voting against the motion were government MPs André Ebanks, Gary Rutty, Katherine Ebanks-Wilks, Rolston Anglin, Isaac Rankine, Nickolas DaCosta, Michael Myles, Wayne Panton and Heather Bodden. Julie Hunter also voted No but her vote did not count as she was not in her seat when the division commenced, a requirement under the Standing Orders.
MPs Jay Ebanks and Chris Saunders were both absent.
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