After first 100 days, government touts ambitious vision

The coalition government celebrated its first 100 days in power with an open-air event in George Town on Friday, 15 Aug. but said that the hard work is only just beginning. Ministers said they are now looking to the next 100 days and beyond and hinted at big announcements to come, from national infrastructure projects to developments on a more local level.

Members of the public were invited to fill out a government report card on the new administration, with Deputy Premier Gary Rutty saying in his opening speech, “Tell us what’s on your mind, what you’d like to hear, and what we can do better.”

“The name of this government, the National Coalition For Caymanians, is more than a title. It is our promise to you,” he said.

“Today’s event is to let you know how we are going to deliver this promise. We are sharing information and being open with you about what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and who we’re doing it for, which is you, the people of the Cayman Islands.”

Asked what government had planned for the next 100 days, Rutty was tight-lipped, saying, “I just can’t let it out of the bag just now.”

His ministerial colleagues, however, gave more hints about what could be to come.

Minister for Planning, Lands, Agriculture, Housing and Infrastructure Jay Ebanks said the National Development Plan was “well on its way … We just put together the board to start to look at some of the development plans moving forward and I can tell you, the government is committed to seeing that moving forward, and in the future, you’re going to see a lot more starting to roll out from that.”

Infrastructure improvements

His ministry is also working on streamlining planning regulations, completing infrastructure improvements, including around Grand Harbour, and purchasing new cranes for the cargo port. Ebanks also said he was working on implementing penalties for poor drivers and making long-awaited improvements to the national bus service.

Minister for Finance and Economic Development Rolston Anglin said there were “huge policy positions” to come from major sectors, including healthcare, education and housing, and “all sorts of exciting things that are for the benefit of Caymanians and which will structurally put this country on a strong footing”.

A crucial clue to government’s priorities will come in October’s Strategic Policy Statement, Anglin said.

“The strategic policy statement will have a lot of those things I’ve just spoken about. Some are going to be ongoing and will trickle into next year. But in large measure, there’s going to be a lot of exciting projects, but more importantly, critical policy positions around these hugely important areas that are of interest to the public, because of the impact they have on our community,” he said.

He added that a key part of government’s strategy was measuring the effect of policy decisions.

“We’re about measuring impact and ensuring that’s a positive impact. If it’s a positive impact, you continue and you build it out more. If it’s not, cut your losses and move on with a better policy position,” Anglin said.

Limited resources

A note of caution was sounded by Minister for Health, Environment and Sustainability Katherine Ebanks-Wilks, who warned that budgets were not limitless.

“What is particularly challenging is the fact that we do have limited resources,” she said.

“So for my ministry, I’m dealing with healthcare; I’m dealing with making the environment safe as it relates to waste, and I’m already fully apprised of the fact that the budget is going to be limited on what we can do. That’s been very challenging, because we also have other areas that are equally as important … But again, it’s easier when you’re working with colleagues that appreciate that we have to prioritise based on the needs of the community, not based on what’s going to be popular, but what is necessary.”

Caymanian Employment and Immigration Minister Michael Myles said that while progress has been made on issues such as employment and immigration, there is much more to do.

“I am not one to celebrate without actually taking it across the line and there’s a lot of work to be done,” he said.

“We are trying to undo things that have been done over the last 15 years. Where I am at in immigration, people have a lot of concerns about what we are going to be doing to protect them and our goal right now is to get the reforms across the finish line.”