Work Permit Board shake up

Mrs. Cheri Bodden-Cowan, has been serving as Co-chairman for the UDP, now she has graduated to Chairman of the UDP Immigration Board ’cause that’s exactly what it is now. I’d say, Caymanians we could very well be in for a rough ride!
The concern is that with this recent move by the Premier and his cabinet to remove and replace people at the head and also the membership of the board, l even though we were forewarned it should still be of some concern to us all. There could very well be now a Huge Conflict of interest in Mrs. Bodden-Cowan sitting in that seat.
Among the new appointees are Mr. Gary Rutty and Mr. John Foster. Time will tell just how strong Gary Rutty and John Foster really is and how much they will be looking out for the People of the Cayman Islands who not only are almost voiceless but indeed jobless. It remains to be seen just how much we will lose under these new appointees, or how much Caymanians will GAIN!
Since the UDP victory in 2009, the above report states that Mrs. Bodden Cowan the UDP chairman has been a known advocate for the removal of red tape for local businesses. However this is certainly a gray area; as it is expected of any Immigration adviser or chairperson to be working directly for the people of the Cayman Islands and their wishes, and should always put the people before PARTY POLITICS. They are expected to function in a manner that would ADVOCATE JOBS AND JOB SECURITY FOR CAYMANIANS and grant only the number of work permits that have BEEN PROVEN TO BE NECESSARY Despite reports of work permit decrease.
Caymanians still are suffering job loss, and there is a continuance of the grant of work permits printed daily for businesses that are allowed to obtain work permits by" DECEPTION" on the premise that no qualified Caymanian has been found to place in that position. It is a LIE ! When the true FACT OF THE MATTER IS that there were quite a long list of Very educated and qualified Caymanians applying for the positions that were very falsely advertised and these people were DENIED! Yes they have gotten away with FALSE ADVERTISING!
As Mrs. Bodden Cowan has been the Cayman Islands Immigration Board Advisor, There is no track record of Mrs. Bodden Cowan reining in those Businesses or even calling for their investigation, penalization, regulation, or even FINED for their unlawful actions!. In my opinion their licenses should be revoked! There is no track record on this kind of prudent action associated with Mrs. Bodden Cowan’s performance.
This is why I have a word of advice to Mr. Charles Clifford. On behalf of the people of the Cayman Islands whose jobs are held hostage by the governments of yesterday and today, with No right to work in their own country; While rallying up support for a petition for a referendum on the list of the people’s matters of concern please ADD TO THE LIST THAT THE CHAIRMAN AND BOARD MEMBERSHIP OF THE CAYMAN IMMIGRATION BOARD CAN NOT BE APPOINTED BY THE CABINET. It is way to autocratic and just like in the US and other democratic countries board members need to be VOTED INTO OFFICE as people qualified for these positions and the BALLOT BOX DECIDES WHO SITS IN THAT VERY CONTROVERSIAL AND EXTREMELY POWERFUL SEAT. For indeed it can determine the very future and advancement of the people of the Cayman Islands whether positively, or negatively. Such a move can determine the very extinction, preservation of our livelihood or recognition of the people of the Cayman Islands as being successful and as a people graced with the opportunity through achievement provided by government systems, policies, and regulations put in place for the advancement of our people. We are not saying that Mrs.Sheri Bodden-Cowan is not qualified nor that she is unprofessional we are just simply opening up this press release of the board new appointments for proper vetting and input by the people who will be affected by the performance of the UDP, the Chairman of the board and its members.
We seem to be fast becoming like a backwater banana republic. Caymanians keep asking ourselves why any of us should bother to get up in the morning to work our asses off to produce goods and services that only serve to make the junta and their cohorts in elected governments and Corporate Cayman which is a separate system of autonomy with an open door to corporate predators. Why should we pay our taxes to finance their coup? Will Caymanians continue to send our sons and daughters off to colleges and Universities only to return home with a four year and 7 year degrees as highly educated professionals FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM AND REFUSED A PROFESSIONAL CAREER OF THEIR CHOICE IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY just because they are CAYMANIAN?! when all that really means is that the lavish lifestyle of greedy, and power hungry old men is holding up our success in the headquarters they seized by piracy!

Sir tiger why you have so much hate in your heart dont you see what is happening to your island because people like you dont believe in anything but not doing anything to make a difference to make cayman a better place, the message you sending is that caymanians dont want nobody else in your islands unless its bein a tourist. Wake up stop sending hate and help your government to bring cayman back where she used to be God walk good sir.

Forever Friend,

You are very much aware that the letter is not written nor motivated because of hatred.Why do people continue to work in the Cayman Islands and then at the end of five years they expect to run for office. You seem to demand more rights than those enjoyed by the people of the Cayman Islands themselves. This is unfair.

You apparently are deliberately evading the real reason for such a response and that’s a pity.

Forever Friend are you by any chance one of those responsible for Caymanians not being treated unfairly in their own country and others are being chosen for job positions that Caymanians are in most or all cases more qualified to do?! It is an act of piracy committed against the people, of that you are ALSO AWARE!
Your efforts to shut the mouths of these people oppressed by their own government policies and work permit scams and who speak out because they have a right to do so is futile and you are way out of line.!

It seems that people come to this country to shut the mouths of our people while THEY OPEN WIDE their own in an effort to be heard. This is unacceptable and should and should not be tolerated.
Forever Friend, you must be a friend of others but you are definitely not a friend of the people of the Cayman Islands because you are refuting the truth about what is happening to them in front of your very eyes!
By simply taking it upon yourself to twist, alter or rearrange the tone of Tiger’s letter of concern from being ‘informative’ and you translating it into hatred is not only misleading but deceptive.

If you were a real Caymanian or a conscientious x-pat you will admit that every word Tiger has written is TRUE AND CORRECT, and there is no sentiments of hatred whatsoever towards Mr. Bodden Cowan. As a matter of fact Tiger even complimented her in saying that she believed Ms. Cowan was indeed qualified to do the job. It pays to listen before jumping to conclusions. Read the article again.
The concern expressed by Tiger as everyone else in all media forums is WILL SHE DO HER JOB AND HELP HER OWN PEOPLE, OR WILL PARTY POLITICS BE FIRST AS USUAL What part of that do you not understand?.

It never fails. Some people hear what you want to hear and read what you want to read, and interpret how you want to interpret, all in the name of selfishness!

Tiger’s letter is purely an expression of concern for where this country and its people are headed.
Furthermore your rebuttal is uncalled for as Tiger is pointing a finger at Government, not you nor the X-pats, so what’s your problem. Or is it still true that the TRUTH HURTS?!
You should apologize for trying to mislead the readers.

Forever No Friend,

Are you saying that Tiger should stop writing letters that expose the wrongs that the Government is doing to the poor oppressed Caymanian people. And that Tiger should begin to write letters praising the government for screwing Caymanians into the ground making them jobless, homeless, and underprivileged?
While they grant hundreds of thousands of work permits for you and yours?

That seems to be your request.

Dubai,

You are absolutely correct. There is a vicious segment of our society that wants to take control at all costs.At the same time they prefabricate lies about Caymanians that they are not qualified for the jobs they apply for!

How is it that before the Immigration or Work Permit Board was formed or came into existence Caymanians were always duly Qualified and HELD THEIR POSITIONS for decades at a time. SUDDENLY since the work Permit Factory was created. Caymanians are reported to no longer be relevant nor unemployable? It is organized injustice against this people.

IT IS A SCAM.
Caymanians are being scammed out of their livelihood.
I praise Tiger and Dubai for TELLING THE TRUTH about how the people are being treated. We need a CNN Larry King Live report on this issue to put them to shame and MAKE THEM DO BETTER. We need a STORY for Larry King Live. Let the world know what the O.T. Minister is allowing in the UK Territory. Yes oppression of the people.

And this the the ‘Premiere’ that Caymanians voted into power to look after their interests and affairs ?

This open politicisation of the most powerful of statutory boards is a real slap in the face for the voters of the Cayman Islands, unless they are UDP supporters who’ve gotten their ‘rewards’ for supporting McKeeva Bush and his cronies.

How can the Cayman Islands ever expect to progress into the modern world when their political leadership is steeped in ‘banana republic’ politics.

To blame the Minister for the Overseas Territories for internal Caymanian political decisions and policy is grossly unfair although this is not meant to defend Britain’s ‘hands off’ approach to how the Cayman Islands is run.

Caymanians vote for their government every four years so they must take responsibility for the leadership that they elect to govern them.

In Cayman, the problem is no one wants to step on his neighbour’s toes even when his neighbour has his foot in his neck.

This is why every expatriate on a work permit is considered more valuable and worthy than even the very best of Caymanians.

Any nationality or individual who is not willing to stand up and do whatever it takes to defend their own survival will definitely be overrun by another.

History has proven this time and time again.

Until Caymanians are willing to stand up and face down their own who are suppressing them, it is a futile excecise to blame any foreign element, whether at home or abroad for problems that Caymanians have created for other Caymanians.

This problem is Cayman’s alone to solve; not the United Kingdom or any other foreign power.

Firery,

Have any suggestions?
.
Where and how do we start to resolve this problem.
Give us some strategic pointers.Where to begin.I believe that regardless if we change the people or not that it is the system that needs to be changed. What about you?

Tiger

As you well know and keep us all aware of…

The current system in the Cayman Islands is deeply entrenched over many years now.

The problem is that it was originally set up in an era when political partonisation was the norm, given a much smaller and local population to work with but…

That was a long time ago and as time and the economic, social and political dynamics have changed, the astute people who contend for political power in the Cayman Islands have found ways of using the origial system to their own advantage and to the disadvantage of the ‘powerless people’ who vote them that power and authority.

If there was some ways and means in Cayman’s constitution to make it a law that all statutory boards must be comprised of a list of candidates from a ‘bi-partisan’ committee made up of members of both parties in the Legislative Assembly who can only nominate ‘non-party members’ as candidates, then the general poplulation will have a fairer crack of the whip when decisions are made by these boards.

These statutory boards, commissions, authorities are the decision-making bodies that affect each and every individual’s life by the decisions they make and are a foundation of most democracies.

This is why, in most countries except the Cayman Islands, these boards are legally required to be as ‘non-aligned and neutral’ as possible.

The current Premier(the very first one actually) is now shamelessly using the old system in a manner that bodes ill for the Cayman Islands if he is allowed to continue this trend unopposed.

What is the opposition PPM saying about all this; have their supporters and neutral Caymanians no way of calling them to task on representing the rest of Caymanians who are not UDP supporters, from being ‘shafted’ by them ?

This is the classic ‘third-world banana republic’ methods at play.

Does anyone relish an independent Cayman Islands operating like this ?

This is something that its getting late for Caymanians to fix or the consequences further down the road will be far less pleasant than anyone can imagine.

Take Jamaica and Zimbabwe and even the Turks and Caicos Islands as prime examples of what Caymanians should be seeking to avoid at all costs.