With 16 days left to the 14 April general election, the Progressives-led alliance unveiled its manifesto outlining why it should it be returned to government.
The 26-page document, entitled “Stronger, Safer Future“, is focused on building on the current COVID-19 strategy, which has seen the country move through a lockdown to a national vaccination programme, as well as national issues such as affordable housing and employment.
“The phased reopening will be geared towards vaccination programmes and will be linked to quarantine requirements. As we immunise the majority of our residents, we will begin to reduce the quarantine period until we can open up fully and safely,” the manifesto stated as its top priority.
Speaking at the manifesto launch Saturday night at Kirk Home Centre carpark in George Town, Premier and Progressives Chairman Alden McLaughlin said the country needs leadership as it continues to navigate COVID-19 and the national vaccination programme.
“It is in the times of crisis and stress that leadership is so important, because your job is to keep your team and your country calm and ensure that they have confidence in your decisions that you are taking, that is how we got through COVID-19. It wasn’t me alone, I was the face of it along with the Minister of Health, but we met daily, in many instances, about what the way forward,” he said.
He said the alliance has a plan, and with the support of his colleagues, “we can do this”.
Pointing to his opponents, McLaughlin questioned where their leadership lies.
“We cannot allow this to slip away from us,” he said as he made his pitch for the Progressive alliance team as he urged those in attendance to tell their friends and family to support the group when Election Day comes around.
“For a stronger, safer future, place your reliance only on the alliance,” McLaughlin said.
Progressives leader Roy McTaggart said Cayman cannot afford to lose any time to “political jostling, bad feelings or political egos”.
What the manifesto says
The manifesto, which highlights the achievements of the current administration, also pledges a continuation of projects such as the implementation of the new Integrated Solid Waste Management System facilities and the delivery of a waste-to energy solution.
The agreement for that project was signed on Friday.
The manifesto also promised to start work on a “new, modern prison that includes skills training & educational facilities, complete the work to deliver a new West Bay police station and deliver a new police headquarters building”.
The long talked about Advisory District Councils Law (2011) once again featured in the manifesto. It was part of the last Progressives manifesto and was not moved forward.
This time round, the pledge remains the same, “making it [the law] fit for purpose in a single-member constituency regime”.
The manifesto also outlines a climate change plan, new international offices to bolster Cayman’s presence globally to fight blacklisting, and progressing the Plan Cayman rollout of area-focused plans – “completing Seven Mile Beach corridor and starting the George Town review”.
“The goal is to complete each of the five areas in Grand Cayman, one each year,
so that by year five, all areas are reviewed, and we start at the beginning again,” the manifesto stated.
The Progressives-led alliance 12 priorities are:
- Complete Cayman’s National Community vaccination programme.
- Establish an international blue-green investment fund that will invest several million dollars into sustainable development projects across the Cayman Islands.
- Complete key capital projects such as the John Grey High School, a new health facility for Bodden Town, the Waste to Energy Plant, and major road improvements.
- Implement an updated tourism recovery plan that includes a clear and phased reopening.
- Restore full Caymanian employment and, in the interim, continue to assist displaced tourism businesses and workers.
- Establish a new skills strategy for Cayman to support the economic strategy and match future skills to jobs.
- Ensure that every child is taught in a public school rated ‘good’ or ‘better’ against the education inspection framework.
- Overhaul social welfare legislation to bring into force a single framework with a common set of criteria.
- Implement a Community Development Office, whose focus will be to improve the quality of life for citizens in designated low-income areas.
- Set up new offices to promote Cayman in the EU, the US and Asia so as to defend the country’s financial services industry.
- Appoint a Parliamentary Secretary to ensure a sustained focus on new and innovative affordable housing initiatives, and to promote the available programmes.
- Look at more affordable public options for health insurance, home insurance, and
pension plans that can exist alongside those offered by the private sector.
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