Key takeaways from West Bay North candidates’ debate

Date: Friday, 28 March 2025

Candidates

Rolston Anglin (IND)

Shakeina Bush (IND)

Jermaine Ebanks-Hurlston (IND)

Jordan Rivers (CINP)

The forum

The latest in the Chamber of Commerce’s candidate forums, held on Friday, 28 March, pitted three first-time nominees – Shakeina Bush, Jermaine Ebanks-Hurlston and Jordan Rivers – and one veteran – Rolston Anglin – against one another as they tackled questions about their district and the country as a whole.

Anglin served as an MP for West Bay from 2001 to 2013, serving in government and in opposition as part of the now defunct UDP party. He was the education minister from 2009 to 2013.

Rivers, the only West Bay North candidate in a political party, the Cayman Islands National Party, is running on an environmental and sustainability platform, with a focus on tourism and promoting local business.

Bush, a teacher who has been heavily involved in regional and international sports, is the daughter of the incumbent MP for the district, Bernie Bush, who is not standing in this election. She spoke strongly on youth issues during the forum.

Ebanks-Hurlston, a business control analyst and compliance officer at a trust company, and a community activist, says he is focusing on transparency in government.

Key Issues

What are the top three national issues you would prioritise if elected, and why?

Anglin said his top three priorities were reforms in immigration, education and housing.

For immigration reform, he is advocating for the introduction of a seven-year-rollover policy – meaning work permit holders would have to leave Cayman after seven years, rather than the current nine; a two-year moratorium on grants of permanent residency and Caymanian status; and the elimination of granting 30 points in PR applications for investing in housing.

He said, as education minister he had created the Cayman Islands Further Education Centre (CIFEC), with the intention of it being built into a national trade school – a goal he said he intended to see come to fruition if elected. He said he also planned to raise the school leaving age to 18, from the current 16.

On housing, he said he plans to eliminate the 1% mortgage registration fee, and waive government duties on the construction of homes costing less than $500,000, so the waivers could serve as equity credit.

Ebanks-Hurlston’s top three were cost of living, unemployment and immigration reform.

Regarding tackling the cost of living crisis, he said by partnering with countries in South and Central America, Cayman could import products cheaper and faster, leading to lower prices and longer shelf lives, as well bringing down the cost of fuel.

On unemployment, Ebanks-Hurlston said a lack of succession planning for the younger generation had impacted this issue, adding, “Proper training in school, identifying their weak points and their points of strength is critical in preparing them for the future.”

On immigration, he said he felt immediate reforms needed to be made, and also suggested a moratorium on Caymanian status grants for two years, “to understand the true dynamics of the situation” and form policies to address the matter.

Bush chose immigration, education and cost of living as her three priorities.

She described immigration as having a “spider-web effect that is touching every single sector of our country,” saying it was impacting the islands’ infrastructure, schools and employment.

Within Cayman’s schools, she said, children needed to get “a sound, strong, valid education that prepares them to be part of the working world”.

Stating that “it’s one thing to struggle, it’s another thing for your ends to never meet”, she said people needed relief and to be “able to afford the necessities in life”.

Rivers, taking a different tack to his opponents, said he planned to prioritise tourism, agriculture and the environment. He said the islands’ tourism product had “dwindled dramatically from its golden age”, in part because of Caymanians moving out of the industry.

Building up Cayman’s agriculture sector and diversifying where we source food from, he said, would help address the cost-of-living problems.

On the environmental front, he is advocating for a “proper, comprehensive and fit-for-purpose national development plan” for Cayman, and the protection of Barkers in West Bay under national park legislation, so it can’t be used as a “bargaining chip” in the future.

Do you believe the police have taken adequate steps to prevent incidents like the Ed Bush stadium shooting from happening again? And if not, what would you recommend to improve safety at public events?

This question from the chamber panel referred to the shooting during a football match at the Ed Bush Stadium in West Bay in February last year, in which seven people were shot. No one has been charged in connection with the shooting.

All four candidates, in response to the question, called for greater communication and connection between police and the local community.

“I do personally feel that the community has lost a lot of faith in the police service,” Rivers said, adding that, in regard to the stadium shooting, if people had “felt comfortable with this police service, you’d have had a lot more information on what was taking place long before it actually happened”.

Anglin said he’d like to see “mobile police stations in all hot spots” in Cayman and for police to integrate themselves more into the local communities. However, for such crimes to be prevented, he said, steps had to be taken in schools, social clubs and the like, to ensure children get the education and skills needed to be able to join the workforce and not turn to lives of crime.

Ebanks-Hurlston told the panel he did not believe police had handled the response to the shooting well, and called for more training for police officers. He added that he felt there was not enough community support for the local youth who come from broken homes and suffer from a lack of resource and opportunities, and who resort to committing crimes.

Bush said the shooting “did shake our entire district”, adding, “I remember discussions and it always came back to ‘us and them’, when it came to the community and police. That’s a scary place to be.” She said, with the growth in population, Cayman was seeing an uptick in crime, including vandalism of property and the theft of cars. “People just don’t feel safe,” she said. She called for an increase in the presence of police officers in the area, not just driving by in police cars.

Would you support the construction of a high school in West Bay over the next four years? And if so, how would you propose funding it?

Each of the candidates agreed that a high school was needed in the district.

Ebanks-Hurlston said the addition of the school would, among other advantages, cut down on traffic congestion. To help fund it, he said, government will need to stop offering duty concessions and instead increase revenue by implementing fees on holding companies with large plots of land, and direct that money toward the needs of children and the elderly.

Bush pointed out that, every year, about 100 students leave the Sir John A. Cumber Primary School, which, she said, also needed to be expanded. She suggested revisiting a failed motion in Parliament that called for 2% property tax on foreign investments.

Rivers said funding already existed within the country’s “massive budget” and that it “comes down to transparency and accountability as to how we spend our money”, suggesting the politicians were spending on slush funds for friends and special interests. Taking a dig at the proposed new school on Cayman Brac, Rivers said if plans for a new West Bay high school were handled properly and transparently, “we’ll get exactly what we need in the near future, and everyone will be happy; no one can say, ‘wow, we wasted another $150 million on a school of opulence,’ for example”.

Anglin noted that Cayman’s existing two high schools, Clifton Hunter and John Gray, were “struggling with placements”, so a third school was needed. He suggested involving the private sector when procuring assets for such projects, but insisted he was not proposing privitisation of education.

Would you support increasing Cayman Turtle Centre’s funding or propose alternative strategies to secure the future of one of Caymans most visited attractions?

The chamber panel noted that the Cayman Turtle Centre employs about 100 people, mostly from West Bay and that declining cruise tourist numbers may mean the centre will need to increase its $6 million annual government subsidy to survive.

All four candidates supported increasing the subsidy for the centre, which they said played a major role in local employment and in preserving Cayman’s turtle-related heritage.

Some also addressed the future of cruise tourism on island, with Rivers suggesting that an addition of a cruise port in West Bay would have an adverse economic impact on taxi drivers that ferry passengers from George Town to the turtle centre and other attractions in the neighbourhood. Ebanks-Hurlston said he was in favour of creating a finger pier in West Bay to bring passengers by boat to visit the local attractions.

Notable exchanges

The old vs the new

As has been aired across the campaign trail by many of the newbie politicians, the three first-time candidates lamented that previous administrations had failed to answer some of most pressing issues in Cayman, saying new blood could be the solution.

Noting that this election campaign has been described as “experience versus experiments”, with long-time politicians facing off against first-time candidates, Rivers outlined a litany of failures by past governments, saying, “We can no longer expect the persons who have been leading this country in the old, archaic fashion to lead us into this new Mecca that is supposed to be Cayman.”

While his opponents spoke of bringing fresh perspectives and approaches to government, Anglin highlighted his previous involvement in politics as a plus. And responding to Rivers’ assertions, he said, “Experience matters. Experience over experiments? A cliché? No. It’s a reality.”

Saying that he could represent Cayman in overseas talks, in London, Washington or Brussels, he asked the listening audience, “Who will you send?” He added that, if elected, he could play a “key part in leadership”, rather than be a “tag-along with a party”.

Remaining on that subject, Ebanks-Hurlston noted that “while experience is important, it’s how that experience is used that truly matters”. He accused Anglin of “much gaslighting, much mud slinging, and undermining the efforts and competence of young people like myself, questioning my integrity and professional experience”. He said Anglin had had three successive terms in government to “to get things done and has failed. Let’s not repeat this same cycle”.

Standout moments

In contrast with the combative comments made by her opponents in their closing comments, Bush wound up the forum with a more optimistic take, while still highlighting the gap between the three first-time runners and Anglin, who is running for office for the fifth time.

She made the final comment from the candidates on the evening, saying, “I’m extremely proud to be sitting here because I dreamt of the day where we have so many young people wanting to get involved in changing our country, and I see it across this table today.”

Next forum

The next chamber forum will be held on Monday, 31 March, at 7:15pm, with the two candidates from West Bay West – independent McKeeva Bush, and Julie Hunter of The Cayman Islands National Party.