As I’ve commented in the past, the Cayman Islands are modernising their Constitution. There has been a great degree of public consultation - but the final negotiation has been held in private between the Cayman Government and the UK FCO.
Not any more. The leader of the Opposition attempted to table the draft in the Legislative Assembly and was rebuffed. So he gave it to the media, proclaiming the public’s right to know more.
The draft Constitution will eventually be put before a public referendum.
The lengthy eight-chapter document opens with a 28-point Bill of Rights that includes surprise sections on treatment of prisoners; an explicit right of privacy; a marriage proposal guaranteeing freedom “to choose to marry a person of the opposite sex”; a government obligation of environmental protection; a right to education; and creation of a Human Rights Commission…
In other chapters, the document mandates a series of appointments, comprising a Caymanian Deputy Governor to head the civil service and stand in for the Governor; a premier; and a nine-member Cabinet which will include a Deputy Premier and the Attorney General, whose inclusion had been contested by the ruling People’s Progressive Movement (PPM).
The document also creates a Minister of Finance, a Director of Public Prosecutions and a National Security Council, while leaving open at 17 or 18, the numbers of elected legislators.
While leaving in place most of the Governor’s traditional powers, the constitution requires Cabinet consent to apply locally any “international agreement, treaty or instrument” that would affect domestic legislation. The clause allows lawmakers to oppose automatic extension to the Cayman Islands of UN or European agreements deemed locally inappropriate.
A Judicial and Legal Services Commission, chaired by the Chief Justice, will appoint the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Grand Court judges and magistrates.
Finally, both the Office of the Complaints Commissioner and that of the Auditor General are enshrined in the document, along with a Commission for Standards in Public Life that will set “the highest standards of integrity and competence …to ensure the prevention of corruption or conflicts of interest”.
Whappenings and Freshie both hit the point on Government’s CITV, picking up on a speech by Opposition Senator Mike Fahy:
“Local TV stations have been hurting for a long time. It is clear to us that the creation of CITV took money and talent away from local TV that might otherwise have gone to supporting local programming.”
Government paid more than $1million to set up this mouthpiece cable channel, have annual running cost in the hundreds of thousands, and are paying a US TV station $200,000 a year to act as a mentor. That’s big money.
And in the Drone Speech this year, Government announced that it wanted to expand its media mini-empire:
Too often the image of Bermuda is cultivated by those who know us least. Communicative media skill must be strengthened in Bermuda and accordingly, the Government will offer mentoring and internship programmes within the Department of Communication and Information in the areas of CITV, public affairs and graphic design. We must grow trained, exposed Bermudian journalists and the Government intends to cultivate the latent interest in these careers through its own relationships with overseas news and broadcasting agencies.
Let’s face it, the public does not trust news that comes from a Government department. The chance of political influence is too strong.
And who watches CITV anyway? I call on Cablevision to release the viewer statistics for CITV (it’s a digital network; they know). Let’s be transparent in evaluating this investment, shall we?
If Government wants to expand the number of Bermudian journalists it should be working with the local media to create opportunity - not create more diversion that weakens the local media! In other words, help build more taxpayers instead of adding more tax consumers at the Government trough.
I maintain my opinion that, if Government is concerned about local programming, a body should be formed to evaluate and fund proposals from local independent producers. It would cost a fraction of the sum spent on CITV and allow variety to flourish. The truth is that the local TV channels have happily shown local content when it’s available. They just can’t afford to produce it!
Government loves to call CITV a “public TV” station … it isn’t. In the US, PBS stations are not government owned at all - they are fiercely independent and attuned to the desires of their local broadcast markets. Government’s involvement is through grants which are combined with money raised from the private sector (and viewers like you). They must compete for money and viewers just like everyone else.
“I believe that as time goes on and as more and more members, individually and collectively, recognise that people are more concerned on issues than they are on race and colour, then this House, and the governance of this country, will change.
“I’m going to give a caveat to my own party, which I love dearly. I will say to my party and my Government: there are vestiges of racism. The use of the race card, the manipulation of people, their fears; not only against whites — but being slightly anti-gay and being slightly against people who are seen as not black enough…
“What I would like to see is that we stop acting with a sense of homogeneity, start acting collectively, stand up as individuals, and start acting for what we stand for.
“Not enough of us speak truthfully. Not enough of us speak up. Not enough of us are convinced that race isn’t something that we can use.
“We all fall into the trap sometimes of pandering to racism, pandering to racists, because it suits our own political ends.
“When we stop it at our level, it will stop at other ends. When we start speaking and supporting high ideals as a group of people … they are crying out for us to take a stand.
“Stop maintaining the status quo. Step up, step out, stop the rhetoric.”
“The society is suffering. We have a sickness in a sense. The first road to recovery is admission; is to get up and say: ‘We are Bermuda. We have a problem. We have a drugs problem. We have a gun problem…’
“For a small nation we have lost far too many productive, intelligent people to this scourge, from those in the medical profession, lawyers, the guy on the street. We can’t afford to continue to lose people.”
Wouldn’t it be a good start if our MPs set the example by undergoing drug testing?
Well-known financial publisher OffshoreAlert is reporting that a Bermuda-based company owned and operated by Andre Curtis has been accused by US regulators of participating in a $1 million securities fraud earlier this year, with some of the proceeds allegedly laundered through an account at First Bermuda Securities.
“Andre Curtis is the Chairman of the Warwick South Central branch of the ruling Progressive Labour Party in Bermuda, which is the constituency that Bermuda Premier Ewart Brown represents as a Member of Parliament. Curtis has become a controversial figure in Bermuda over the last few years after it was disclosed that the Bermuda Government had allocated $600,000 to fund a tourism initiative - known as Faith-Based Tourism - spearheaded by Curtis that was supposed to hold religious-based events to attract visitors to the country. Questions about how the money was spent and what was actually accomplished have gone unanswered, leading to concerns about the propriety of the payments, particularly given other evidence of widespread corruption that has surfaced concerning Brown’s government. Embarrassingly for the PLP, Harvest Investment Holdings Ltd. and the Warwick South Central branch of the PLP share the same fax number, as do the Bermuda Hotel Association and the Hotel Employers of Bermuda, which represent local hoteliers. The BHA and HEB also have the same office address as Harvest Investment Holdings.”
OffshoreAlert makes the point that Mr. Curtis’ Harvest Investment Holdings website claimed to provide a variety of financial services but did not appear to hold a license from the Bermuda Monetary Authority to provide those services. OffshoreAlert also questioned if Harvest had conducted the due diligence required by Bermuda’s KYC laws as one of the other subjects of the investigation has multiple convictions for fraud.
In this age of financial and crime problems facing the Bermuda community, you’d have thought they had better things to do “on the people’s business”.
Our Parliament is well stocked with dangerous fools. I am disgusted.
Update: The blowup in Parliament again centred on Ewart Brown’s speculations that white Bermudians would not have voted for Barack Obama. The point seems to be lost that the day before this parliamentary meltdown that large numbers of white Bermudians did vote for a black candidate, Charlie Swan.
Moreover, PLP candidate Marc Bean’s attempts to cast himself as a moderate Obama-like candidate do not gel with his statements in the recent general election that the UBP had a “neo-fascist agenda” and that “If they have the opportunity they will lock all of us up. It’s true”.
Many white voters choose not to vote PLP not because of the race of the party’s candidates, but because of the racism of the party.
It is a catastrophe that the Minister of the Environment does not see the protection of our public parkland - which is supposedly sacrosanct under the Parks Act - as his duty. It seems the PLP government wants to urbanise every aspect of Bermuda.
That’s why so few people trust their intentions regarding turning Southlands into the park they promised. That’s why donors now give land to the National Trust and Audobon Society instead of the park system.
Bermuda is very built up - open areas are very important for Bermudians needing to exercise or get out in the fresh air for some calm. Open areas are important for the tiny population of wild flora and fauna we have remaining. And it is important for our tourism.
I, like many Bermudians, and very disappointed by this shortsighted decision. I like Belcario, but I won’t be going to his bar.
And what is the deal with the Tipi’s? Is that the architectural drawing that was submitted to Planning? It looks like it was torn from someone’s colouring book.
Here’s the full text of Mike Winfield’s speech on race and politics, printed in the Royal Gazette. Read it.
“I submit, however, that the Bermudian of today is desperately seeking an alternative. They are looking for leadership that says do as I say and do as I do and then demonstrates why with their actions, they are deeply thirsty for solutions, for real talk that proposes real answers and which seeks to unite not divide. They hunger for a vision, a dream of what we may become.”
Update: The PLP blog is bitching that no-one is talking about it. I guess they don’t come here much. Pity.
Jamestown in Virginia has its act together before Bermuda to celebrate Bermuda’s 400th anniversary. Imagine that!
Go take a look at their website with a video. Pretty cool!
Jamestown was founded two years before the Sea Venture, part of a relief voyage to the new colony, wrecked on Bermuda.
Rather than dream up some fake “pop and sizzle”, I’ve always thought that Bermuda would do well to develop a historical tourism destination around St George’s which played such an important role in early US history, as well as the role that Dockyard played in the War of 1812. That is unique, and the subject fascinates many American tourists.
Believe me, that would attract more visitors than a casino. Look at the success of Jamestown and nearby Williamsburg - both of which had very strong Bermuda connections.
It’s all about the vision; and unfortunately the vision of our leaders is often to transform Bermuda into something they’ve seen elsewhere rather than to play to our unique history and strengths.
We are regularly treated with outrageous comments from the Premier and his Ministers relating to independence, international business sector, expats, and race.
Perhaps those comments have a logic in the twisted political sphere of Bermuda, but they clash with common thinking in most of the world.
We Bermudians are so used to the bullshit that we just filter it out. Only rarely does anyone call them on it; that’s amazing given the large number of Bermudians who are directly dependent on international business for our living.
But these asshat statements reverberate a long time outside Bermuda, where they contribute to the perception that Bermuda is hostile and recalcitrant - not an attractive location for business.
Sooner or later those negative perceptions coalesce into a problem. I think the PLP has taken us to that tipping point.
At the moment, everyone [in the insurance business] is occupied by other things; just keeping your job is considered a bonus by some. But what I am hearing from my contacts on the island is that those companies which have done so much to put Bermuda on the map - and put money into its economy - are not happy with the treatment they’re getting. Many feel it has alienated them and are now reconsidering their position.
From the editorial page of the same publication:
Whether Bermuda’s pull is diminishing is open to question, but it is clear that the island faces more challenges than ever in its bid to remain a leading international insurance and reinsurance hub.
Dr. Brown likes to play brinksmanship. I don’t think he knows where the edge of chasm is. Or cares as long as he is the power on this rock.
What are we going to do about this? It’s time to grow up.
Most lawyers in Bermuda keep their mouths shut on legislative issues - they’re too busy making money - even when proposed laws are blatantly inadequate.
You can argue that this is a political gift (the law is only known to benefit one person, a PLP insider), or that it is the best way for those lawyers to pay their debtors.
I tend to favour the latter with restrictions, but take issue with the way this is being addressed. According to Moniz:
“The Bar Council forwarded to [local awyers] a letter from Attorney General Kim Wilson outlining why she was proposing the amendment and asked for responses within three days.”
The lawyers were not shown draft legislation, and the time frame was so limited as to restrict their ability to contribute. This makes a mockery of public consultation.
We’ve seen the ramifications of this rushed and secretive approach in recent years, where rushed new legislation has later had to be repeatedly amended to fix inadequacies.
The Bermuda Government must have a standard whereby public consultations are based on actual draft legislation, and allow a minimum window of opportunity for people to contribute. Ideally, a public website should be constructed for this purpose.
