{"id":27629,"date":"2012-11-05T08:46:08","date_gmt":"2012-11-05T13:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=27629"},"modified":"2012-11-05T08:46:08","modified_gmt":"2012-11-05T13:46:08","slug":"cayman-premier-defies-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2012\/11\/cayman-premier-defies-britain","title":{"rendered":"Cayman Premier Defies Britain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Cayman Islands Premier McKeeva Bush released a copy of a letter on Friday addressed to newly-appointed British Overseas Territories Minister Mark Simmonds rejecting a number of UK demands and raising fears locally that Britain may thereby be forced to impose direct rule as was done in relation to the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2009.<\/p>\n

The letter \u2013 purportedly dated October 30 \u2013 told Simmonds that \u201c\u2026you will find the government of the Cayman Islands may be led, but are much more difficult to push.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you will find that we stand by our convictions, unless and until proven wrong (even if that must be in a court of law which I will not hesitate to undertake)\u2026\u201d Bush added.<\/p>\n

However, in another letter released on Friday, this time from Simmonds to Bush, the British minister said he had received no such earlier communication from the Cayman Islands regarding the various outstanding issues.<\/p>\n

The issues in question relate to a financial management agreement known as the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility (FFR); whether the Cayman Islands should proceed with a port redevelopment project, and the respective roles of the governor and an appointed budget committee.<\/p>\n

Simmonds told Bush on Friday not to proceed with a plan to bring a revised version of the FFR to the Legislative Assembly this week.<\/p>\n

Bush said recently that he wanted Britain to take responsibility for any reputational or financial damage that adhering to the framework might cause Cayman and he has inserted a clause doing just that.<\/p>\n

He has also increased the value of projects that require UK approval from $10 million in the agreement itself to $25 million in the bill, without the consent of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).<\/p>\n

In his letter to the premier, Simmonds stated that he understands that Bush plans to proceed to the Legislative Assembly on Monday \u201cto transpose a version of the FFR which does not accord with that which you have signed\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not acceptable,\u201d Simmonds added.<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cShould you go through with this course of action, I will have no choice but to conclude that you are disregarding good governance and continue to be in breach of a series of commitments you have made. This is disappointing for the Cayman people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The minister said he told Bush in an earlier correspondence on 1 October that the \u201ccontinued breach\u201d of commitment left him (Simmonds) with \u201cno alternative but to give detailed consideration to alternatives\u201d. He did not state what those alternatives would be.<\/p>\n

However, Bush, in his purported letter dated 30 October, said that the FFR \u2013 which he agreed and signed with the UK last year \u2013 would be passed into law at the next meeting of the Legislative Assembly.<\/p>\n

The Premier said the bill that transposes the FFR into law will meet \u201cthe necessary requirements to which we are committed\u201d. However, Bush said that the two documents \u2013 the signed agreement and the law \u2013 cannot be identical.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the transposition, essential commercial tests must be passed for the mandatory performance that the legislation, as a law, would require,\u201d Bush wrote. \u201cWe cannot afford the collapse of our entire structure of budgetary obligations under the weight of unwieldy processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his letter on Friday, Simmonds also said he would not allow Bush to proceed with the procurement of a new cruise ship terminal \u201cunless the proper procedures have been followed\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould you push ahead regardless, I will have no choice but to ask the secretary of state to instruct the governor to reject the proposals,\u201d Simmonds said in the letter.<\/p>\n

The Cayman Islands government is in talks with China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) to expand cruise ship facilities in Grand Cayman.<\/p>\n

According to a statement from the governor\u2019s office, both Simmonds and his predecessor, Henry Bellingham, raised the concerns over the cruise ship project procurement a number of times in meetings and in correspondence with Bush over the past year.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Simmonds has now found it necessary to write to the premier again about this and the outstanding issue of the transposition into law of the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility,\u201d the statement from Governor Duncan Taylor\u2019s office read.<\/p>\n

The statement said Simmonds had asked that his letter be made available to the people of the Cayman Islands so that there is \u201cno misunderstanding of the UK government\u2019s position on both issues\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK government supports the aim of enhanced cruise ship facilities and fully understands the potential economic benefit to the Cayman Islands. The nationalities of the parties involved have no bearing on this case. We encourage investment in the Cayman Islands by China and other countries. It is of critical long-term importance to all parties that proper procurement processes are followed in line with international best practice,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

Bush addressed this issue in his letter of 30 October, assuring the UK that \u201cvalue for money\u201d on the cruise project would be achieved, and that an outside review, undertaken by the KPMG accounting firm, would assist in providing support for those claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cI disagree that the auditor general or chairman of the Central Tenders Committee (useful though their input will be) can be the final arbiters of how we should achieve such fundamental objectives,\u201d Bush wrote. \u201cI believe KPMG, who is doing our \u2018value for money\u2019 test, to be much more competent in these matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bush said \u201cmicro-management\u201d of a project like the port proposal by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office \u201cis no more necessary, nor desirable at this time\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour concerns over contingent liability are duly noted, but with all due respect, Cayman has not got this far through the micro-management of the FCO, nor its successive commissioners, administrators or governors from the 1930s until today,\u201d Bush said.<\/p>\n

Although Governor Taylor appeared to be trying to stay above the fray by merely passing on comments made by Simmonds, he was also attacked by Bush in the letter of October 30.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis job should be to help the Islands,\u201d Bush wrote. \u201cSo far, the only \u2018help\u2019 coming from the present governor has been to keep our economy flat, people unemployed and unable to pay their mortgages and lose their homes; all of which has exacerbated the rise in the level of crime at gunpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo stop the [port] project will cause hundreds of people not to be employed which would be yet another effort to stop our economy from any growth of jobs, and loss of revenue, which the government badly needs,\u201d Bush added.<\/p>\n

Bush also sought to address the role of the recently-appointed Budget Delivery Committee, chaired by Cayman Islands Deputy Governor Franz Manderson.<\/p>\n

\u201cCabinet must and will retain authority to steer the budget,\u201d Bush wrote to Simmonds. \u201cTheir analysis and reporting functions must support the work of Cabinet accordingly. If this is the sort of understanding you share, then the [committee] may be encouraged to get on with it, without further questions as their terms of reference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opposition politicians have questioned whether the budget committee would be taking away one of the key responsibilities of the Minister of Finance \u2013 namely, future financial planning.<\/p>\n

However, Bush asserted that he would remain Minister of Finance, despite the formation of the committee and that his office would appoint the committee\u2019s members.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the opposition People’s Progressive Movement (PPM) has warned that Bush\u2019s defiance could result in direct rule being imposed on the Cayman Islands by the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have only to consider what has happened in the Turks and Caicos Islands to understand what the need for intervention by the UK government will do to investor confidence in Cayman,\u201d the opposition party said in a statement released on Saturday. \u201cThe UK\u2019s suspension of the constitution of the Turks and Caicos Islands derailed its financial industry, destroyed small businesses and ruined the quality of life of its residents and citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026his foolishness is drawing the country into a completely unnecessary crisis, with no upside for Cayman, and a very deep downside. He is playing brinkmanship with the stability and economic fortunes of the country and in doing so he is inciting the UK to take actions which ought not to be necessary. This is more than merely irresponsible, it borders on treacherous,\u201d the PPM said.<\/p>\n

The opposition described Bush\u2019s \u201cdetermination to sign on to the CHEC project in defiance of the obvious principles of good governance set out in the FFR (which he signed last year) is inexplicable and irrational — except on the basis that he has lost his senses altogether, or that there is something in it for him personally.”<\/p>\n

By Caribbean News Now!<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cayman Islands Premier McKeeva Bush released a copy of a letter addressed to newly-appointed British Overseas Territories Minister Mark Simmonds rejecting a number of UK demands and raising fears locally that Britain may thereby be forced to impose direct rule as was done in relation to the Turks and Caicos Islands<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[256,587],"class_list":["post-27629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","tag-cayman-islands","tag-mckeeva-bush"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27629\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}