Former Deputy Governor and civil servant chief, Donovan Ebanks gave a significant boost and status to the campaigners for one man, one vote at the next general election by publicly adding his name to petition. Signing outside the George Town, town hall last Tuesday (3) in what has been described as an historic occasion, Ebanks said he hoped his decision to sign would encourage all civil servants who supported the petition’s goal to sign without fear of sanction.

He advised any civil servants who still have any reservations about signing any petition including this one to seek out the new deputy governor (Donovan Ebanks) because he would reassure them. He said, “I think the policy is sound. I think it gives a clear set of rules.”

Ezzard Miller who has spearheaded the campaign for one man, one vote and the petition said, “It’s going to be a tremendous boost for the cause. He [Donovan Ebanks] was the architect behind the policy……as he has always supported an increase in freedoms for civil servants.”

With the campaign gaining ever more momentum, the premier and his governing UDP party seem to be getting more isolated, and their reasons for not granting what seems to be the vast majority of the public’s wishes even more ridiculous.

The only unanimous cry the UDP members seem to all agree on is ‘to hold a referendum will be very costly to the country’. I agree with them. So give in and pass the necessary legislation to instigate the one man, one vote system that is used almost universally everywhere else in the world.

Our premier, Hon. McKeeva Bush, has finally acknowledged, after much speculation, that his government (I use the word ‘his’ deliberately as he seems to like to use it) will be giving up passenger fees in order to pay for the non borrowing of money or guaranteeing any loans for the development of cruise berthing facilities in George Town.

With the expiration this weekend of the extended MOU with China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), the premier said there were still things to consider about the deal before he signed the major definitive agreement with CHEC. He also said that negotiations about the share of profits in time and the opportunity for investment in the upland element were still not finalised but the development could start in September.

He gave these reassuring words when he was speaking to CITN-Cayman 27 via phone from Houston Texas last Monday (2): “We want to make sure that we are doing the right thing before we sign this agreement. We believe that we have the best partner in China Harbour but we have to make certain.”

How long has this “partnership” been in existence? Bush signed the first MOU with CHEC at least ten months ago after pulling out of talks with the then potential partner GLF construction in April last year. And that cost the public purse CI$2 million to settle legal disputes with GLF outside the court even after the premier said the settlement would not cost the people of the Cayman Islands anything.

MLA Ellio Solomon, the government’s chief negotiator for the cruise facility, gave one of the reasons for government’s decision to opt out of the GLF deal was GLF had wanted to increase the passenger fees which according to Mr Solomon would have been detrimental to our cruise business as we were effectively pricing ourselves out of the market.

Now we learn from a “leaked” memo written by a KPMG consultant that “weighs George Town cruise berthing proposals by GLF Construction Company and ‘Developer B’ – presumably CHEC.”

In the memo to the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands Board of Directors raised concerns about several aspects of Developer B’s proposal, including increased passenger fees, no guarantees from cruise lines and the effective removal of the Port Authority from daily operations of the cruise port. The increased passenger fee in the memo was stated as being in the region of US$35 compared to GLF’s proposed fee of US$17.26 or $18.85.

Not surprisingly, Mr Solomon is furious. “It’s an inappropriate use of a document because someone is trying to tie it into existing negotiations, and I consider that to be reckless and irresponsible,” he said. “It jeopardises the negotiations that the government has with China Harbour.”

I am very confused and even more so when Ellio opined that because GLF were seeking a bond with a bank to cover the financing they in fact didn’t have the required financing. Perhaps Ellio doesn’t understand the meaning of construction bonds in Building Agreements.

Although Mr Solomon assured us that CHEC would not be charging passenger fees anywhere near the $35 one can only wonder if he really knows. He also said Chinese workers will rent local facilities and not live in temporary work camps (read ‘tents’). And don’t forget his assurances “at least 75 to 80 per cent of the workers on the George Town port will be local.”

The Agreement with CHEC has technically run out.