The news of the appointment of the Home Repairs Committee came from the Office of the Premier not by a press release. We had to find it via an advertisement the Cayman Islands Government placed in the Caymanian Compass.

The advertisement said the Office of the Premier is offering grants up to $10,000 to local home owners who need important structural or health and safety repairs to their house but who are not in a financial position to undertake the work.

The funds for this initiative are from the ForCayman Investment Alliance. Each application will be decided by the committee based on its own merits Reputable contractors will be required to submit written quotes on the repair work required by applicants.

No names of reputable contractors were supplied so, presumably, the applicant will have to ask for a name?

Other criteria is that members of the public applying for the grants must be 18 years, the property in need of repairs must be their sole residence, must be at least five years old, those persons already receiving mortgage relief will not be eligible for this additional grant unless there are extenuating circumstances, and priority will be given to health and safety repairs or homes where children are at risk.

Ezzard Miller, the independent member for North Side, described the advertisement as “preposterous, outrageous and unprecedented”.

He also pointed to the failure of the government to reveal who was on the committee describing it as another “state secret”.

“This is typical of the UDP style of doing business,” Miller said. “There are proper and existing channels to give money to those in need. To politicise it in this way is totally unacceptable.”

He called on the Office of the Auditor General to closely scrutinise this latest government imitative.