The Editor Speaks: Why does McKeeva like opening cans of worms?
If you open a “can of worms”, you do something that will cause a lot of problems, and quite frankly, is going to cause more problems than it’s worth.
Our premier, and you can’t keep him out of the news, has just opened another one. After, thankfully, putting an end to his own backbencher, Ellio Solomon’s idea of a national poll (that Ellio claimed was “resonating with voters”) Mr. Bush put forward his idea of double member constituencies of around 1,900 voters, where each voter gets two votes.
In order to do this you would have to demarcate the existing boundaries and that would mean problems for East End and North Side. They do not have 1.900 voters each and neither does the Sister Islands.
Mr. Bush acknowledged this saying on CITN-Cayman 27, “We have to figure out what to do with East End and North Side, who have single members, and we have to work with them so they are not disadvantaged in any way.”
Yes! Not surprisingly North Side MLA said he and Arden McLean, the member for East End, would now begin campaigning to have their districts constitutionally protected as single member constituencies in an effort to preserve them and the distinctive district representation.
As I have already said, it is incredulous that the premier has spent over $100,000 campaigning against the One Man, One Vote (OMOV) Referendum, saying the present system isn’t broke therefore doesn’t need fixing and OMOV would be divisive, and is opting to change it in favour of a divisive system.
Why won’t he do the obvious and do what the vast majority of the people want – OMOV?
Does he like all this confrontation?
And, even worse, if he does go ahead with this insanity the Sister Islands, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, will still have two votes as they are protected. How about that for equality?
Please come to your senses Mr. Bush. We don’t want a so called “bi-partisan committee” to examine the possibility of double member constituencies. Just give us what by 2-1 your people want. OMOV. It would solve one huge problem and put a lid on that can of worms.
