Less than a month ago, I lamented that the Government was failing Caymanian families and businesses in the tourism sector.  At the time, both newspapers reported on public doubts about the continuation of stipend assistance for families and the financial support for small businesses struggling with a slow tourism recovery.  Members of the Opposition were also receiving calls of concern.   And so, I spoke out. The Government said we were wrong.

Yet on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, members of the Opposition received several messages from constituents telling us that their tourism stipend was being stopped.  Apparently, after completing another tourism stipend survey, they were now deemed to be in ‘full-time employment’ and no longer qualified as a displaced tourism worker.  Without the stipend assistance, they said they would struggle to support their families. I am sure that the elected Government members received similar calls and messages of alarm.  And I understand that there were concerned and angry constituents at the Government Administration Building on Wednesday.   

And so, one day later, on Thursday, February 17^th, there is a press release from the Deputy Premier backtracking and promising the over 600 persons impacted that he would not cut them off entirely as he had planned.   Rather than receiving the usual monthly stipend of $1,500 they will receive $1,000 in February and $750 in March.  After which, they will be assessed yet again.

I suppose this revised plan is better than the initial one to cut people off entirely with no chance for even an assessment.  But it is hardly fair.  I would have preferred that the Government take the opposite approach and assess the 600 plus recipients to determine their individual circumstances before making random cuts.

No one would want the Government to provide a stipend to someone who is now fully employed in a regular job and making sufficient money to care for their families and pay their mortgage and other commitments.  We can agree that.  But the review process must be correct, and it must be fair to ensure that Government is doing right by people whose lives have been turned upside down.

Last year when the Government threatened to cut the stipend, the reason given was that recipients were working or would soon return to work.  But, when the Tourism Ministry did their initial survey of stipend recipients, the results showed that their assumptions were not so cut and dried and the stipend remained.  The data indicated that, among other things: 

·       About 55% of the stipend recipients were over 46 years old.

·       70% had been involved with tourism for over six years.

·       49% of the recipients, some 1,537 people, were not employed.

·       51% or 1,570 had some employment.

·       Of those employed, only 35%, or 549 people, worked up to 5 days a week, and only 412 persons worked more than 30 hours per week. And 70% of those employed indicated that they needed another job to supplement their income.

Effectively, most stipend recipients were in our older population and may find it hard to get jobs paying more than they earned from tourism.  Of those with some employment, most did not work regular hours, were underemployed, and made insufficient income to survive adequately.  Only 26% of those employed worked more than 30 hours weekly. 

The survey did not determine whether income earned was sufficient to meet the stipend recipients’ needs and adequately replace their income from tourism.  The majority still needed help to supplement any income they made to keep a roof over their heads, put food on the table, pay utilities, and survive. 

This information was presented at a press briefing on August 5^th, 2021, and can be found on the CIG YouTube channel:  https://youtu.be/M3XWLDXrFFc?t=2842

The Deputy Premier should have considered this report and given sufficient consideration and empathy to those 600 and more tourism workers who have been negatively impacted – even if they are now employed or partly employed. The fact that the Deputy Premier was prepared to remove them altogether, before the hue and cry began, illustrates that he did not think this through sufficiently. He provided no actual updated statistics, so how certain can he be that their current “full employment” provides them sufficient income?  Particularly as we are entering a period of increasing cost of living.   

Government should have interviewed the impacted stipend recipients first to determine whether their circumstances warranted the continuation of a stipend payment. 

I ask the Government to reconsider and do the right thing for over 600 Caymanian families and assess their situation individually before making any reductions.  

In addition, the Government should provide the statistics from their updated Tourism Stipend Survey, as was done in August of 2021.  Let the public, including the stipend recipients, understand what the changing circumstances are.

The Government may ignore our request to reconsider their approach and be fairer to the tourism stipend recipients, but they will continue to hear from the Opposition whenever we believe that they are failing our people.