Our Country is on a course to disaster. Political partisanship has divided us, crushed our economy, and bullied us all into feeling like we’ve lost the voice that allows us to holdour leaders accountable.

This political partisanship is a result of our governments making decisions primarily for the benefit of their own parties, their party leaders, or special interest groups that support their parties rather than making decisions that are best for the people of our Country as a whole.

There are many reasons why the party system has not worked well in Cayman – but the fatal flaw of our system is the fact that there are only two parties represented in government. So the party that elects the majority of members is given free reign to run the government without any checks or balances – and the members of the opposing party become irrelevant.

Under this system, our “two-party system” becomes a partisan dictatorship. Our premier and the majority party can propose radical policies – like new taxes to pay for their financial indiscretions – and the opposing party, or everyday citizens, are helpless in their opposition.

There has to be a better way of running our Country. There must be a system of checks and balances that will force party leaders to justify their policies and decisions, build consensus outside of their own political allies, and be accountable for their actions at all times, not just on Election Day.

Holding government and all elected representatives accountable is the major driver in the creation of Coalition for Cayman. The public awareness efforts of C4C will help build the necessary national awareness about the need for less partisanship. But more importantly, C4C fills a critical void in reinforcing the vital role independent representatives play in bringing balance to our government and making sure that our leaders are putting the Country and its people before politics.

So much is at stake in next year’s elections, and the political parties will do anything – say anything – to discredit the threat that C4C poses to their power. Often a political party’s single goal is to take control (or maintain control) of the government for their own benefit, because anything short of that will leave them powerless and in their minds without a voice. Despite their most desperate messages, the current state of our Country’s affairs speaks to the dangers of giving any one party too much control. We have seen the evidence of this over the last decade.

Under both parties leadership, our Country has incurred record debt – in fact, today every citizen of Cayman is responsible for $30,000 of our Country’s national debt. Without checks and balances offered by independent leaders in our LA, the UDP has nearly spent our Country into bankruptcy, and their excessive borrowing has forced us into non compliance with our Country’s public finance laws – creating an unnecessarily tense relationship with the UK.

Ironically, the UDP blames decisions made under PPM’s watch for the Cayman national debt – but the fact is both parties are responsible. Under a two-party system that lacks proper checks and balances, over the past decade the Country’s national debt has increased more than 500%. And as a result, hardworking Caymanians are left to pay the price. Our citizens and small businesses are strapped with higher fees, and the higher cost of doing business has reduced the number of good-paying jobs. Higher debt has led toreduced government services, concerns over meeting future pension obligations, and the simple fact that right now our Country cannot afford even the most basic of infrastructure needs.

The simple truth is that unbridled party politics has contributed to a lower standard of living for every Caymanian and residents alike.

We can debate political philosophy, refute inaccuracies, and talk in theory all day long, but there is no denying that the current state of our government is dismal, and it is the result of a decade of free reign by both parties. And if we don’t change things now, wewill lose our Country forever.

The purpose of C4C is to bring an end to the divisive party system. We seek to endorse independent minded and objective candidates who will unite in the best interests of the country, behind good ideas, provide checks and balances that will stall bad policy, restore the concept of working together through consensus and to make sure that our leaders are accountable. Leaders who will always serve the best interest of our citizens and our Country.