At a meeting with the press last Thursday (29) Dr Peter Hayes, the new Overseas Territories (OT) Director, said he would not be questioning every decision the Cayman Islands government would be making but financial parameters had been set between the United Kingdom (UK) and Cayman and these were the boundaries that had to be adhered to.

This was not the ‘spin” that Premier McKeeva Bush had put on the Framework for Financial Responsibility (FFR) giving the impression that he had to get permission from the UK before any decision could be made. The OT Director categorically said the government was free to make decisions within those boundaries.

“We are not second guessing every decision,” he said.

With the rhetoric coming from other United Democratic Party (UDP) backbenchers, especially George Town MLA Ellio Solomon, the complete opposite impression was given. Solomon wanted a referendum called to decide whether Caymanians are ready for the implication of the new edict from the British government.

Solomon together with other UDP backbenchers, Cline Glidden and Dwayne Seymour voted “No” to the FFR becoming transposed into law.

According to Solomon, the implication of the new legislation is adverse to government operations. The new law is “a set of sticks” that will cripple the government of the Cayman Islands he said.

The premier, although voting for the FFR added his two pennyworth saying, “God help us if it [the FFR] proves to be negative as some experts have suggested.”

Dr. Hayes admitted the nature of the relationship between the UK and its territories can be tense as a result of the UK’s obligations and responsibilities. “However,’ he said, “it is important that differences do not become personal. Parties should retain a cool professional attitude so they can work together to face the current challenges common to countries all over the world.”

He even said the UK was not opposed to the development of cruise berthing facilities.

“I have seen for myself the importance of cruise tourism when I saw five cruise ships that morning in the harbor,” he said. “However, the UK’s concern is to ensure that if the Cayman government was spending a significant amount of money on such a large project it did not end up regretting its decision years down the line when it was still paying back the costs. The government has to ensure value for money, hence the need to focus on the process.”

Now how can any sensible person argue with that?

As for the Dart deal, the ForCayman Investment Alliance (FCIA), Cayman Islands Governor, H.E. Duncan Taylor implied the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) viewed it differently to the cruise berthing facilities at the George Town Port and the expansion of Owen Roberts International Airport. The deal between Dart and government was not a traditional procurement as it involved a complex set of crown assets being swapped in exchange for a private sector development.

He did, however, indicate Richard Holmwork, the UK’s economic advisor, should look at the project.

The major reason a lot of the community is against the project, other than the “not in my back door” group, is the secrecy surrounding the terms of the Dart deal.

Even the deal’s preliminary proposals were not voluntarily given to the public but were leaked to North Side MLA, Ezzard Miller, who sent a copy to one of the local media houses who published them.

Some of the revelations indicated that not everything we had been told by government was exactly as it first appeared. Then, one of the government agencies party to the preliminary signing of one part of the deal, the National Roads Authority, filed a complaint to the police. This started an investigation and Miller was first confronted by a police officer who wanted to interview him outside a public coffee house!

A review of the Deal was carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers earlier this year but has never been made public.

No wonder adverse publicity has resulted with accusations from the premier, that there are factions within Cayman’s society intent on ruining the “beloved Cayman Islands.”

Actually, it is the opposite intent. Secrecy was NOT what the UDP government campaigned on but open government.

I have to ask where has there been any openness in this deal or in the cruise berthing one that got stopped by the UK with China Harbour Engineering Company? We even learnt that the government’s new negotiator for that deal, Chartered Quantity Surveyor, Alastair Paterson, had also advised to keep everything secret until after it had been signed!

So the UK views The Cayman Islands as someone to watch closely but will not interfere if we keep to within our fences and do not stray out on the other side. How oft, though, the pastures on the other side seem greener.