Independent candidate for Bodden Town West, Chris Saunders, was handed the seat on a plate when Leader of the Progressives, Alden McLaughlin, decided not to take part in the CITN/Cayman27 National TV debate last Thursday (18).

When leader of the Cayman Democratic Party (CDP), McKeeva Bush, announced he would not be attending, McLaughlin, along with his colleague, Moses Kirkconnell also said they would not be there. Jonathan Piercy of the CDP still attended but the Progressives did not send anyone.

With the Progressive’s fighting the Bodden Town West seat with newcomer, Maxine Bodden-Robinson, it was always going to be a very hard seat for them to win. And Chris Saunders is fighting very, very hard for it. He is well known, he is articulate, and he says what is popular at the moment.

He took big advantage of it. His accusations were outrageous but drew huge applause. He didn’t have to give any suggestions how to fix what he perceived had been done and underachieved by the progressives’ governments so he didn’t.

Moderator, Tammi Sulliman, occasionally tried to come to the rescue of the Progressives when even she could hear the claims made by Saunders were suspect and tried her best to correct them, but it was like a mouse standing up to a road roller. She, not surprisingly, ran away.

And Jonathan Piercy also did his bit in bashing the Progressives.

If you want to win an election you have to fight for every seat. And the progressives gave at least one away.

Why wasn’t Maxine Bodden-Robinson there? She could easily have dodged the really bad Progressives one on Immigration (I wasn’t a member of the LA now but I will be next Thursday) and explained what their solution now is. Having listened to Maxine she would have been quite capable of standing up to the rants and rage from Saunders.

Saunders described it as “offensive to the Caymanian people” no one from the Progressives was there.and rightfully said if “you want to hold national office you need to come here”.

The Progressives proudly back their leader giving Saunders the opportunity to shout “Where is his leadership tonight?” There was a thunderous shout, applause and people standing up at that.

And listen to this Saunders comment: concerning the new attorneys bill being withdrawn: “Remember it was the regular people off the streets that lobbied to kill this bill. Remember that the next time when people are losing their homes. Go out with your legal degrees and help the people.”

And Independent Kent Mctaggart seized on that to add his pennyworth “The fact that there were 60 to 80 amendments just on the government side shows a complete lack of confidence and inability as far as I am concerned.”

McKeeva Bush told the organisers of the debate (Hurley Media) he would not attend because he was unhappy with a recent segment on the Crosstalk morning radio talk show on Rooster 101 (Hurley Media). Oh give me a break!!

What an excuse?

With an election just a few days away and many, many voters to sway the Progressives have just made a huge dent in their chances of being re-elected and precious little time of doing any damage control.

With some very small numbers to be counted in the electoral districts every vote counts. Seats can be won with the slimmest of margins – yes- even ONE!

I headed my Editorial “How to hand over a seat in one easy lesson – don’t fight for it”. I hope with all my heart it is not “SEATS”!