The astonishing revelation the David Ritch review of the Cayman Islands Immigration Law will not be published left me wondering if the present government actually wants to get re-elected.

In Premier McLaughlin’s view the advice “is subject to legal professional privilege. As such, the advice is not intended for publication.”

Oh dear.

So government will announce the changes to the Immigration Law, especially as it pertains to Permanent Residency  and we are left to judge they are in accordance with this “legal professional privilege.”

I am very, very sorry to have to say “I don’t buy it”.

I have learnt the Cayman Compass have filed an open records request for the consultant’s report under the Freedom of Information Law.

It is no wonderment at all to me why the premier is anxious to have an Ombudsman. I have said enough on that topic and this is the number one area of strong disagreement I have with him.

The permanent residency policy by this government is a fiasco [not one PR granted by this government since they came to power] and an article penned by James Bovell and published by the aforesaid Cayman Compass gives a strong warning the “pleasing growth [to Real Estate] over the past two and a half years, may falter as a result”.

Government, I am sure, have read the article and I hope they are taking his warnings very seriously.

It was I presume written before it was made known the Ritch report would not be made public as Bovell refers to it.

Bovell goes on to say, “I fear that the two years that it has taken to commission and complete the report are two years too late, and the uncertainty which this delay has caused individuals has done irreparable harm to the real estate industry, because, in the long run, people are less likely to want to move here. It creates conflict in the marketplace and another devaluing of the marketplace because the uncertainty forces people to sell who wouldn’t normally.

“The issue has been brought into sharp focus, with good people now deciding to leave the Cayman Islands along with their families. This means people will start to sell their homes for the wrong reasons – not because they want to upgrade, but because they want to leave, in effect, having to sell not because of true market forces but because they don’t have stability. This therefore leads to people selling at lower prices than the true value of the market, which is a detriment to the real estate industry as a whole.

“It is absolutely vital that government gets back on track with granting PR [Permanent Residency] immediately because people are deciding right now whether to book their children into school for the upcoming school year, usually beginning in September, or to move their families and ultimately themselves back to their home countries in time for the school year there.”

You can read the whole article at: https://www.caymancompass.com/2016/07/26/bovell-pr-fiasco-could-harm-real-estate-environment/

I 100% agree with him but more times than not advice from experts will not be taken if the powers that be or just the power does not agree with it. So he or she finds an expert that does. Or he or she will not publish all of the expert advice for a reason or two but will utilize the bits he or she does agree with.

It’s rather like the media isn’t it? We don’t publish anything that might harm the particular stance we are taking over an issue.

It reminds me of a lecture I went to when I was involved in television given by a well known producer and activist. He told us if you wanted to make people believe the earth was flat you ask as many persons as you can find who believe it is. There might be thousands who say the earth is round. However, you have found three idiots who agree with you. So you produce your documentary with all three of these idiots’ views. You only publish the one sensible view. You slant your whole documentary to fit your view the earth is flat and put in a conspiracy theory that it is governments tampering with all the evidence. They do not want people to know that is how they get rid of activists. They drop them all off the edge of the world.

Hmm. You know there might be something in that.

Perhaps I will go on that radio morning talk show and convince one of the presenters there. I could really start something.

If it were true it would solve an awful lot of government’s problems with the media.

But it still wouldn’t solve the problem government could soon face with the real estate market.

They had better do something sensible PDQ!

And PDQ will be the subject of another Editorial.