Stuart Jack

Participatory democracy in the Cayman Islands

Democracy in the Cayman Islands will be healthier the more people that participate in one form or another. The most fundamental form of participation is voting in elections and referenda – as we saw in May there is always an encouragingly high turn out.

A lot of local people also give service through membership of the boards of statutory authorities and government-owned companies or those that deal, for example, with immigration or planning approvals. Or through involvement in non-governmental organisations, many of which offer policy ideas to government as well as services to the public and can sometimes contribute to the checks and balances (notably the Human Rights Committee). The churches play a big role.

Keep the ideas flowing

The problems of the economy and public finances in Cayman present some serious challenges. But there has been at least one positive to come out of this: lots of individual members of the public as well as representatives of various interests and groups – from the Chamber of Commerce to the Civil Service Association – have come up with ideas how to make government more efficient, save money and increase revenue, or how not to. The talk shows, blogs and newspaper letter columns have been full of suggestions and healthy debate. Some suggestions and comments have come in response to this blog too.

I welcome this outpouring of comments, whether or not I personally agree with each one. And I believe that it is beholden on government to look at the many ideas, even if of course some are more realistic than others.

The anonymity of callers to the talk shows and contributors to blogs enables more people to speak up. I understand the difficulty in a small community of openly criticising people or organisations. I would like to see as many people as possible have their say, including – with certain conditions – civil servants (see my response to a reader’s comment on my blog for 11 August). But it would be better if more people felt they did not have to rely on anonymity. I sometimes do not feel totally comfortable when anonymity seems to allow of slanderous comments and a lack of civility that goes beyond the informality of these media or goes

against the usual standards of Caymanian courtesy.

In some cases, in putting forward suggestions and comments, vested interests are fighting their corner. That is natural enough and a common feature of a democracy but the more openly and transparently it is done – rather than behind closed doors or clothed in anonymity – the better.

The new Constitution

It is for the country’s elected representatives and in particular the elected government to lead and take decisions on most subjects and in doing so one would expect them to act in the broad national interest. Under the new Constitution, which I hope to bring into force before I leave at the end of November, there will be a further shift of responsibility to them, and quite rightly so.

But there is another feature of the new Constitution which has not had the attention it deserves. As part of stronger checks and balances members of the public will sit on new independent bodies such as those that deal with the Constitution or human rights or that appoint judges. A new Commission for Standards in Public Life will have a wide remit, including how the government boards I mentioned earlier are appointed and how everyone involved in government conduct themselves.

Hopefully the new advisory district councils will also result in greater public participation in running the country, though it may take a while to set these up.

Posted at 20:26 10 September 2009 by Stuart Jack  |  Comments[1]