News
New Political Party Launched by Former Opposition Leader
(CIPP) The Cayman Islands has a new political party - the Cayman Islands People's Party. North Side MLA Mr. Ezzard Miller, MLA, made the announcement at a press conference today (Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2019). The key aim of the party, Mr. Miller said, is the strengthening of participatory democracy in the Cayman Islands by means of an involved and empowered electorate.
Wednesday's announcement follows six months of meetings by a group comprising students, a cross-section of the working population, political activists, retirees, and other concerned residents. Key outcomes of the meetings so far are the People's Party Constitution and the completion of the registration process.
The People's Party initiative, with its slogan "Empowering the People," is being led by Mr. Ezzard Miller, elected representative for North Side and former Leader of the Opposition.
Mr. Miller announced on Wednesday also that Mr. Donovan Ebanks, former Deputy Governor and Chief Secretary of the Cayman Islands Government, had been elected interim chairman of the party.
On assuming chairmanship, Mr. Ebanks said: "I'm pleased to have been invited to help Ezzard in this new initiative. We go back a long way and I have nothing but the highest regard for his integrity, his openness and transparency on issues and, most of all, the work he puts in. Hopefully the CIPP can provide a means for others of similar commitment to come together and contribute to the improvement of the governance of these islands."
Other interim officers are Mr. Gilbert Connolly, executive secretary, and Mr. Levon Bodden, treasurer.
Commenting on what compelled him to establish an alternative party, Mr. Miller said that the Cayman Islands People's Party (in short 'the People's Party') had "been conceived and formed to provide the people of the Cayman Islands with a more participatory style of party politics that will ensure government's accountability to the people."
From Mr. Miller's perspective, the failure to establish a regime of accountability to the people as a matter of common practice has played a key role in the growing disparity in wealth, health, and life chances for the average person living in the Cayman Islands.
Such accountability, Mr. Miller said, could only be achieved by means of a system that not only facilitated by but was well-grounded in the practice of two-way information.
The Constitution of the People's Party is structured to achieve this basic dynamic, so that every member--at all levels--becomes an integral partner in the process of governance.
For example, Mr. Miller said, the party will rest on a foundation of small neighbourhood groups, that will share information across communities and upwards to electoral district committees. The electoral district committees will in turn be represented in a national steering committee that will ensure that the people's needs are understood and actioned. In the same way, information will travel down to and across communities and neighbourhoods.
In this way, Mr. Miller said, the people will be empowered to participate in a meaningful way to ensure a truly democratic, free and just society.
"We are particularly concerned, also, about the achievement of sustainable development, in which there is balance between economic growth, care for the environment, and social wellbeing," Mr. Miller said. "Otherwise, we will continue to place at great risk future generations of Caymanians."
The founding group is extending an invitation to interested members of the community to join them in the continuing process of establishing the party, Mr. Miller said. For further information, interested persons should email peoplesparty345@gmail.com, he said.
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