I did not believe it would ever happen but it has.

The Party and nothing but the party.

Both Premier Alden McLaughlin and Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush, who have been for most of their time like my dog Sugar snarling and attacking the Rottweilers she passes every morning during our walk, agree! The party system is the best way forward for the Cayman Islands.

In the modern world today you have to be strong and make tough decisions. As has been proved by history, the popular opinion of the people, that has for some degree been motivated through the media, is often not right.

You need a united front to pass legislation that at the time is painful but in the long run reaps benefits that could not be imagined at the time. But leaders lead by vision and they are not led.

The independents who are running now and were once part of their parties are wrong to have left. You cannot fight outside. You have to stay the course and fight from within if you have a disagreement. You don’t flee the coup. It is a disservice to the people who voted you in when you were elected.

McLaughlin in his speech last week in Cayman Brac when he launched the Progressives campaign said a group of independents voted into the Legislative Assembly would meet, have a prayer and then devise a plan on the morning after elections to form a government was a pipe dream.

“A group of independents cannot run this country; it will be chaos; it will be disaster,” he said, “The party system was not about everyone mindlessly smiling at and agreeing with each other.” He explained there were internal battles but there was a common purpose and that helped “steer the country in the right direction”.

Just because someone campaigning in the election is a good person doesn’t mean they would make a good elected official. You must be part of a team.

“Government needs consistency and continuity,” he stressed.

And the premier asked why was this cry that the Cayman Islands needs change?

I have to ask myself ‘change from what? And a change to what? Back to a gang of independents, many controlled by a doctor with oodles of money and an agenda that makes me very suspicious of the motive.

We have been down that road before and at times it wasn’t pretty. I am speaking as an expat who has lived here for 35 years! I am married to a Caymanian who was heavily involved in this early political scene and as the years went by the independents became joined at the hip as they recognised the need to become a team.

The only area of concern this government has failed in is immigration. They have admitted it and not tried to defend it.

We need experience now and not a bunch of amateurs who will bring us down the road to a change.

A change not for the better.

If that happens there will be no party.

At least a party anyone wants to be part of.

And that is where McLaughlin and McKeeva both agree on.