By Peter Polack

A significant part of the Caribbean community are the anachronistic relics of yesterday, the U.K. Colonies such as the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands and Monserrat. The gleaming jewel in the British Crown is the Cayman Islands which is described by a recent report as number four in the list of top countries holding US Treasury securities of 442 Billion US Dollars with the U.K. second with 858 Billion. That report positioned Japan at number one with just over a Trillion dollars but failed to consider that the UK and Cayman are as one and properly number one in the list of holders of US Treasury securities with 1.3 Trillion dollars.

This may surprise some but the Cayman Islands has always been in lockstep with the U.K. in human rights, even reluctantly, and constitutional modernization. Cayman does not allow the ultimate political leadership to pursue election beyond two successive terms unlike many countries of the world. What is surprising is that Cayman has not pursued a recall petition of their elected politicians like the UK which enshrined that requirement in 2015.

In the UK, a criminal conviction or breach of certain parliamentary standards can trigger a recall petition for removal of members of parliament.

It may well be that Cayman and many other jurisdictions shy away from recall provisions in their constitutions because sitting legislators have criminal convictions.

The close margins of past majority governments have also required the inclusion of less than desirable candidates for party or group membership.

Trinidad has flirted with the recall idea but it remains a pipe dream for the moment.

So what now?

Cayman can continue to lead the way not only in US Treasury investment but constitutional advancement to truly give power to the people, for better or worse. This would again follow the example of Mother England with the hope that others will rise up and dance.

The opportunity is ripe now with a squeaky clean new government and many first time legislators who have no baggage from their past to deter a necessary constitutional provision for the future of their society.

Time will tell.

Notes

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2612093/business-economy

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05089

Peter Polack is a former criminal lawyer in the Cayman Islands. His books are The Last Hot Battle of the Cold War: South Africa vs. Cuba in the Angolan Civil War (2013); Jamaica, The Land of Film(2017); and Guerrilla Warfare: Kings of Revolution (2019). He was a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Warfare (2013). His latest book is a compendium of Russian espionage activities 1940-88.