During meetings there is an agenda item that allows persons to read the minutes of the previous meetings. After the reading of the minutes, there is another agenda item called “errors and omissions” which identifies any mistakes and missing items.

Errors and omissions

In reading the latest episode of Michael Fahy’s “Caymanian Quest”, there are quite a number of incorrect statements.

• “A state-of-the-art incinerator”

It would be impossible for Mr Fahy to point out any such infrastructure in the Cayman Islands, as it does not exist. They still use landfill.

• “Allow taller buildings”

Perhaps Mr Fahy should have a word with the different organisations that object to almost every proposed development for hotels and office buildings. At present, there are three proposals for hotels in Warwick, all of which have been the subject of objections. Only because of ministerial intervention is the Brookfield building in Hamilton proceeding. I don’t recall Mr Fahy ever standing up in public support of any of these developers.

• “Mutualise government departments per the Free Democratic Movement’s suggestion”

Well, it didn’t take him long to throw Marc Bean under the bus. Mr Fahy is actually attempting to rewrite history. It was under his watch as home affairs minister that the One Bermuda Alliance proposed to mutualise or privatise government departments.

• “The United Bermuda Party is gone”

While in government, the majority of OBA ministers were formerly members of the UBP. As it stands now, one third of their existing parliamentarians — Michael Dunkley, Susan Jackson and Doug De Couto — are former UBP members.

The UBP ethos still exists.

Hypocrisy

The reality is that the vast majority of the Caymanian workforce is not in the international business sector, but in construction and hospitality. As stated above, almost every recent proposal for hotels in Bermuda is met with objections by groups that Mr Fahy will never publicly speak against.

If hotel construction is delayed or cancelled because of objections, then how on earth can the construction and hospitality industry and workforce grow?

Here are a few other points that bear repeating:

• Bermuda: 21 square miles with a population of 63,000

• Cayman Islands: 108 square miles; population 85,000

• Bermudians are the majority; Cayman Islanders are the minority

Our progress cannot be via giving away status and allowing us to become a minority in our own island, as is the case in Turks & Caicos Islands, British Virgin Islands and, yes, Cayman Islands.

Mr Fahy and others speak glowingly about how easy it is for persons to move to Cayman Islands, gain status and purchase property — almost as if it is utopia for all. Yet they never once speak about the knock-on effects this has for native Caymanians, as increased populations have caused rising costs of living, insurance and housing.

In closing, Mr Fahy and others leave out the fact that the vast majority of those on work permits in the Cayman Islands are from the Caribbean. So if Mr Fahy and others can say an increase of Caribbean nationals is a positive thing for the Cayman Islands, why do these same folks paint it as a negative for Bermuda?

• Christopher Famous is the government MP for Devonshire East (Constituency 11). You can reach him on WhatsApp at 599-0901 or e-mail at carib_pro@yahoo.com