Date: Thursday, 3 April 2025
Candidates
- Anthony Ramoon (TCCP)
- Carmen McField (CINP)
- Kenneth Bryan (PPM)*
*Incumbent
The forum
Former star footballer Anthony Ramoon of The Caymanian Community Party went into the George Town Central debate looking to hit the net a few times.
But defender Kenneth Bryan, now deputy leader of the People’s Progressive Movement, used his eight years as the area’s MP, experience and membership of a team that had been in government in his bid to score another term in Parliament.
The Cayman Islands National Party’s Carmen McField banked on her credentials in financial services as well as community work to help her win over the electorate.
Key issues
All three candidates agreed that the high cost of living, housing and healthcare, better education, as well as the need to boost the economy while keeping immigration down to sustainable levels were major matters the next government would have to address.
McField, who also singled out flooding problems in George Town, said, “We must make cost of living affordable for all. It’s a must. It’s a necessity.”
She added the next government also had to create opportunities for Caymanians, prioritise education, healthcare and housing, strengthening our economy and “securing our borders”.
She added she also wanted to create “more environmental sustainability” and ensure government “was here to put Caymanians first”.
Bryan said his top priorities were “housing, cost of living and immigration”.
He added, “Immigration covers a lot of those other effects because, obviously, with the high level of population we have on the island and the abuses of the immigration system is preventing many Caymanians from getting employment opportunities.
“So, it’s interconnected. It’s also increasing the cost of housing, which is another concern, particularly for Caymanian first-time homeowners and those young people who are coming back home from school.
“So probably the biggest issue would be immigration, because it’s interconnected to all the other matters, whether it’s cost of living, housing, traffic and even crime.”
Ramoon also plumped for cost of living and education, as well as “workforce sustainability” and housing.
He said, “Cost of living affects everyone in this country, whether you’re rich or poor, but it would have more impact in terms of those that are economically challenged and looking at lowering the cost of living, looking at your electricity bill, food, house insurance and health insurance, those are some of the key components.”
He added his party was also looking at the “entire education system” and how to build a system “fit for purpose”, how they could examine present industries in Cayman and “how we can address and sustain these employment opportunities”.
He added, “Housing is very critical. Land ownership, housing. Land is power … every Caymanian should have the opportunity to own land if they’re striving, whether that land comes in single storey or complexes. We have to look at that.”
George Town revitalisation
The candidates were quizzed on the bid to regenerate George Town, as well as parking availability and their satisfaction with the revitalisation efforts.
Bryan said, “I’m not satisfied with the redevelopment of George Town Central mainly because of the lack of infrastructure, particularly with sewage, is one of the biggest hurdles and, yes, parking is a big problem.”
He added that planning laws should be “adjusted to not mandate such large parking requirements for development”.
Bryan said that property owners in the area should be given incentives to allow them to redevelop, particularly residential redevelopment.
He added cruise ships were a “key component” for the area and that upgrading or replacing the existing cargo shipping terminal should be a priority.
Bryan said, “As our population continues to grow, so will our cargo. That means more and trucks going through central George Town. … The two worlds can’t live together.”
He said if there was support for the cruise ship terminal and “moving cargo out of town”, that would “bring life back to the area”.
Ramoon said the town was “dying” and that the country had not “built a Cayman product for the last ten years or more”.
He said George Town needed more open space and amenities such as shade, benches and restrooms.
He said mixed commercial and residential development could be created but “at the end of the day, where would the life be in town?”
McField agreed revitalisation was “a dying attempt” and she was not sure if it was completed “because all I’m seeing is pavers on the ground”.
She said more consultation with people who own property and businesses in town should have been done to inform decisions and that businesses had lost revenue as a result.
She added, “There’s things to be done at the port, there’s things to be done with the roads. There’s things to be done with businesses.”
Cost of living
The panel was asked how they would ease the pressure on those struggling with the high cost of living in George Town and across the country.
Ramoon said more work could be done with the supermarkets to improve food security through the development of alternative routes and bringing in foodstuffs from a wider variety of countries, such as Panama, other Central American countries and Jamaica.
He added that electricity costs could be cut by working with the utility company to improve energy efficiency in homes and greater use of renewable energy.
Ramoon added mortgage terms could be extended from 30 years to up to 60 to ease “monthly constraints”.
McField agreed more use could be made of Cayman’s connections with the Caribbean and Caricom to find cheaper sources of food.
She added government should install solar panels on all its buildings and in car parks and use the savings generated to fund spending in areas like support for seniors, healthcare and support for struggling families.
Bryan said cost of living was “a complex issue” and that “the best way to support our people is to leave more money in their pockets, address the things that we can control and try to make sure that Caymanians are getting paid a fair wage to afford the things that we can’t control”.
He added the PPM also planned to tackle “the cost of healthcare for children”.
He said, “We will alleviate some pressures on families with that and also for those who are retired, we are intending to increase the cap of available pension payments to seniors, because the current cap is obviously not reflective of the cost within the Cayman Islands now.”
Notable exchanges
Housing supply raised the temperature of the debate when the panel was asked if they would support the implementation of 2009 legislation to protect people who rent their homes — more than 50% of the Caymanian population.
McField said, “It circles right back to our immigration issue. We need to get our immigration laws revised.
“The laws that are working, we work with them; the laws that aren’t working, we need to amend these laws”
She accused previous governments of “kicking the can down the road”, but the topic “stems to every little issue, housing, everything else.”
McField added it was a “free for all” in Cayman and workers “came in day after day” and that the country “could build from here to in the middle of the sky somewhere and we still have to address our immigration issues”.
She said, “This island is so big and it can only take so much and no more.”
Bryan said the next government would have to examine the legislation and “see if it’s comfortable for them”.
He added there were many quality rental homes on the island but that “we have to recognise that there are a lot of them that are not”.
But he warned that if there was too much enforcement that would cause another set of problems and worsen the situation.
Bryan said, “I think what we need to do is work with the private sector to add more housing stock to the market while at the same time reducing the amount of people that are here, particularly because I believe there’s probably about a solid 3% of the people here that don’t need to be here because there’s no work for them.
“This is one of the problems of uncontrolled immigration by allowing so much growth without the necessary infrastructure like housing available for them to live in.”
Ramoon agreed “it should be a priority for the next government to be looking at rentals”.
He said that there was potential for abuse and that people “may be aware of the quality of some of the rentals that are out there and the amount of money they are still charging”.
Ramoon added, “We also have to look and see” whether a rental commission was required.
Standout moments
McField turned up the volume when it came to a discussion on the Cayman tourism industry.
She said, “We are the biggest product of our tourism. Caymanians. We are the product. Caymanians, we have to sell ourselves. We have to get a proper facility in George Town for Caymanians that are out there selling the products.
“We need to have more Caymanians going back into hospitality. We’ve lost that. So the product is the people, the product is the country, the product is those beaches, those lovely beaches that we see eroding away, being destroyed.”
McField added that the industry was also harmed by people who arrived in the country and were “going to the beaches and committing crimes”.
Ramoon said a balance had to be struck between “quantity and quality” in tourism and that the island needed “stayover and cruise tourism”.
He added, “Tourists come here to interact with Caymanians. Again, we are a disappearing product.”
He added, “When we look at our beaches … we have to address our beaches. How do we then address that?”
Bryan said that tourism had to be devolved away from the western side of the island to other areas, which was why the East-West Arterial road was “so important”, so cruise passengers could get to eastern areas of the country easily.
He added that the restoration of the Seven Mile Beach was a top priority because “beach erosion is seriously affecting our tourism product”.
