Date: Thursday, 27 March 2025
Candidates
- Katherine Ebanks-Wilks (TCCP)*
- Jewel Hydes (IND)
*incumbent
The forum
A two-way race is underway in West Bay Central between defending candidate Katherine Ebanks-Wilks of the Cayman Community Party, a former speaker of the House and ex-sustainability and climate resiliency minister, and independent Jewel Hydes, a qualified accountant who works in the financial services industry, as challenger for the seat.
Key issues
Both candidates singled out the high cost of living and affordable housing as major concerns for the Caymanian public.
Ebanks-Wilks said there were “high mortgage rates for those who own homes and high rental costs for those who rent”.
She said the country needed rent control and called for the proposed residential and tenancy act to be implemented “straight away”.
She added an “aggressive plan” should also be drawn up through the National Housing Development Trust.
Ebanks added there should also be controls on the price of electricity, but that the best way to do that was to remove external costs through the introduction of solar power.
She said that healthy eating should also be promoted, with more farm land created to help produce good food at affordable prices, and that education also required some hard work, with a focus on “deliverables”.
Hydes said “housing, employment and the cost of living” topped the agenda.
She added she was pleased to learn that Ebanks-Wilks still supported affordable housing, as she had spoken about the topic, particularly about the constituency’s run-down Apple Blossom Gardens site, during the Chamber of Commerce debate in 2021, but progress had been slow.
Hydes added there should be a proper housing assessment because the government did not have a clear idea of how many homes were needed.
She said, “Then the government needs to decide, realistically, how many homes can it build, because the government doesn’t have an infinite amount of resources.”
But she added apartment complexes could be built to create more efficient housing, rather than “one-floor” homes.
She added duty on fuel should be stopped for 12 to 18 months “at least” to ease the burden on households and that healthcare costs also had to be tackled.
Hydes said, “Another thing I would work on is a concession policy for developers in this country because we give a lot of concessions, but Caymanians are not really benefiting from that.”
Population growth
The two candidates were asked by the Chamber of Commerce panel if West Bay Central, with a population of close to 19,400 people and one of the fastest-growing districts, could cope with the pace of expansion.
Hydes said she was pleased the area was “such a popular community for people to live”, but still had fewer traffic problems than some other areas.
But she said that the creation of new apartment blocks and the increase in population would lead to more commuter traffic.
Hydes added, “Already we have some traffic issues, especially in the early morning when people are going to work.”
She singled out her own Mount Pleasant area, where the morning rush hour was “very bad” and it was difficult to get out from side streets onto main roads.
Ebanks-Wilks said she was concerned at the growth of the area, as well as across Grand Cayman as a whole.
She added, “The first thing I would ensure that, as a priority, the government implements a national development plan, something that has been kicked around for far too long.”
Ebanks-Wilks highlighted that the local clinic had been “maxed out” because of the amount of people in the area, and that the area’s primary school was “bursting at the seams” and classroom capacity should be increased.
She said pupils were “not getting a fair opportunity to thrive in an environment where everyone has the space to learn and grow”.
Ebanks-Wilks added that extra traffic-calming measures and lights should be considered for identified hotspots.
Cost-of-living crisis
Ebanks-Wilks said a key measure she wanted to see was a zero-finance, zero-down mortgage subsidised by the government to help people get a foot on the housing ladder.
She also said the suspension of fuel duty would not make as big a difference to the cost of power as renewable energy.
She added that people could now “get solar panels, put them on their roofs and not even have to run it into the grid”.
Ebanks-Wilks said, “But, again, what has to be finished is the implementation, which requires a cross-ministry approach, which will be rolled out with a government that is able to work together to get things done.”
Hydes said that a fuel duty moratorium for up to 18 months would lead to a 4% cut in consumer bills.
She added that former government minister Chris Saunders had brought a motion to the House of Parliament to give health care to children under 18 and those over 65, free at the point of use.
“I think he wanted it done by 2026, but, if elected, I would advocate for that to be sooner because people are hurting,” Hydes said.
“Also, I mentioned before the essential goods list that needs to be revisited. Things such as fruit and vegetables are not on the essential goods list and if they are put on, that would save consumers when they go to the store as well.”
Crime and community safety
The two were asked for their views on crime in the constituency and what could be done to improve community safety.
Hydes said that police statistics showed crime was on the rise, not just in West Bay Central but across the Cayman Islands.
She added the constituency had been hit with “a lot of burglaries, robberies at the convenience stores, at the gas stations”.
Hydes said, “How I would address this would be involving the police, having more police presence around the gas stations, around the commercial locations of various businesses, around the convenience stores, around the restaurants — make the police be more seen and more visible.”
She added she would also work with community police on training and education across West Bay, as well as the constituency, to “educate them on what to look for, what they should consider to be suspicious in regards to a robbery, how they should act if they get caught up in a robbery or some violent act”.
She claimed that some CCTV cameras in the area were broken and that they should be fixed as a matter of urgency.
But Ebanks-Wilks said that out-of-action cameras had already been repaired and were back in service, particularly the ones on Banker’s Road, where “a lot of activity was taking place” and that the neighbourhood has been calmer since.
She added that programmes designed to divert young people away from “environments where they could fall into crime” were already underway and that more work on education and diversion tactics would bring long-term benefits.
Ebanks-Wilks suggested a drive to recruit more Caymanian young people into the police service because “we need to have more boots on the ground”.
She added, “But, at the same time, I don’t want to discount what the police are doing, because I know that they are working very hard and we continue to work with them as elected officials, as civilians, and support them.”
Notable exchanges
The two clashed over the speed of redevelopment at the Apple Blossom Gardens development after Hydes accused rival Ebanks-Wilks of being too slow off the mark.
Hydes said, “I want the people of West Bay Central to know, yes, she broke ground almost one year ago. Now the ground was broken, but not one piece of steel has been laid.
“These people still remain in these derelict conditions that she spoke of in 2021.”
But Ebanks-Wilks later hit back that a she was not the minister responsible for construction of the homes.
She said, “I want to enlighten Ms. Hydes that, while I broke ground at Apple Blossoms, the only responsible person to lay blocks in that area falls under the remit of the Ministry of Planning.”
The two later clashed on the same subject when Hydes said she had met a 72-year-old man who was forced to sleep on a hardwood floor because he did not have a bed.
She added she had acquired a bed for the man and that more affordable housing was required as soon as possible.
Hydes added she had also identified property that could be bought by government to build affordable homes.
Ebanks-Wilks said that West Bay Central had a housing scheme that “had been there for 20 years and it is now dilapidated”.
She added, “We have people sick living in these homes and, as much as you push a minister, all you can do is ensure that the money is put in the budget and once the money is put in the budget, the minister prioritises wherever they want to get the work done.”
Ebanks-Wilks said young Caymanians would be happy to have a home in a low-rise apartment complex where they could build equity.
Standout moments
The two candidates clashed again over the decline in cruise tourism and government financial support for the Cayman Turtle Centre.
Hydes said she was supporter of cruise ship tourism and that there was “a significant number of Caymanians that rely on this industry”.
She added that cruise lines were “building bigger vessels and are bypassing the Cayman Islands”.
Hydes said, “We have to think about our people. Our people rely on this industry.”
She added that a decline in cruise passengers would affect the turtle centre, which was backed by $6 million a year in government funding and employed Caymanians.
Ebanks-Wilks said the issue highlighted the poor planning for the referendum because there was no information on where docking facilities would be built.
She added that areas near the turtle farm had been considered, but no firm proposals had been made.
Ebanks-Wilks said, “This was discussed, that it would be a way to improve the visitor experience and certainly improve the amount of visitors that are coming to the turtle centre.
“But right now that’s something that we don’t know because the business case was never completed. And so, because you don’t have that information, we can’t quite say if that is indeed where the berthing facilities would be best placed.”
