This topic is an evocative one in any case, and – given the events of the past week regarding certain “investigations” reaching to the very top of the Cayman Islands government – it’s likely to be a particularly controversial topic just now.  

For those who might be unfamiliar with the overseas territories’ governance situation in the post-colonial world, most OT Constitutions allow the United Kingdom to suspend the governing documents and rule the territories from London under certain circumstances. Cayman’s 2009 Constitution is no exception.   

Such circumstances occurred recently in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the people of that country have yet to regain any measure of self-governance following a commission of enquiry convened against the previous premier’s government.  

What does this have to do with Cayman? North Side MLA Ezzard Miller is only too happy to explain:  

“If we look at the Constitution Order, the power of the Governor to remove the Premier in the instance that the accusations are true, are limited. [The Premier’s] party members, however, can do so and if they do not exercise their party’s constitution, we may be exposed to what happened in Turks and Caicos and we would all end up losing then.”  

What Miller says is essentially that if Cayman can’t be seen to fix its own governance problems, he believes Mother Country will fix it for us in ways these Islands may not like.  

That’s an interesting point of view, particularly given that Miller and Opposition Leader Alden McLaughlin met with Governor Duncan Taylor on Friday, 24 June, regarding the investigation [apparently into “financial irregularities” involving Premier McKeeva Bush] that has been going on since February 2010. Since Governor Taylor is saying just to the left of nothing about what’s going on, and there have been only brief statements from the other two gentlemen about the meeting, readers are left to wonder just what exactly these three fellows discussed behind closed doors.  

It creates a fascinating “what if” situation:  

What if #1 – Premier Bush ends up on the losing end of a no-confidence vote and Governor Taylor selects one of his party colleagues to lead the government  

What if #2 – Premier Bush loses the no-confidence vote and Governor Taylor dissolves the Legislative Assembly, calling for new elections.  

What if #3 – Members of the United Democratic Party refuse to sit in Cabinet with Premier Bush and select a new leader from amongst themselves.  

What if #4 – The investigation is ended with no result; Premier Bush sues everyone under the sun.  

What if #5 – The current government decides to stay the course, keep Premier Bush and roll the dice in the 2013 elections 

What if #6 – The current government stays the course, keeps Premier Bush and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office orders a commission of enquiry.  

We’re not taking odds on those possible outcomes among many. But one thing’s for sure, the next general elections – whenever they are held – look like quite an interesting time for the Cayman Islands.