The need to be more welcoming to expatriate professionals and investors is essential to the future prosperity of the Cayman Islands, the leader of government business has said.
McKeeva Bush made an impassioned plea to his fellow Caymanians to return to the harmonious relationship they once enjoyed with those who came from overseas, invested and created jobs in the Islands. Speaking at the official opening and dedication of the new Fidelity banking hall, he said his dream was to turn Cayman into the Singapore of the Caribbean.
He told the audience that his government had made a decision to address the many challenges that the financial services industry is facing in the area of immigration. He said he knew those in the industry were struggling with recruitment and retention and he would make policy changes to address those problems.
Although Bush said he was not talking about granting status, he said permanent residency would be part of the deal for some, as he said it was important that people could come here and make a life. Aware of the backlash from many parts of the community about the numbers of foreign workers in the country he said the community had to be sensible. Given the economic climate, the LoGB warned that without new investment and new business coming to the island there would be no new jobs for Caymanians.
“Government alone cannot make this turn around. We don’t have the resources,” he added, saying it was good to be a nationalist and he said he liked to think he was a nationalist, “but I like to think I am a common sense nationalist,” he observed.
The LoGB, soon to be Premier, said that the training of Caymanians was still a must and he would ensure that happened but noted that the training would do the country no good if there was no work for Caymanians to do. “What good in sending our children away to get a finance degree or an accountancy degree if there is not the work to do when they come back?” Bush asked.
He lamented the fact that firms had sent work to other jurisdictions because they had been treated badly with refusals on work permits and key employees as well as the time it took to get the permits. Sending the work to Canada and Europe would not help Cayman but when boards keep turning things down people get fed up and leave, which has had a serious impact on Cayman’s revenue generation, he said. Bush pointed out the direct link between local jobs and the investors who generate the money, and asked, if that man is not there to bring in the money, what happens to the Caymanian below him?
“When will our people understand this?” he asked. “We must allow sufficient people in to build a stronger industry so the next time the world hits a downturn the Cayman Islands will be much stronger than we are today. That’s what my administration wants to do,” he said. “Immigration must change. It has been the problem child for all developing territories, but we can’t allow it to be our doom. We must allow the money to come in and that means working with people from all walks of life.”
He asked employers recruiting from overseas to be careful and to choose the best people but he made it clear that he believed Cayman could not grow and sustain its own people without outside investment.
He lamented the continued criticism in the press and the attitudes of people on the blogs and talk shows but pleaded with the audience to get on the blogs and say how important it was to work with and welcome those from outside who could make us wealthy again. “I am passionate about this as I have been talking about this for six months and for some people its same old same old,” he exclaimed. “If you treat people bad they leave and it’s unnecessary.”
He said it was the anti-foreign sentiment not the foreigners that would undermine Cayman’s economy.
“Caymanians I speak to you because we can destroy this thing and we have gone far enough” he said, begging people to stop the animosity. “Let them come and move and live and go to church where they want and flirt with who they want it is none of immigration’s business.”
“We can build this country into the Singapore of the Caribbean,” Bush said. Admitting that Cayman was not the 'only girl on block', he lauded the technology, the infrastructure and the professionals who could help grow the economy if they were made to feel welcome.
“Trust the government, this one anyway,” he laughed. “We will ensure Caymanians are trained and moved up but we need to retain a harmonious society ... we must be welcoming in and out of the workplace.”
While preaching to the converted, as the guest list at the Fidelity opening ceremony which honoured national hero Sybil McLaughlin was dominated by those from the financial industry, Bush faces some of his steepest opposition from his own constituents in West Bay, who have persistently lamented the fact that the trickle down from foreign investors has been sorely lacking for them.
In the last few weeks, too, the UDP back benchers have been vociferous in their objections to expatriates taking work from Caymanians. During Finance Committee, the representative from Bodden Town, Dwayne Seymour, severely criticised foreign musicians from taking work from Caymanians and even raised his own vested interests when he complained that foreigners were allowed to set up security firms and compete against local Caymanian firms such as his own. Elio Solomon has also been deeply critical of foreign workers who are perceived as taking jobs from Caymanians.
Over on the opposition benches, the independent MLA for North Side, Ezzard Miller, has said he is fundamentally opposed to any new immigration policies that allow foreigners to gain any kind of residency rights.