Cabinet has agreed and gazetted a slightly revised question for the national referendum on the proposed cruise berthing and enhanced cargo port project to assist in resolving any concerns with the referendum question.
Shirley Roulstone, a member of CPR Cayman, filed for and was granted leave to pursue judicial review of the Government’s process in relation to the holding of the referendum. As a result, the referendum has been delayed until after the decision of the court.
One of Ms Roulstone’s claims was that the Government’s proposed referendum question “Should the Cayman Islands continue to move forward with building the cruise berthing and enhanced cargo port facility” was not neutral.
Submissions made by Ms Roulstone’s legal counsel recommended that the word “proceed” would be acceptable in place of “move forward” and the words “enlarged and “refurbished” would be acceptable in place of “enhanced”.
In its final meeting last year on 17 December, Cabinet took the view that whilst there was nothing wrong with the original wording, it would none-the-less be pragmatic to tweak the wording in order to help save time and costs in the case.
The revised question on the referendum ballot will therefore be: “Should the Cayman Islands continue to proceed with building the cruise berthing and enlarged and refurbished cargo port facility?”
The new wording was published in the Government’s public gazette, available online, on the 18th of December, 2019.
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