By Editorial Team
You can almost feel it in the air; the initial breeze of the 2025 election campaign. This is but the relative calm before the storm of a full-blown political campaign vying for control of Cayman’s economy and its development.
No doubt some of the pressing issues waiting to be resolved have the potential to determine the future direction across a range of issues.
Some of these are long-term delayed, while others have emerged more recently. In both cases, they demand attention in keeping with the pace and trend of growth and the place of Cayman in the global economy and, to a lesser degree, geopolitics.
That is why we urge our politicians from veterans to newcomers not to get distracted by personality politics and what we choose to call ‘short-termism’.
Down through the cycle of election campaigns over the years, we have seen new faces come onto the scene with well-intentioned promises. However, they have failed to move the needle forward due to a preoccupation with ‘quick fix’ issues.
While there are many things that could do with quick fixes, the big picture, big-ticket matters tend to get ‘kicked into the long grass’.
These matters handicap successive governments as they worsen over time and become almost intractable policy challenges with a high political price.
With the campaign for the April 30th general election now shifting into higher gears, alliances, alignments and even new parties are starting to emerge.
It’s also an opportune time to start mapping out policies for the issues that matter long-term to Cayman. Some will have to be tackled head-on as they have remained unresolved for so long. Unravelling them is a challenge that can no longer go unattended.
These include - the cost of living, the cost of healthcare, and the myriad issues impacting the environment, chief among them beach erosion and its implications for the wider tourism economy. This is not just a Seven Mile Beach problem.
The administratively gridlocked East-West Arterial Project and its environmental implications alongside the investment-intensive ReGen waste-to-energy project - the single largest infrastructure project ever in Cayman - demand urgent action.
Equally demanding attention is the issue of the cruise tourism sector, including the arguably controversial cruise pier project and the admittedly necessary cargo port expansion.
Population growth, investor development, local small business growth, immigration, employment, traffic congestion, health insurance, retirement planning and social safety nets, youth, sports, education and crime... are all areas that require creative local fixes.
The challenge for our politicians is that these issues can no longer be hidden. The risk is, if we don’t fix them ourselves, someone else probably will - and then possibly not in the way we want.
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