INCOMING PROGRESSIVES LEADER HAS A POSITIVE OUTLOOK

“Yeah, absolutely!” That’s how Joey Hew the new leader-designate of the People’s Progressive Party (Progressives) frames his preparedness to take over the party after current leader Roy McTaggart recently announced that he was handing over the reins to his deputy.

Mr Hew’s affirmative and confident response was to the opening question posed to him by Caymanian Times newspaper publisher Ralph Lewis for the latest edition of the Cayman Conversations podcast.

CONFIDENT

The incoming Progressives leader’s confidence is not only about his ability to take the party forward, but moreso in his - and their - ability to return to power and manage the affairs of the country.

In the unlikely event that anyone might be wondering ‘Joey who?’, Mr Hew is serving a third consecutive term as a parliamentarian (George Town North). He is a former minister of Commerce, Planning and Infrastructure in the previous Progressives government. Since they lost the 2021 election to a loose coalition of independents (which itself has undergone a name and profile change in the interim), Mr Hew has been serving as Deputy Opposition leader.

Now with his eyes firmly on getting the Progressives back in power, Mr Hew is upbeat about reversing what he regards as the downward slide of Cayman under the PACT (then of ex-premier Wayne Panton) and now the UPM of current Premier Julianna O’Connor-Connolly (both of whom have been in Progressives governments).

Having his sights firmly set on returning the Progressives to government in elections due by 2025, Mr Hew already has two prominent issues among his party’s list of priorities. Those are the abrupt suspension of the ReGen waste-to-energy project by the current UPM administration and the resurgence of the equally controversial cruise pier issue.

RE-GEN

On the termination of the ReGen contract, the incoming Progressives leader said the project and processes have been badly handled by the current UPM and its PACT predecessor since they inherited it from the previous Progressives government.

With his own constituency bordered by the landfill (‘right in the middle of it’), Mr Hew has both a personal and political interest in the expanding site, including the health of his constituents.

“This could really, really be a major environmental disaster. I am truly concerned,” he laments.

Regarding the future of the now scrapped waste-to-energy Regen project, Mr Hew said: “We will now be writing to the Governor and seeking to meet with the Governor and the Auditor General because we believe there are a number of issues with the Auditor General’s recent report that was leaked.”

According to Mr Hew, they “failed to find all the relevant documents necessary to make an informed judgement.”

The Progressives have questioned the ballooning cost of the project - the largest infrastructural project in Cayman’s history n- from an initial KYD500 thousand when they commenced negotiations to the most recent estimates now in excess of KYD 1 billion dollars.

Mr Hew maintains that the leaked report itself is flawed. He also questions the methods of managing the existing landfill site and raises doubts about suggestions to relocate the dump to another location and the resulting implications.

TOURISM

Regarding the cruise port matter and a proposed referendum surrounding it, Mr Hew says a broader issue being ignored by the UPM government is the state and future of Cayman’s crucial tourism industry.

“We were pressing the government to come up with a cruise tourism strategy which should have painted a picture of what the future of cruise tourism looks like even if we are going to pivot that from what it currently is to something else,” he stated.

He also said a determination needs to be made on how this affects the businesses and employees who rely on cruise tourism especially now that cruise arrivals have fallen dramatically forcing several local businesses to close.

With the global cruise industry changing, Mr Hew said, Cayman needs to urgently figure out what type of tourism industry it wants to be balanced between land-based and cruise tourism.

He also feels that a planned referendum seeking public feedback on building a cruise pier is inadequate, as proposed.

“I don’t think a referendum with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer is going to do us any favours. We need to ask more questions.”

The incoming Progressives leader also declared: “After Covid, it was a perfect opportunity to reset and come up with a; plan, and we did not do that.”

PARTY TIME(the political kind)

Brimming with confidence and a renewed bounce as he prepares to take over the leadership of the Progressives, Mr Hew who is also of a business background, said the smooth power transition within the party is an example of how politics in Cayman should run.

He is cautious about the continued high numbers and political influence of independent candidates on how governments are formed.

The presumptive leader of the Progressives is concerned that the lack of more organised political parties does not inspire confidence in a modern global society and economy such as Cayman.

(And if you’re still wondering Joey who? That’ll be Mr Hew to you)

The entire interview will be broadcast on Sunday August 25 on our Youtube and Facebook channels

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