Ormond Panton and the Struggle for Political Consciousness

Three Caymanians, Mr. Roy Bodden, Mr. Erren Merren, and Dr. Steve McField wrote tributes as part of the education thrust on Ormond Panton. In this series of articles, I present these tributes as written by these eminent persons who knew Mr. Ormond Panton well.

The tribute written by Mr. Roy Bodden is presented in three parts.

Part One

Ormond Panton and the Struggle for Political Consciousness

“…people who go into politics are of three basic types.   One group sees power as something to be acquired for its own sake.  These tend to be authoritarian or politically monopolistic.  Then, there are those who view power as something to be used to make marginal adjustments to a society which is basically sound and reasonable.  Finally, there are the idealists of both left and right who seek to acquire power to effect radical change in a society that is seen to be fundamentally flawed and in need of transformation.

(Michael Manley, Jamaican Prime Minister 1972-80)

Unsilencing the Past:

There are no historical records which suggest that Michael Manley knew Ormond Panton, although his (Michael Manley’s) father, Norman Washington Manley was, by Ormond’s own account, one of his political confidants.  The connection between Ormond Panton and Michael Manley lies in the third of the three types of persons listed in Manley’s typology of those persons who go into politics.

In the annals of Caymanian politics few men can match the contribution Ormond Panton made in Caymanian public life.  First elected to the Assembly of Justices and the Vestry in August 1944.  According to Panton he spent two of the first three years without making any contribution to the debates – a silence which seems not to have been any indication of Panton’s ability as a good representative.  Rather it was more an indication of the old political adage “listen long but speak little”.

During his early years in the Assembly of Justices and the Vestry, two momentous events, both occurring in the 1950’s, served as an indication of the political sagacity.  The first was a motion which he successfully piloted through the Assembly resolving that a request be made to the United States to establish a consulate in Cayman.

Ormond Panton had observed in his travels throughout Grand Cayman that many persons were inconvenienced by the long waiting period for U.S. visas, which could only be had by visiting Jamaica and Cuba.  A consulate on Grand Cayman would also facilitate Caymanian seamen who had to go to Jamaica to obtain a visa prior to employment by U.S. merchant marine companies.  Panton’s request did not end in the establishment of a U.S. Consulate on Grand Cayman. It resulted though in the United States government giving the Cayman Island’s authorities the privilege of issuing visa waiver documents for legally qualified Caymanians to enter the United States.  This arrangement continues and the Cayman Islands have over the years benefited tremendously from this concession.

The second instance in Panton’s early political stardom occurred when on January 14, 1957, he was one of the so-called Big Four representing the Cayman Islands at the Federation discussions held at King’s House in Jamaica.  Panton’s participation in these discussions must have been deemed constructive as he was retained as a member of the Caymanian delegation at the three governmental conferences which followed in Montego Bay in 1959, in Kingston in 1960 and in Trinidad in 1961.

Always a good conversationalist with the confidence and ability to discourse with the most astute of his West Indian colleagues, Ormond Panton made friends and acquaintances among political luminaries such as Norman Manley of Jamaica, Grantley Adams of Barbados, Eric Williams of Trinidad and Tobago, Theophilus Marryshow of Grenada, Vere Bird from Antigua and William H. Bramble from Montserrat.

In June 1961, at the relatively young age of thirty-nine years of age, Ormond Panton  was selected as the official leader of a three person Caymanian delegation to travel to the Mecca of British Colonial Settlements, Lancaster House.  Ormond Panton and Willie Farrington represented the Legislative Assembly, and by inference the Caymanian people, while Administrator Jack Rose attended as one of the United Kingdom’s representatives.

On this occasion Panton, the quintessential politician and one who used his interpersonal skills and willingness to learn from other jurisdictions’ experiences. Ormond Panton adopted important instruments and practices from other jurisdictions.  The idea of Ombudsman was adopted from Singapore while the Bill of Rights were a Canadian idea, and there were others.  These however, were not the only positive attainments which could be credited to his experience from  these talks.  From the discussions, the Cayman Islands delegation ensured the islands right to:

i) issue its own passport, rather than a West Indies passport

ii) the maintenance of the unique visa waiver arrangement with U.S.

There were other concessions as well and, in his biography, Ormond Panton expresses pleasure in what he and Willie Farrington were able to negotiate for the Cayman Islands.  Another example of the prescience and foresight of Panton was the suggestion he made to his fellow politician Willie Farrington at the time, “that such concessions would work best through a party system”.

This suggestion spoke volumes for Panton’s political vision, his magnanimity and lack of selfish ambition. While his association with both Willie Farrington and Administrator Jack Rose on this occasion brought no cozy acquaintanceship with Jack Rose, it provided Panton with a deeper insight into the arrogance of Jack Rose’s behaviour.   Panton on the other hand, indicates he enjoyed Farrington’s company and provided two humorous anecdotes of their camaraderie on this occasion (Martins: pp. 105-109).

There is one other critical point to be extrapolated from Panton’s record of this experience, and that was that he was a man of action. Nominated by Alan H. Donald to the Assembly in March 1960, Panton served in that capacity until elections which took place on November 22, 1962.  His prescience allowed him to act on his own advice and when it became clear that “Federation was doomed”, he prepared for the aftermath.