The Deputy Leader of the Opposition says a change in the law is needed to ensure the next Attorney General is Caymanian.

Kenneth Bryan MP has tabled a motion to close a gap that has existed under both the 1972 and 2009 Constitutions, neither of which sets any nationality requirement for the office. Private Member's Motion No. 16 of 2026-2027, seconded by Julie Hunter MP and received by the Clerk of Parliament on 8 October 2026, asks Government to open constitutional discussions with the United Kingdom on an amendment to section 56 of the Cayman Islands Constitution Order 2009, so that the Attorney General meets the eligibility criteria the Constitution already sets for the Deputy Governor and for elected members.

The motion arrives after Governor Jane Owen has asked the Judicial and Legal Services Commission to begin preparing to recruit a successor to Samuel Bulgin, who retires in August 2027, and after a constitutional process that last time took 11 months from a vote in the House to an Order of the Privy Council. Bryan told The Caymanian Journal (TCJ) that he intends to write to the Governor asking that the recruitment criteria "take into account the intended constitutional change".

Parity in the House

Bryan told TCJ by telephone on 19 October that the purpose was parity between everyone who sits in Parliament. "You have 21 members of Parliament, 19 elected, and two ex officio members. The 19 members have to be Caymanian. The Deputy Governor has to be Caymanian. The only one that is not obligated to be Caymanian is the Attorney General," he said. "That's the reason for the motion, to make it equal in parity to all members of Parliament."

Section 56 establishes the Attorney General as a public office and "the principal legal adviser to the Government and the Legislative Assembly". Section 34(2) requires the Deputy Governor to be a Caymanian who holds or has held a senior public service post. Section 61 requires an elected member to be a Caymanian, at least 21, domiciled and resident in the Islands and a "qualified citizen" as the section defines it, and then to satisfy a residence test: seven years before nomination for a person born in the Islands or abroad in the circumstances the section describes, or 15 of the preceding 20 years for a person born elsewhere, with absences capped at 400 days over the final seven years in either case. The 1972 Constitution, which the 2009 Order replaced, likewise required Caymanian status of elected members and vested the Attorney General's appointment in the Governor "acting in his discretion", with no status condition.

The motion's text asks that the Attorney General meet the "eligibility, status, and lineage criteria" set for the Deputy Governor and elected members. In written answers to TCJ on 19 October, Bryan said the baseline was narrower. "The primary, baseline threshold required by the motion is that any person appointed to the office of Attorney General must be a Caymanian," he wrote. "Whether Parliament chooses to refine those criteria further such as incorporating specific birth or lineage limbs remains a matter for parliamentary debate among members. However, the core requirement and bare minimum proposed by this motion is that the Attorney General must hold Caymanian status."

He said the Commission's authority under section 106 to assess qualifications, character and merit would be untouched. Under that section the Governor appoints the Attorney General "acting in accordance with the advice of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission" and may depart from that advice only where following it would "prejudice Her Majesty's service".

The incumbent and the test

Bulgin joined the Cayman Islands legal service as Crown Counsel in 1992, served six years as Solicitor General and was appointed Attorney General in July 2003, according to the Government's release of 7 September 2026, which announced his retirement. The release said he had been recognised in 2026 as the longest-serving Attorney General in the Overseas Territories, with 23 years in the post, and quoted Governor Owen describing his contribution as "exceptional and enduring". Bulgin said he had given early notice so that the transition could be managed without disruption, and that he remained "wholly committed to every function under my portfolio for the remainder of my term". He was granted Caymanian status by Cabinet during 2003; the Gazette list published on 31 December 2003 records the grant but not its date.

Asked whether his rule would have excluded Bulgin, Bryan said he could not comment on "the precise timeline of whether Mr. Bulgin received his status immediately before or after his initial appointment", but that "if an individual possesses Caymanian status prior to taking office, the proposed constitutional rule would not exclude them". He added: "This proposal is not about looking backward or evaluating past appointments; it is about establishing a clear, forward-looking framework for constitutional fairness and nation-building." He said Bulgin "has contributed significantly to the development and legal framework of the Cayman Islands over his two decades of service, and we are deeply grateful for his dedication and leadership".

The route to an amendment

A resolution of the House does not itself amend the Constitution. On the call Bryan said the intent was that it be forwarded to the United Kingdom. "That resolution can be sent by way of letter from the Premier and the Opposition Leader to the UK," he said, setting out the change the Islands wanted.

The 2009 Constitution itself was approved at a referendum held on 20 May 2009, after three rounds of negotiation with the United Kingdom between September 2008 and February 2009, and came into force on 6 November 2009. The precedent for amending it without a referendum is set out in a letter of 10 November 2019 from Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, then Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, to Premier Alden McLaughlin, which Bryan supplied to TCJ. "Generally, the policy of the UK Government has been to require a referendum, unless the reforms are declared by the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition to be minor or uncontroversial," Lord Ahmad wrote. "However, I would also note that the UK Government's position on this matter is reserved, as there may be circumstances where a referendum may not be possible or appropriate."

The Hansard of 6 December 2019 records that the Premier and Leader of the Opposition Arden McLean wrote jointly on 20 November 2019 that the changes were "not minor" but "nonetheless uncontroversial", and the House approved the package that day. The Cayman Islands Constitution (Amendment) Order 2020 was made on 11 November 2020 and took effect on 3 December 2020.

Bryan said he had sent TCJ the letter to show how the change had been handled in 2019 "based on the UK's correspondence on previous discussions", and that the same reasoning applied now. "In our mind, this is not major, it's minor, because it's non-controversial. Both sides agree to it, and the threshold of change is not outside the scope of already what is there for other members of Parliament," he said on the call. In writing he went further. "As demonstrated by the motion itself, this effort is inherently cross-party and bipartisan," he wrote. "I have personally spoken with both the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition," he wrote, "and both have expressed full support for this initiative." He said that consensus met the standard in the 2019 correspondence for "non-controversial constitutional modifications to be advanced administratively by Parliamentary Resolution". Hunter, who seconded the motion, is a Parliamentary Secretary in the Government.

Neither Premier André Ebanks MP nor Leader of the Opposition Joseph Hew MP has stated a position publicly, and the motion itself asks only that Government "considers" opening discussions with the United Kingdom. Whether the two leaders will put their names to a joint declaration of the kind made in 2019 is the step on which the route Bryan describes depends.

The clock

The Government said on 7 September that the Governor had asked the Commission to begin preparing for recruitment early, that the process "will be open and competitive", and that the Commission would advise the Governor on an appointment "as the Constitution requires". Asked by TCJ by email in September whether Caymanian attorneys were in contention, the Commissions Secretariat replied on 8 September on the chairman's behalf that the Commission "will conduct a competitive recruitment exercise for the next Attorney General in line with its published recruitment and appointment processes". It gave no timetable and did not address Caymanian candidates. Asked on 9 September whether the Governor had given any steer, the Governor's Office said the process "will be led by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission, in accordance with the Constitution and relevant procedures". The Commission's policies and procedures manual, last updated on 3 June 2025, allows a post to be advertised internally, locally, regionally or internationally and contains no preference for Caymanian applicants.

Bryan accepted that the Commission and the Governor "operate under current constitutional parameters, and that constitutional amendments via the UK Privy Council require time". He said Parliament "cannot formally dictate the operational timelines of the JLSC", but that "both the Governor and the Commission will be well aware of this motion and the strong parliamentary and public consensus behind it", and that "it is in the best long-term interest of the Cayman Islands for any active recruitment process to align with the clear policy direction of Parliament". He said he would write to the Governor "to highlight the broad support for this motion and respectfully request that the recruitment criteria take into account the intended constitutional change". The House adjourned sine die on 5 October and no date for its next meeting, at which the motion would be debated, has been published.

A model elsewhere

The United Kingdom has already accepted a nationality rule for an Overseas Territory Attorney General. Section 95(6) of the Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007 provides that "no person shall be appointed to the office of Attorney General unless he or she belongs to the Virgin Islands", unless in the opinion of that territory's Judicial and Legal Services Commission "there is no such person who is suitably qualified" and "able and willing to be so appointed".

Bryan said he had not adopted that model. "While alternative regional mechanisms exist, my view and what I believe reflects the consensus across Parliament is that the Caymanian requirement should be a baseline threshold," he wrote. "I am confident that the depth of talent within our legal fraternity today removes any need for a conditional exception." The priority, he said, was "creating the pathway for Caymanians to lead in top constitutional positions" while leaving the Commission "fully empowered under Section 106".

The field

Bryan said he had "not conducted an exhaustive tally or spoken to individual potential applicants", but that "there are qualified Caymanian practitioners across both the public and private sectors" and that "once the post is advertised with a clear mandate for local succession, qualified Caymanians will step forward". He said the local legal profession "has matured significantly over the last two decades". Asked where responsibility for succession lay, he said it rested "collectively" with Members of Parliament, the Commission, the Governor, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the public. "As elected representatives, it is our duty to set legislative policy, promote nation-building, and ensure proper succession planning for key constitutional posts," he wrote.

Bryan said the aim was to ensure "that Caymanians are given the opportunity to lead at the highest levels of our country's governance", and that it could be achieved "by working collaboratively across government, the opposition, and His Majesty's Government". He spoke to TCJ by telephone and answered its written questions by email on 19 October.