Minister of Tourism Charles Clifford defended his voting in favour of Board of Director decisions made with respect to the Cayman Turtle Farm/Boatswain’s Beach while he was the Permanent Secretary for Tourism.
‘As [McKeeva Bush’s] permanent secretary at the time, I consider that I had a duty to support his policies in board meetings because civil servants had a responsibility to support the policies of the Government of the day and the minutes of the board meetings and associated resolutions will reflect that fact on every matter decided by the board,’ he said in the Legislative Assembly last Thursday.
In particular, Mr. Clifford referred to the board decision to use a collation of small local contractors for the redevelopment of the Turtle Farm. Mr. Clifford believes that decision cost the project more money and was a contributing factor to the Government having to approve a loan guarantee for an additional US$8.8 million for the Turtle Farm two weeks ago.
Mr. Clifford said he voiced concerns about that decision and others.
‘[Mr. Bush] was unequivocally aware of my objections and concerns and indeed the concerns of others, which were expressed to him outside of the board meetings, which strenuously suggested that the contracts should be tendered.
Mr. Clifford also said he warned Mr. Bush such major contracts should not be awarded to small contractors unless they had first been provided the assistance they required to successfully deliver on the contracts.
Mr. Clifford also said the irregularities he believed were occurring on decisions made with regard to the Turtle Farm/Boatswain’s Beach weighed heavily on his decision to resign his post as permanent secretary in July 2004.
‘I saw our country being taken down a very precarious path in 2004 and I determined then that I could no longer deliver on my responsibilities as a civil servant to support and implement the policies of the Government of the day,’ he said.
During the debate on the additional loan guarantee, Mr. Clifford also noted that Mr. Bush had pushed for pay raises for the Turtle Farm staff just before the 2005 General Elections and said ‘we can only make assumptions as to why that was done on the eve of the election, but clearly it has had an impact on the operational costs of the Farm’.
Mr. Bush responded by saying he had been working for an increase in salaries for the Turtle Farm employees since 2003.
Mr. Clifford provided copies of minutes of meetings of the Board of Directors of Cayman Turtle Farm (1983) Ltd. from 30 June 2004 that showed a six per cent increase had been applied in the 2004/05 budget. Board meeting minutes from 29 March, 2005, reveal that Turtle Farm employees were granted another 10 per cent to 15 per cent raise.
Related Videos
