Tibbetts to quit as PPM leader

In a broadcast statement early
Wednesday afternoon, the leader of Cayman’s opposition People’s Progressive Movement
announced that he would step down from that position.

Kurt Tibbetts’ resignation as party
leader was due to take effect early in 2011. He is expected to stay on as
member of the Legislative Assembly for the remainder of his elected term of
office which runs through Cayman’s next general election – presumably in 2013.

“Nothing
is going to change except that someone else will shoulder the responsibility of
leadership,” he said.

It was not immediately clear,
however, whether Mr. Tibbetts would seek re-election at that time.

Mr.
Tibbetts said he would hold a public meeting on Thursday night at the
Seafarer’s Hall to explain his reasons for stepping down as the PPM’s leader.

The Cayman Islands’ Constitution
requires that government or opposition leadership changes be announced at least
60 days in advance of them taking effect. Officially, the opposition leader is
appointed by the Cayman Islands governor once a majority of elected opposition
party members assent to that individual’s leadership.

Mr.
Tibbetts said the PPM would hold a special conference to
hash out leadership issues early in 2011 prior to holding a party convention
later in the year. Mr. Tibbetts said he would stay on as party leader until the leadership question is resolved. 

“There
will be no time when the party does not have a functioning leader,” he said.

A new leader is not the only change
in store for the PPM within the next year. Mr. Tibbetts said that a deputy
opposition leader – a position that does not exist currently – would be elected
at the conference, as well as new general secretary, a position he said had
been vacant for some time.

In addition, party chairman Anton
Duckworth, during a previous interview with the Observer on Sunday, indicated
he might not remain in that position over the medium-term.

“Frankly, I’m getting a bit too old
to be sitting in this chair,” Mr. Duckworth said in the interview, which was
conducted in early October. He did not elaborate.

There has also been speculation
that Bodden Town MLA Anthony Eden, who will be 67 by the time the 2013
elections occur, will not seek office again. Mr. Eden has not addressed that
issue publicly.

If Mr. Tibbetts and Mr. Eden were
not to run in 2013, that would leave George Town MLA Alden McLaughlin, East End
member Arden McLean, and Sister Islands representative Moses Kirkconnell as the
three remaining opposition party members.

Please see more on this story in
Thursday’s Caymanian Compass…