Protesters plan to hold a demonstration over a lack of accountability of elected lawmakers on Friday afternoon, 11 Dec., outside the former Legislative Assembly building.
The demonstration comes on the heels of Speaker of the House McKeeva Bush’s guilty pleas on two counts of common assault on Thursday, 3 Dec.
Appearing before the Summary Court last week, Bush admitted he grabbed a female staff member of a West Bay Road bar by her neck and threw bus tubs at her while he was intoxicated, on the night of 9 Feb.
“Friday’s peaceful demonstration is against violence and the lack of accountability for [Members of Parliament] to the people once elected,” said Taura Ebanks, one of the event’s main organisers.
Bush was initially charged with three counts of common assault and one count of disorderly conduct. In July, he pleaded not guilty to the charges; however, last week he changed the pleas to guilty on two of the common assault charges and to the count of disorderly conduct.
Bush maintained his not-guilty plea to one charge of common assault, which alleges that he grabbed the woman by her head and punched her several times. Sentencing for the three counts to which Bush pleaded guilty will need to wait until the matter involving count one is finished.
Ebanks told the Cayman Compass the protest, planned for 1pm, is a means to hold elected officials accountable.
“Presently, there is no clear path for our electorate to have the opportunity to remove an MP once they are elected if we, the people, have no confidence in their ability to lead,” said Ebanks. “The power should always be in the hands of the people as it relates to those elected to represent our Cayman Islands.”
She added, “This is why this demonstration and future engagements in these islands is so important. It’s one way for us to show our government what unity truly means.”
Ebanks said she is encouraging people to register ahead of time for the two-hour protest, which she said is open to the public, so that the gathering will be able to meet all COVID-19 guidelines on the crowd size, which is restricted to a maximum of 500 people.
Taking to social media, the group on its ‘Public Demonstration Against Violence & Lack of Accountability for MPs’ Facebook page, released an online sign-up form in which they said they are also demonstrating against “ongoing silence on the matter by elected and unelected officials, as well as community leaders”.
Bush declined to comment after the Cayman Compass reached out to him about the planned protest, noting that his case was still before the courts.
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