Bodden Town East MP Dwayne ‘John John’ Seymour, after moving from the Opposition benches to join the government as an independent representative, will serve as parliamentary secretary in three ministries – labour, housing and transport.
Premier Wayne Panton announced Seymour’s new roles in a statement in Parliament on Wednesday morning, 1 Dec., saying he was now sitting on the “right side of the house, the government bench”.
Seymour, who served as minister of health in the previous Progressives-led government, will be working with Minister of Labour Chris Saunders, Minister of Transport Kenneth Bryan, and Minister of Housing Jay Ebanks.
On Tuesday night, Seymour was joined by PACT MPs at a public meeting in his constituency, where he announced his decision.
Speaking to the Compass on Tuesday, following his announcement, Seymour said the PACT government had been wooing him since the election, telling him they needed him “as a person” and not “as a number”.
Asked about the dynamics of working in a government led by Panton, who had campaigned on a platform with Seymour’s electoral challenger in Bodden Town East, Osborne Bodden, Seymour said he had had a “warm” private meeting with the premier on Sunday, and saw no issues ahead in their working relationship.
Panton, in Parliament Wednesday, said, in accordance with the Constitution, Governor Martyn Roper had officially appointed Seymour as a parliamentary secretary, and added that it was likely more roles would be “put on his plate”.
He described Seymour joining the government as a move that was good for the constituents of Bodden Town East and the entire Cayman Islands, adding that he would no longer be a figure like John the Baptist – a “voice crying in the wilderness” – and that he and his constituents would be “loudly and clearly heard”.
Panton noted that, with Seymour now on a government bench, all of the MPs in the eastern districts were government members, and he issued an invitation for other Opposition members to cross the floor and join the government, saying Cayman needed “all hands on deck”.
Seymour thanked the PACT government for welcoming him into its fold in a speech in the House Wednesday morning, noting that back in 2017, he had also been invited by the Progressives to join its government, and that he had sought feedback from his constituents before doing so. He said he had approached his decision to join the PACT government in the same way, calling a public meeting of his constituents on Tuesday, where he had received unanimous support from all in attendance.
He stressed that he was an independent member of government and “not a member of any political party”.
Seaford Russell, Jr. contributed to this report.
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