Premier Wayne Panton and his PACT coalition appeared to have put their differences aside Tuesday, with a visual display of unity in the first parliamentary meeting since the shock resignation of Border Control and Labour Minister Dwayne Seymour.
While the government remained tightlipped about the vacant Cabinet post and speculation of a leadership challenge that swirled over the weekend, its remaining members presented a united front, at least aesthetically, with most members wearing pink.
The group were also united in voting yes on each supplementary budget item presented at Tuesday’s gathering of the Finance Committee. Every Opposition member abstained on each one of the votes.
Nearly all the male government MPs, including Panton, who chaired the committee meeting, had donned light pink ties, while Deputy Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly wore a pink-and-white floral dress and backbencher Heather Bodden featured a pink scarf.
Among those in pink ties was East End MP Isaac Rankine, who resigned Tuesday as deputy speaker, and was later sworn in as the minister for border control and labour, replacing Seymour in Cabinet.
Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan told the Compass in response to a WhatsApp message that the pink attire was a show of “unity and love”.
Unity among the government had not been overly apparent at meetings of the House last week, especially on Thursday, when Panton found himself as the sole opponent to an Opposition-proposed motion to legalise pepper spray for defence in the Cayman Islands. All members of his Cabinet and backbenchers who were present voted in favour of the motion, brought by Opposition member David Wight.
Several government members later in that session unexpectedly reversed their votes on another motion, on affordable housing, brought by Deputy Opposition Leader Joey Hew. Panton was not present for the vote on the motion.
Initially, the majority of PACT members voted against the motion, but once a division was called, several members, including Deputy Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly switched to ‘yes’ votes, amid whispered conversations on the front row. Seymour was among those who gave his support to the motion, which ended up attracting majority support from the House.
The following day, in his resignation speech, Seymour criticised the “disorganisation” and “lacklustre leadership” of the PACT administration, accusing Panton of running the government and caucus in an “autocratic way” that left “much to be desired”.
He blamed the premier for divisions within the PACT government, saying he had failed to keep it cohesive and focused.
Pink has not always been the colour chosen by PACT to show a united front. Previously, members have favoured blue when demonstrating their unity, such as in October last year when the administration headed off a proposed no-confidence motion from the Opposition, which boycotted that parliamentary session over McKeeva Bush’s continued presence in the Speaker’s chair at the time. Instead, PACT held its own ‘confidence motion’ in the government.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, across the floor, each member of the Opposition, including its most recent additions – Seymour and former finance minister Chris Saunders, who resigned from PACT’s coalition of independents in March this year – were also showing their cohesiveness by their clothing. Each was wearing the Progressives’ party colour of red – in ties for the male members and a reddish-orange dress for the sole female Opposition member Barbara Conolly.
Their unity was also on display, with each member abstaining on every appropriations vote. Seymour had been present at the beginning of the meeting and voted on one of the appropriations, but was absent for subsequent votes. Also absent was Moses Kirkconnell, MP for Cayman Brac West and Little Cayman.
After Finance Committee completed its business, and the House resumed, Parliament accepted Rankine’s resignation as deputy speaker, and Heather Bodden, MP for Savannah, was appointed to replace him. She was the sole nominee by her colleagues for the position.
- Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect Isaac Rankine’s appointment as minister for border control and labour, and to correct that Premier Wayne Panton was not present for the vote on the Opposition’s housing motion.
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