Seymour calls claims of UPM infighting ‘political mischief’

Acting Premier Dwayne Seymour has sought to assure the community the Cabinet remains united as he labelled claims of infighting within the United People’s Movement government as political mischief.

Seymour, speaking on government station Radio Cayman on Monday, addressed statements made by Parliamentary Secretary McKeeva Bush, who last week described the current coalition as “a mess”, saying that “there’s no agreement on a lot of things”.

Bush was at the time launching his new non-profit, Organization for a Better Cayman, which aims to run a slate of candidates for the next general election.

Seymour, who is serving as acting premier during Juliana O’Connor-Connolly’s absence for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa, lauded Bush for being the first to come out and lay his cards on the table ahead of the coming general election.

However, Seymour said the country deserves to feel confident that “amongst all the rhetoric and hate sometimes, that there’s hope … that not all that is being said is so grave that we can’t operate in good, steadfast fashion to sail this good ship Cayman”.

He said the community will see some “mischief at times” trying to slow the government down, “but they ought to know that when they’re slowing us down, they’re slowing down the work of the people”.

He said despite everything being hurled at the government on whether an alliance of independent members can work, he believes this is something “for the future to be decided by the people”.

Seymour addresses ‘in-squabbles’

Though Seymour said he did not want to be drawn into any “political mischief” when the country is gearing up for the “silly season”, he did admit there have been disagreements with the Cabinet.

However, Seymour said those disagreements are not stopping government policies from moving ahead.

“The UPM government, like any family, people have their in-squabbles, but we’re there in caucus, we laugh and we get along and we disagree, and we agree to disagree, and we’re still getting the business of the country done,” he said.

Seymour stated that the situation is “a sensitive matter” and some of the things that have been said by Bush have rubbed “some people the wrong way”.

He was alluding to the West Bay West MP’s criticism of Health Minister Sabrina Turner and her position on the delays in delivering the Poinciana mental health facility.

Bush was also critical about the existing immigration challenges that were not being dealt with.

“Obviously, he said what he felt, but he’s an astute politician, one that is seasoned, and he can still get on with the business of the day in getting things done,” Seymour said.

He said he made his rounds as acting premier, speaking to some of the members and “in all honesty, [it] wasn’t really fair accusations levelled at some of them”.

He said one can easily blame the minister, “but there’s a lot more that goes on behind the scenes that ministers don’t control”.

He said he thinks all of the frustrations of the member and those expressed by Bush with certain projects are being addressed.

He said he and Bush have a good relationship, and he remains an “active” part of the government caucus.

Seymour said he has called the Major Projects Office to account for the facility’s delays with a view to determining what needs to be done to avoid a repeat of the situation.

“Obviously a lot of blame could go around, and rather than blame, we need to finish our target,” he said, adding that there is a need to understand what has to be done as a group to move the project ahead.

Immigration, he said, remains a main concern for the community, and he assured that changes will be coming to address this in the next sitting of Parliament.

He did not go into detail on the changes, instead saying he will return to Radio Cayman later in the week with his ministry team and the Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman team to discuss the plan.

He said changes to the National Conservation Act will also be heading to Parliament and both the NCA changes and immigration changes will be published for the required 28-day public comment period.