As the leadership of the Cayman Islands hangs in the balance with the sudden exit of Deputy Premier André Ebanks, Sustainability and Climate Resiliency Minister Katherine Ebanks-Wilks, Health Minister Sabrina Turner and Parliamentary Secretary Heather Bodden, the Cayman Compass takes a look back at the events that led to this point.
April 2021
Wayne Panton engaged in a hard-fought battle to form and keep his PACT government together, starting in the hours immediately after the 14 April 2021 election. Following a long night of negotiations with independents who had won seats, Panton announced he had the support of 10 members, enough to form a government.
However, fighting back, the Progressives, late on the night of 15 April, released a letter to the media showing 10 signatures of members who were willing to form a government – including Sabrina Turner and Isaac Rankine, who had initially been part of the PACT group.
Then, the following day, at a public meeting in her district, Turner declared she was staying with PACT after all. Rankine also returned to the PACT fold, and Juliana O’Connor-Connolly defected from the Progressives, further bolstering Panton’s majority in the House.
In a strategic but risky move, PACT also welcomed into its ranks McKeeva Bush, who returned as speaker of the House in the new government. That decision was controversial, as the Progressives had called for an early election after the previous opposition declared it planned to bring a vote of no confidence against Bush, following his conviction for common assault on a female bar manager.
November 2021
Panton’s government got a boost in its numbers on 30 Nov. 2021, when Bodden Town East MP Dwayne Seymour crossed the aisle and joined PACT, bringing it to 13 members.
April 2022
Panton stripped West Bay North MP Bernie Bush of his role as minster for home affairs, and placed him on two weeks’ leave without pay, after it was determined that comments he had made about the Cayman Islands Fire Service violated the Constitution and Ministerial Code of Conduct. Bush remained a Cabinet member, however, retaining his post as minster of sports, youth, heritage and culture. Turner took over as home affairs minister.
October 2022
McKeeva Bush’s continuing presence in the speaker’s chair roiled the House, with the opposition boycotting a parliamentary session on 7 Oct. after its members were denied a request to bring a vote of no confidence in him. Bush had announced that he would step down as speaker, but not until 30 Nov. Unusually, the House, in the absence of the six Progressives members, instead debated a ‘motion of confidence’ in the government, which was tabled by Seymour. A few days later, on 12 Oct., Bush, in an address to Parliament, announced that he would step down, effective immediately. West Bay Central MP Ebanks-Wilks was chosen to replace him.
March 2023
Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Chris Saunders left the PACT government on 21 March 2023. While Saunders said he resigned, Panton said he’d been asked to leave. Saunders cited differences with the premier as the reasons behind his departure. A Cabinet reshuffle placed Education Minister O’Connor-Connolly in the position of deputy premier, and Panton took over Saunders’ finance ministry role. This reduced the PACT majority to 12. Seymour was elevated to Cabinet, responsible for the Ministry of Border Control and Labour.
September 2023
The stability of the government suffered a further blow on 22 Sept., when Seymour tendered his resignation in a speech in Parliament, citing “disorganisation” and “lacklustre leadership” within the PACT administration. Seymour’s departure left PACT with 11 members, comprising 10 voting members and Speaker of the House Ebanks-Wilks, who could only vote when Parliament was deadlocked.
November 2023
McKeeva Bush resigned from the PACT government, leaving the House deadlocked at 9-9, with Ebanks-Wilks holding the deciding vote. Bush’s resignation prompted the Progressives-led opposition to bring a vote of no confidence in the Panton government.
On 14 Nov., MPs voted 8-7 in favour of the motion, with two government ministers – André Ebanks and O’Connor-Connolly – and the opposition’s Saunders opting to abstain.
Panton later stepped down as premier, paving the way for O’Connor-Connolly, then deputy premier, to emerge as the new leader of the new United People’s Movement coalition.
Former Premier Sir Alden McLaughlin was later elected unopposed as speaker of the House.
In his inaugural speech as speaker, McLaughlin advised the new government “it was time for a reset”.
June 2024
Reports of ongoing turmoil in the Cabinet over potential changes to the National Conservation Act surfaced, even though government maintained total silence on amendments being proposed.
The Cabinet, according to multiple sources, was deeply divided over draft changes to the law, which protects environmentally important land and species.
While some members of Cabinet supported significant changes, a number of ministers were understood to favour a more conservative approach.
There was talk of multiple resignations or a Cabinet reshuffle should the changes move forward, but no such action materialised as further reviews of the changes were agreed to in the end.
Contentious revisions proposed at the time included eliminating the National Conservation Council’s ability to delegate authority to the director of the Department of Environment.
October 2024
Government backbencher McKeeva Bush launched a new political group, Organisation for a Better Cayman, that aimed to run a slate of candidates at the next general election.
The 40-year political veteran, who remains a parliamentary secretary in the UPM administration, described the current coalition as “a mess”, and said, “I don’t believe independents can manage this country.”
In launching his re-election bid, Bush took aim at his colleague Turner over the Poinciana mental health facility which had been fraught with delays.
He also affirmed rumours that the infighting within the Cabinet has continued.
Border Control Minister Seymour took to government radio to defend the administration, saying Cabinet remained united as he labelled claims of infighting within the United People’s Movement government as political mischief.
“The UPM government, like any family, people have their … 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,” Seymour said in a Radio Cayman interview.
O’Connor Connolly, two days after that interview, calling for Cayman to break free of the “economic handcuffs” imposed by the UK and be given more control over its own finances.
She said more decisions on spending should be taken locally rather than politicians having to go “cap in hand” to the UK.
Cabinet ministers Ebanks, Ebanks-Wilks and Turner, along with Bodden, tendered their resignations with immediate effect on 31 Oct.
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