Following the sudden resignation of Minister of Border Control and Labour Dwayne Seymour on Friday, Premier Wayne Panton and his government remained silent over the weekend about the future of his administration.
The Compass understands that talks were held over by both the PACT government and the Progressives Opposition with Panton’s position as leader of the country looking increasingly precarious.
Rumours of a possible leadership challenge swirled throughout the weekend but no concrete bid had emerged by Sunday evening.
The PACT coalition of independents retains a majority in Parliament, with 10 members, compared to eight on the opposite side of the House – the six Progressives and two Independents, Seymour and Chris Saunders, who also resigned from the PACT cabinet this year.
Speaker of the House Katherine Ebanks-Wilks is a member of PACT, but as Speaker, she can only cast a vote in the event of a tie. It is open to the government to nominate a Speaker from outside of the elected members in order to bring Ebanks-Wilks back to the government benches.
With the coalition showing signs of division, the slender majority on the floor of the house could be problematic when it comes to getting key bills passed, including government’s forthcoming budget for 2024 and 2025 and some $58 million in supplemental spending for 2023, which comes to Finance Committee for approval this week.
The premier had been expected to make a statement on Friday evening following Seymour’s dramatic resignation speech, in which he singled out Panton for criticism, calling his leadership “autocratic”.
The government’s communications team had been on standby to record a public statement from the premier, but that did not go ahead.
No statement was forthcoming from the Premier’s Office over the weekend either.
After Seymour resigned, in a bombshell speech just before the House was to go into Finance Committee late on Friday afternoon, parliamentary proceedings were suspended for about two and a half hours. The government bench returned at that point, and Panton proposed adjourning the House until Tuesday morning, when, he said, Finance Committee could get under way.
No members of the Opposition, nor Seymour, were present when that adjournment was made, having absented themselves from the chamber.
Seymour, who was originally a member of the Opposition following the May 2021 general election, opted to join Panton’s government in November 2021.
In his resignation speech Friday, he accused Panton of “lacklustre leadership” and “disorganisation”, and of running the government and caucus in an “autocratic way” that left “much to be desired”.
He said the premier had failed to listen to or empower the civil service, failed to ensure unity amid the PACT group and failed to consult fairly over the budget or other key issues.
In his speech, he referred to the events of “last night” (Thursday, 21 Sept.), saying they had been the “final straw”. It was unclear which events he was referring to, but Thursday’s parliamentary meeting had included some fractious debates, that highlighted divisions within the administration.
On Thursday, Panton was the only member of the House to oppose a private member’s motion from the Opposition’s David Wight calling for legalisation of pepper spray for self-defence. Panton was later absent from the chamber as members of his front bench reversed their initial votes to support an Opposition motion on housing.
Seymour is the second PACT member to cross the floor of the House within six months.
Saunders, who had been finance minister, resigned in March last year. Panton later said he had asked him to resign before having his ministerial position revoked. Since then, Saunders, who had been among the PACT members to convince Seymour to join the administration back in 2021, has been a harsh critic of Panton and the government.
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