Seymour: ‘Panton should step down’

Bodden Town East MP Dwayne Seymour says he believes Premier Wayne Panton has reached the point where he should step down for the good of the Cayman Islands.

Seymour, who parted ways with the government late last month in a shocking speech, pointed to ongoing turmoil within the administration over budget allocations, as an example of Panton’s lack of leadership and an indication that PACT is not intact as the premier has said.

Saying that it is “only a matter of time” before more members of the PACT team walk away, Seymour, in a telephone interview with the Cayman Compass Tuesday, said the premier should recognise that “he is not made” for the leadership role that he holds.

“My message to [the] premier would be step down, step away from it. Politics is not your thing. I’ve often told him about dumbing down politics and not enriching politics and Cayman for the future politicians in this country,” he said, adding that he would ask the other members in the PACT government to think hard and look around Cayman to see “how unpopular” the group is.

The Cayman Compass has reached out to the premier for comment and is awaiting a response.

Seymour has been going on a road show of sorts recently, openly speaking about his challenges within the PACT administration and his struggles with Panton’s leadership and policies.

Budget challenges

Seymour alluded to the government being on shaky ground as budget discussions have been tempestuous.

“I can tell you that most persons [in government] are still frustrated from what I’m hearing and are still unsatisfied with the budget…it is almost like [there’s] no way for them to appease the ministers requesting [to meet the] the needs of their constituencies or their ministries or otherwise the budget would be well blown over a billion dollars,” he said.

Seymour added that the PACT government is having a lot of struggle “with trying to please all ministers with all requests and for all constituencies.”

The former minister said when he decided to leave the government last month there were others who had also vowed to walk.

However, when the time came to exit the government, he said was the only one to ‘walk the walk’.

“I wouldn’t just get up and walk out one day with no plan. There was a plan, the plan didn’t go as set out but I have to respect persons’ positions. They come from different constituencies and they have their committees and everything else, and other connected relations that inhibit them from doing what I did so quickly,” he said.

He did not say who these individuals were, but his message to all government members was that they should “think about their careers in the future if it lasts till 2025”.

He said  he was “very disappointed” by the style of leadership he witnessed under the PACT administration, adding, “I pray that this never happens to Cayman ever again… get leadership that does not really listen to the team.”

No regrets

The Bodden Town East MP, who departed the Opposition benches late 2021 to join the PACT administration, said he did not regret making that jump as at the time it was in his constituents’ interest.

“My regret is that the actual government didn’t live up to the things that they promised me they would live up to and the vision that they had at the time has changed. The policies have changed, everything has changed. It appears that I was brought over just for the numbers,” Seymour said.

He said it was not one incident that prompted his departure from the government but a combination of factors.

However, he said the “last straw” was “being cursed by members of the government at 1:30 in the morning because of a vote that went wrong in the Parliament”.

Seymour did not elaborate on the vote nor the conversation, only saying “that was kind of the last straw”.

Seymour said he has had no second thoughts on his departure from PACT as in the end it was the leadership that drove his decision to leave the government.

He said his conviction is stronger than ever given what he has been seeing and hearing about the PACT team and “their non-action in a lot of things going on in the country, in terms of cost of living and crime and everything else.

“Everything is interlinked. Definitely [it is] a sad time for this country and I hope that the other members that are there in the PACT administration that they too see what I saw and get out early before the boat sinks.”

New coalition needed

Though Seymour said he does not want to see the government break up, he believes there needs to be a change in the make-up of those running the country.

“I would hope that [PACT government doesn’t] fall apart,” he said, adding he wants to see the government separate “in a very unified way that we are able to still continue running the country even if that means a different coalition.”

Seymour said he does not want to see an early election as that would be bad for Cayman and show a level of instability which he does not want.

“I think the cohort that we have definitely [has] some great leaders [among] the 19 MPs and definitely we could get a good leader out of that. I think anything better than what we have now would be best for this country,” he said.

As for who would lead this “different coalition”, Seymour said, “I don’t want to put pressure on one person… People know who I am affiliated with. They know I have great admiration for the deputy premier, but there’s other people in the group that could step up but don’t have as much experience,” he said. 

Seymour said people want the country to survive and he thinks if a new coalition were to be formed, “I think it would have to be what is the best of the country and not for self.”