As Katherine Ebanks-Wilks publicly announced her resignation as Speaker of the House, she echoed her concerns on the need for the role to be autonomous in the face of political manoeuvring.
“At the end of the day, decisions that are being made should be made based on
what is in the best interest of the country and the people of the Cayman Islands,” Ebanks-Wilks said in a statement issued Wednesday night.
Saying that her decision to resign from the Speaker’s Chair was “hard”, she wanted to “make sure that we stop this instability and that we meet our financial obligations of 31st December so our hard‐working civil servants are paid on time”.
Ebanks-Wilks is now the minister for sustainability and climate resiliency under the new United People’s Movement.
She said she stepped down as Speaker in an effort to maintain stability and support the government in meeting its constitutional requirements.
“I found myself in the position where my casting vote would need to be relied on
as the Speaker in a hung Parliament. Our Parliament deserves better than this, and I took an Oath to serve the people of the Cayman Islands so I had to make the very hard decision to do what is best for our country when neither side was able to find a solution between themselves,” she said.
Ebanks‐Wilks was sworn in as the Speaker on 25 Nov. 2022 following the resignation of McKeeva Bush.
The West Bay Central MP said, in her statement, a key objective for her was to establish a regular schedule of House meetings in accordance with standing orders, something that the auditor general has frequently called for in her reports.
Standing orders indicate that the presiding officer may summon a meeting of the House, though this typically waits for the instruction of the premier.
Speaking to the work she embarked on in her near-year-long time in the Chair, Ebanks-Wilks said she was proud of the modernisation of the Parliament’s website and social media presence through the dedicated work of parliamentary staff.
“I hope that the next Speaker will continue to build on the foundations that I’ve
created in the last year. The public are already much more connected to what goes on here – our public gallery was a busy place for last night’s meeting, and I know that this access people have to their Parliament will spark a desire in our future generations to serve in public office,” she said.
Ebanks-Wilks also led the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s Benchmark Assessment exercise last month reviewing the legislative and operational aspects of the Parliament against 132 indicators of good governance.
However, that exercise, she said, was not welcomed by lawmakers.
“The sad part is that the members who condemned this exercise did so out of the fear of change. This exercise was only going to do one thing, and that is to show us our
strengths as well as our weaknesses,” she said.
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