UDP says government should take responsibility

(CNS): Claims from government about its inability to influence the outcome of various political crisis are a result of poor governance, according to the Leader of the Opposition, McKeeva Bush. He condemned the PPM administration over recent attempts to remove themselves from a range of serious issues, including the so-called helicopter fiasco, the UCCI situation, and the extensive arrears in filing of financial statements of several high profile government bodies.

The Leader of the UDP said in a press statement on Friday, 12 September, that comments made by Kurt Tibbetts, Leader of Government Business, as well as other elected Cabinet ministers, regarding their failure to accept responsibility were not acceptable. “They have been elected by the people to serve and impart whatever influences they can on all parties involved, and this is what they should be doing,” he added. 

“What I find most disturbing is, not only are we witnessing a range of serious mishaps within the government, but we are consistently hearing from the elected members of the PPM government that they have no control or authority to deal with or to prevent these things from occurring.

“Why did they not ensure that adequate due diligence was carried out even taking into account Mr Kernohan’s advice on the helicopter? Where was the pressure from them on those responsible to ensure that the financial statements were filed?” he questioned.

He also asked why there has still not been a full and proper report on the situation which led to hundreds of thousands of dollars being stolen from UCCI, and he said the financial fiasco relating to the $1.5 billion in missing accounts demonstrated mismanagement of the country’s affairs. He also noted that Cabinet minister Arden Mclean recently claimed that he was misled on the million-dollar contract with Matrix.

“Yet to date there has been little acceptance by the PPM government of their political responsibility and accountability to the people of the Cayman Islands,” Bush added. “This is simply not acceptable. Holding your hands up and saying how disappointed you are is not leadership. Deflecting blame on the Governor and UK whenever possible … is not leadership. It is time for the Government to stop blaming others and accept full responsibility for not paying attention to the country’s affairs.