Clifford calls for Jack to go
(CNS): Unless he makes an unequivocal statement offering his support to the Cayman Islands judiciary and stops questioning the ruling of Sir Peter Cresswell, Governor Stuart Jack should be recalled to the UK, Minister Charles Clifford has said. The tourism minister said the recent events surrounding the investigation, which have brought the reputation of the Cayman Islands into question, have all been managed by the Governor’s Office.
“I believe the next step has to be a very clear and unequivocal statement from the governor perhaps in a press briefing, that he has full confidence in the judiciary of this country. The governor has so far resisted that and I am not sure why but this is a critical issue,” the Minister said on the Rooster Crosstalk radio show.
“We are talking about the judiciary that underpins the financial services industry, which supports fifty percent of the economy of this country. If the governor does not underscore his support and full confidence in the judiciary, I strongly believe that a delegation of ministers, MLAs and leaders of civic society must go to the UK and request the recall of this governor and his replacement by a newgovernor.”
The minister added that the country cannot allow him to continue to manage a situation that has undermined the reputation of the financial services industry. “It really leads one to question whether this is a continuation of the Ballantyne era.”
He said that David Ballantyne, the former attorney general who was linked to an MI6 agent from the UK while working in Cayman, is currently working for the FCO as a legal advisor.
“We would be failing the Caymanian people if we sat here and just allowed this to continue and allowed them to tear away at the reputation of this country,” he said. “When we question things we can’t get the information we need and we are expected to continue to throw money at a project that is undermining the reputation of this country.”
He said the governor needs to take action or the government needs to take action against him. The statement regarding the governor’s confidence was very important, Clifford said, and if it does not come the government would be forced to ask for his recall. Clifford added that the governor was responsible for the circumstances, the poor judgement and the bad advice surrounding the Special Police Investigation Team and in particular the behaviour of Martin Bridger. He noted that the governor’s continued support of Bridger and his insistence that the SIO has done nothing wrong equates to a denial of the rulings made by both Chief Justice Anthony Smellie and, more recently, Sir Peter Cresswell.
“Too many things have gone wrong with this investigation and the governor needs to begin by removing Martin Bridger from his post. Because of the liability issues that have resulted fromMr Bridger’s poor police judgement we cannot support an investigation led by him.”
He said that, in the wake of Smellie’s ruling, no crime had been committed regarding the issues surrounding Net News, Bridger had then gone to a JP to get warrants without disclosing the earlier rulings, which itself could be considered misconduct and certainly questions his credibility.
The minister said that if the governor thought that Smellie or Cresswell were wrong he should appeal the ruling, but he said that had not happened because there were no grounds for appeal. Clifford accused the governor of calling these judges’ rulings into question, and said his behaviour could lead people to believe he was running for office in the May elections.
“He is the most political governor I have ever seen and governors must ride above politics. If a governor cannot rise above politics, he or she is not fit to hold that office,” he said.
Category: Headline News
Charles Clifford makes me embarrassed for this country.
A friend of mine said Google HUBRIS, wikipedia too. Just do it. If there were illustrations or photos, perhaps our MOT would be right there. 30 years in Tourism , my heart is broken as to whre he has put us…We had such high hopes.
Poor Kirk Tibbetts, he goes to London to sort out the constitution with the "A team" and back in Cayman Minister Clifford is telling the Governor to resign.
Does he need a keeper to remain and keep things sorted while is is out of the country?
I say PPM – lets the expats run!! Time for a full change (we know you have a few of us lined up to run so please expose them now so we can get a fair chance to look at them and decide who will be the best). Come on!!!
Most readers are missing the point the minister is making and that is "The Ballantyne Era"? Is this a continuation by Governor Jack the financial Ripper of the Cayman Islands? Everthing this screw up does puts money into the pockets of his UK buddies draining our treasury. No matter how incompetent they are and how much money they cost us. Rob us with our eyes wide open.
The minister is so very correct to say Jack should pack and don’t come back. He should take some of his UK pirates with him.
Look like its time for alot of changes. Maybe Caymanians need to seek alternate avenues. The PPM proposal was for expats to start to run for office in this Country, maybe it was passed and will now be implemented in the new constitution. Does not sound like such a bad idea after all now does it? How about it Cayman, what do you say? We can’t be all bad?
Can’t be all good ,either.
FIGURE THIS OUT
How in this world can POT CLOTH TURN TABLE CLOTH.
Blah Blah Blah and More Blah
May we have the documents back now, please?
What a bunch of sociopaths…
"Sociopaths lie all the time. As they don’t view others as a thinking, feeling persons, they do not see this behavior as wrong. Their only quest is to serve themselves and, if this entails lying, cheating or more, they will do so.
If one catches them in lies, they are brilliant at changing the subject, placing the onus on the other person, denying their involvement or trying to make others seem crazy.
They are even good at deceiving the police and the court system; sociopaths rarely end up in prison for their actions."
– Jedi Dread –
i posted a post saying the Governor needs to step down and go home and this newsite refused to post my post, how ironic now even the politicians and everyone else is chiming in saying he needs to go! i wrote my post right after Mr. Jack terminated Mr. Kernohan. I can’t wait to see Mr. Kernohan get his millions too! He deserves it! He should have never been suspended nor terminated from being the Chief. Bad call! Now the helcipoter is coming and not deemed that bad afterall. Yet everyone ripped Mr. Kernohan apart for the purchase. The truth will always win in the end. It was a great injustice what was done to Mr. Kernohan and the truth about it is slowly unfolding.
The Governor needs to step down and go home now, he has suffered Cayman quite enough damage and terrible disgrace!
And ps to the Politicians who ripped Mr. Kernohan’s reputation apart for accusing him of wasting the country’s money on the purchase of the helicopter. Now you think it’s not such a bad helicopter after all, huh? And remember it was the only one available for sale. And remember you all didn’t listen properly to Mr. Kernohan explaining about it in the first place! NOW YOU OWE MR. KERNOHAN A HUGE APOLOGY, DON’T YOU? LET’S HEAR A PUBLIC APOLOGY FROM THIS GOVERNMENT TO MR. KERNOHAN REGARDING THE HELICOPTER, I AM WAITING TO HEAR THIS APOLOGY ISSUED PUBLICLY! THAT WOULD BE THE RIGHT, CORRECT AND RESPECTFUL COURTEOUS THING TO DO!
CNS: Maybe it was deleted because you hit the caps lock, which is incredibly irritating to read.
Dear Truth,
Who knows about Mr. Kernohan. The Auditor General’s Report did not really exonerate him, but instead found that there was no documentation to support Mr. Kernohan’s claims that he had discussed the limitations of the aircraft with Cabinet or the CAA. We don’t know who these finder’s fees were payable to or why a consultant was engaged only after the decision to purchase the paricular iarcraft was made. This is not like a case where there was judicial review and he prevailed like Justice Henderson. There is therefore no reason at this point for Govt. to give any apologies to him. You’re certainly right about Governor Jack though.
Minister Clifford doesn’t need the LoGB first to state that he feels the Governor should go, but no doubt he is confident that he has the support of his colleagues in Cabinet.
"Year 2012 Breaking News!! (BBC International News Corp.):
The Cayman Islands, a former Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom has confirmed its intentions to declare itself an independant, sovereign nation.
This comes in the wake of a series of investigations and allegations of serious corruption throughout the RCIPS, financial industry and Government leaders. Within the last few years the UK was required to intervene by way of specialist police teams and even spies within the island’s lucrative and crucial international financial industry.
With such a recent shady past it begs the questions; Is this tiny island-nation truly prepared to run its own affairs? How secure is the financial indutry? Will the social structure hold up under the control of a broken police service widely considered to be suffering from "low morale"? Only time will tell!"
PEOPLE, WAKE UP!!
None of what is happening around you is merely accidental or coincidental.
Observe what is going on today in every Caribbean Overseas Territory of the UK and it is clear to see that every jurisdiction that has in recent years flirted with the option of "independence" is now subject to major investigations and inquiries! Questionable political games have been taking place for decades in these countries – only NOW is there such a grand effort by the "mother nation" to tackle these issues. WHY?!
It is simply a TACTIC to undermind our country, leave a lasting STAIN upon us, and create a CLOUD of DOUBT over our true potential.
The UK is indeed the big bully in the playground – ignore the supposed "poise" and "dignity" of the deed-doer..they are all playing for the same team with the same game plan.
Keep ya head up and eyes open Cayman.
Whodatis
Hold on a minute – is this Chuckie’s call to make? Where’s the LOGB?
Cliffordgate, must go as well. I am sorry but I find it very hard to believe Chuckie, his words sound good, but the feeling I get when I listen to him does not sit write with me, so I must follow my gut feelings on this one. I try, but just can’t bring myself to believe his stories. 1) he never took responsibility for taking the documents, never once did he apoligize to the Caymanians, showed and remorse at all. 2) All he did was point out what others have done. Two wrongs do not make a right. Sorry and then 3) just the way he spoke on rooster the other day, basically falling short of a treat – unbelievable. This kind of person we can do without. What is he teaching our children. It’s OK to do wrong if others are doing it as well?!!!
Wow, so many people like to argue over afew million dollars. Politicians have been wasting millions for years now on bogus projects and both parties are guilty. I for one do not agree that the SPIT investigation is without flaws but lets let it pan out. If we send them home now we would have wasted the money that has already been spent. If we wait and see what happens we would have a very good case againt governer Jack if the investigations turn up nothing. If that happens then the UK would surely have to give us the amount that was spent on what would be bogus investigations. As far as the helicoptor fiasco and Kernohan i think the elected members being misled is one of the funniest things i have heard in a long time. I can go on the internet and look up specs for the chopper in question and we also have capable staff at CAA that could have looked up the info, but to say that the elected members who are made up of accountants and lawyers were misled, wow what a bunch we have in there. Whats a few million dollars if we do uncover corruption. if the current elected members had that money it would no doubt go on projects like the port expansion or roads through the mastic trail or maybe some more million dollar football fields. come on people get a grip on whats going on and stop just making noise.
I got to admit Chuckie is right on this call. Also Boatswains Beach and several of the other fiascos were begun by the UDP
Chuck Chuckie out too.
Clifford not even a lawyer!! He needs to correct people when they tell him that.
What I find funny is that some people are saying that Chuckie should go because of the issues surrounding the Port, and Boatswains Beach what no one seems to remember is that it was under McKeeva’s "Rule" that the issues occurred….please read respective reports before making judgments…the inconsistencies shown in the reports correspond directly to the reasoning Chuckie gave during the so called "Cliffordgate" investigation.
Having said that, Chuckie is absolutly right about asking the current governor to be replaced. The harm that he and the SPIT team have done and are continuing to do [through their many mistakes] to our islands is unforgivable. Not only our reputation is on the line, our economic stability is on the line. Our MLA’s should form a delegation to go to theUK
Clifford is the one who needs to go!!!
I loved the earlier comment, how amusing, ¨STUART JACK THE CAYMAN RIPPER¨
HOW FITTING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have one also, ¨MARTIN BRIDGER, THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE¨ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Perhaps we should deport him and ¨Jack the Cayman Ripper¨ to Alaska, where they can both join Sara Palin and set their sights on Russia !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is a BIG difference in leaving a job or leaving a country. Do not confuse the two.
For once I actually agree with Minister Clifford, especially after sitting in traffic for almost half an hour just so Jack could be escorted by a dozen officers through a round-a-bout?! Seriously Jack, why are you here?! The people want to know the real purpose of you tormenting our judicial system, and now your citizens?
Don’t those officers have something more important to do, like solving crimes, keeping guns & drugs off our streets, and stopping wreckless drivers?! How many officers does it take to control the flow of traffic at one round-a-bout? Obviously – more than 12! PATHETIC.
Jack needs to go back. End of story.
As far as the whole first comment on "Clifford going as well…" – I’d like you to name one elected member that hasn’t done something that ticked at least some of us off? Don’t worry — I’ll wait….
In my humble opinion and totally with no regards to what Mr. Clifford has stated in his speach, I too must say that HE Stuart Jack and The SPIT Team must Go. As they have created monsters of burdens for the people of the Cayman Islands and need to be ended.
HE Stuart Jack, himself was a Great cover for Mr. Clifford in the investigations concerning Mr. Clifford where HE said that Mr. Clifford "Had did wrong, but did not do any harm". A very much unpresidented term of Ruling over a Law Breaker of the Civil Servants Laws and regulations.
To sit and talk about all the Various WASTES of money that the Government of the Cayman Islands is Wasting and has no fruit to bear from it, is very imbarrasing to see as a Government just how Distructful all our "Rulers" are.
Just to name a few of the almost, 60 million dollar schools, the 85 million dollar Government Building, the 1.5 Billion dollars not account for, the Metrix Fiasco, The Sayeed Fiasco, The Kernohan Fiasco, The Henderson Fiasco and the list goes on and on.
As was and still is, in my opinion from a long time ago that this will be the first in the History of the Cayman Islands that a Government has reached the place where they will soon tell you that the "Government is Bankrupt"
Yes We do need a "Governor" and a "New Government" and no one in the Government or the Governor{s possition can and will be able to fill those spots, There is still "Corruption" in the Judicial System and in the RCIPS as was seen by HE Stuart Jack, who has now become coldfooted in the Judicial Probe because of a WRONG doings made by the SPIT team linked along with what the Attorney General had used to misguide the SPIT Team with.
In all this I say, YES Throw out the Governor and The Government and get replacements for all heads and lets Re’elect a new Government and call for a NEW Governor and Restart the Judicial Probe and clean up the Government and The Judicial System and turn a new page for the Caym,an Islands and start over again.
"HE Stuart Jack, himself was a Great cover for Mr. Clifford in the investigations concerning Mr. Clifford where HE said that Mr. Clifford "Had did wrong, but did not do any harm". A very much unpresidented term of Ruling over a Law Breaker of the Civil Servants Laws and regulations".
Oh, please. Cover for what?! Like Governor Jack’s other actions this Commission of Enquiry (CoE) was a gross over-reaction and a waste of time and money. There is not one election that information doesn’t go from the Glass House to an opposition politician and it has always been so. Suddenly, the focus was off the wrongdoer and on to the whistleblower! If the only people who know of the wrongdoing are gagged how will it ever come to light?! Either the Turtle Farm Board Minutes were confidential or they were not. If they were confidential then they were confidential for every Board member. Why is it that it was ok for Mr. Bush to wave them about and (selectively) read from them on TV? Why wasn’t this included in the so-called CoE? If Mr. Seales knowingly received and published confidential information was he not also culpable? Then there was former Governor Dinwiddy brought it as ‘prosecution’ witness but did not give his testimony under oath and was not subjected to cross-examination but was believed anyway. In a proper court this would have been given no weight at all. If you are pre-disposed to believe whatever he had to say, why bother with a CoE in the first place? Then there are the matters of the previous Govt. that should have been the subject of a Commissionof Enquiry but on the basis that there was insufficient evidence to press charges has now been swept under the rug. How can anyone believe for a second that this Governor has been fair, objective, balanced and proportionate in his governance?
I don’t agree with the minister plans regarding the dock issue as well as many of his policies that have been put forward in the last 4 years. But, I must commend him on his courageous statements on the talk show Rooster telling Jack and crew to pack their two brown papers bags and haul freight back to his God forsaking country call UK!! He has now set the bar for the other politicians to follow and drive the hammer home at those blasted a
ristocrats.
Take heed Caymanians, the day of reckoning is upon us to go our separate ways for a greater Cayman, and that my countryman is the word you so much afraid to hear….Independents!! As our ancestors said many moons ago, “Yes, we are free at last, free at last”.
If Mr Clifford could cause this to happen it would make up for all of his other mistakes
I couldn’t agree more with the previous comments. Sounds like Mr Clifford is throwing out a red herring to avoid the heat for the problems with the cruise ship berthing facility and the cargo port mess. The public have made their views abundantly clear, they are against it.
Anyone who attended the meeting held by the DoE got the message loud and clear except perhaps Minister Clifford. So why not try to bash the Governor?
"Sounds like Mr Clifford is throwing out a red herring to avoid the heat for the problems with the cruise ship berthing facility and the cargo port mess".
Clearly is not only Mr. Clifford who feels this way. It seems like you are throwing out a red herring to take the focus off Governor Jack!
Maybe Caymallywood is a good place for him to start. He sure is full of himself and facifull ideas.
This is definitely a case of "the pot calling the kettle black"…. I am sorry but Mr Clifford has also lost all credibility and is in no position to make these demands given that he has achieved next to nothing during his term in office. and importantly given his own negative experience with commission of enquiries etc which ruled that he used his office as a senior civil servant for political gain….
Charles Clifford is 100% right.
Minister Clifford is right. Merely because you disagree with policy decisions of the Minister does not mean he should go before the elections. The voting public will decide whether he should remain as an elected representative at that time. Unfortunately, the voting public cannot vote Governor Jack out of office and the damage he has caused this country far exceeds concerns about Dophin Swims etc. The entire elected Cabinet should be making the case at this time while they are in meetings with the Overseas Territories Minister. Further the matter should be taken before the UK Parliament. It is an absolute outrage and is a watershed moment in our relationship with the UK. Get a petition going.
Hit the road Jack and don’t come back. Way to go Chuckie.
Jack the Ripper is ripping off the Cayman treasurery. Can’t mess with Jack, he’ll stabb you in the back.
That’s the Chuckie I know.
There are many who feel that Minister Charles Clifford should go as well. So many questions about Boatswain, the berthing proposal, the Dolphin Swims. Not to mention more simple problems like the eyesore the Hyatt (and any other derelict building) presents in prime SMB for tourists to see and wonder why a country that claims to attract a more affluent, family based sector of the stay over tourism market, can allow it to remain as a symbol of inefficiency and lack of concern. The public that elected Mr. Clifford would be better served if he concentrated on his job and the actual concerns of the people who elected him!
I agree. There is more than enough to keep Mr. Clifford busy. Tourism is serious business, and it is in serious trouble. He is in a results based position. Where are the results? Tourism is in decline , and it would seem that there is much pointing of fingers on his part, with little progress made in the areas the voters have entrusted him with.