Ebanks may owe Turtle Farm
(CNS): (UPDATE): Former Director of the Turtle Farm Joey Ebanks has made contact with CNS and confirmed that he is still in the process of settling the issue of his salary advance. "I can’t talk about it yet, but in time I will be able to offer more details. I have been trying very hard to settle this for several weeks and I hope that both myself and the board will be able to issue a joint release when it is all settled." He acknowledged that the issue does need to be addressed and said he would be happy to talk about it when it is all resolved. He also told CNS that he would be more than willing to go head-to-head-to-head on a public platform with his North Side opponents, as challenged by Ezzard Miller.
Speculation over Ebanks taking a salary advance was raised last week and thrown in to further confusion when the Turtle Farm board chair released a statement on Friday saying the terms of his separation from Boatswain’s Beach (Cayman Turtle Farm Ltd.) were still being finalised with the advice of the company’s attorneys. CNS had submitted questions to both Joel Walton, the Turtle Farm Board chair, and to Ebanks regarding the speculation about the salary advance which remains outstanding. Ebanks did not respond until today when he confirmed the advance but not the details.
The board however, confirmed Ebanks’ resignation from his post as managing director of the company on 24 March 2009, the day before Nomination Day when he was declared a candidate for the People’s Progressive Movement in North Side, but did not offer details about the advance regarding how much, when it was taken and why.
The board went on to say that it has appointed an interim management team comprised of existing staff who will take on additional responsibilities for the facility. The team will be led by Acting Managing Director Joe Parsons, who is the chief scientific officer and has some 21 years experience at the facility. “Parsons will be assisted by Vijay Parabdeen, who will assume the role of acting chief operating officer with responsibility for financial matters and special projects,” the board said in a statement. The team also includes two acting assistant managing directors, Chris Jackson and Raymond Hydes.
Ebanks announced that he would be leaving the farm last week in the Legislative Assembly when Madame Speaker Edna Moyle said she would be retiring from politics. Ebanks will be contesting her long held North Side seat in the forthcoming General Election on behalf of the People’s Progressive Movement. Ebanks was officially nominated by Moyle and Janet Ebanks at the North Side Civic Centre on Wednesday, where he was supported by the entire PPM team (except for Moses Kirkconnell who was on Cayman Brac for his own nomination). At that time he said he was looking forward to an exciting campaign.
“This campaign is going to be about the issues and I hope here in North Side we will elevate the debate about how we move the country forward and provide hope,” he said.
Running against Ezzard Miller, a former minister and experienced politician, as well as Oswell Rankine, who previously ran for office in East End, Ebanks has himself taken to the hustings in the past when he tried his hand in Bodden Town in 2000 as independent.
Since then he has joined the PPM and is now returning to his own native district where he says he has always dreamed of being able to represent his people.
Category: Election 2009
Well chuckie won’t be getting back in so it does not matter who wants "his job".
…..HON. Joey Ebanks, Minister of Environment, etc. (and not including Development, Tourism, Infrastructure, Investment, Planning, …..
Hey Charles looks like someone in the PPM group wants you gone.
HON. Joey Ebanks, Minister of Environment, etc. (and not including Development, Tourism, Infrastructure, Investment, Planning, Commerce, Agriculture), yes I can see it already.
Hon. Joey Ebanks of North Side is the political candidate in this election which has a past record of working to protect our natural environment.
If I could move to North Side to give the Hon. Joey Ebanks my vote then he would definitely have it!
The future of the tourist industry in the Cayman Islands requires a healthy natural environment. The Hon. Joey Ebanks has proven himself.
After all of the years dumping raw turtle sewage into our sea all governments were ignoring / denying that there was any problem at all. The Hon. Joey Ebanks changed that, as soon as he went to manage the Cayman Turtle Farm, he recognized the pollution problems and immediately started to clean up the turtle poop.
Instead of falling for the UDP rumour you all should be congratulations the Hon. Joey Ebanks on how much he did in such a short time at Cayman Turtle Farm. All other politicians have had so long a time to do something and did NOTHING to protect the environment.
Look at the past environmental political record of all political candidates in Election 2009, and specifically those who have previously been an MLA and you see a pattern of environmental failure.
All other politicians assisted by their big $$$$ environment damaging development buddies and the Planning Department only made damaging the natural environment worse.
All of this results in the deterioration of “Product Cayman”, the natural Cayman Islands which is really our only tourism product.
Hon. Joey Ebanks, yes that sounds good, you’re the only one that has proved your concern for our natural environment, all other past MLA political candidates be quiet it is too late for you to open your mouth.
Unna other new candidates, with the exception of Mr. Bo Miller who works to clean up human poop, please keep quiet on the environment for the rest of this political campaign, your words along with the previous MLA’s will be seen for exactly what they are – words, just words.
Your past actions are still shouting so loud we cannot hear you.
Now the UDP supporters on the Cayman Turtle Farm Board are just stirring up problems where a problem does not exist, stop holding up the final leaving arrangements for the Hon. Joey Ebanks to create political gain for you. Over many, many years these same UDP Cayman Turtle Farm Board Members did nothing about cleaning up the turtle and now dolphin poop going into the sea. UDP stop your usual s**t throwing.
North Siders for the protection of your future and the future of the Cayman Islands elect the Hon. Joey Ebanks, he proved himself over all the opposition, the Cayman Islands needs him in the Legislative Assembly.
One thing for sure; such a large amount is not a salary advance but instead is a loan. Why would this cash strapped agency be giving out money like that?
Rememeber that they had operating losses to the tune of $1M per month. How can a man who spoke of fiscal responsibility with this agency turn and get a personal loan for a large amount when it was not needed for a medical emergency or something of that sort?
There needs to be a full audit of the books of the Turtle Farm to see what else might have been doing on there. NO one believed the UCCI situation either until it all hit the fan. Get the full facts on this; I imagine as you start digging deeper you will find more.
To "Don’t they all disappear…." Can you submit again without the capslock on please?
Don’t they all disappear, at least if Ezzard gets elected North Siders would have a representative in the LA to represent us and at the end of the day thats what we need, I personally think Joey is a good person, but we dont need someone who is going to sit on our front porches & drink alcohol & smoke cigarettes with our young people, we have enough young people going to waste in North Side by drug abuse. I dont care if he disappears I dont need to see him but i know he will be in the LA representing North Siders and we will be well represented for his four years in the LA.
sorry Joey you do not have the qualities this position requires, please note I said qualities and not qualifiications.
this is interesting….
http://www.caymannetnews.com/Archive/Archive%20Articles/February%202001/Issue%2058/letter_1.html
At most work places, a Salary Advance is granted in case of an Emergency (medical, death in the family, if you are on vacation over the period of your pay day or otherwise) for an amount not exceeding 1 months salary. This is normally paid back in the next months pay period and is usually not extended for more than two months. This benefit is usually covered in the Policies & Procedure Manual of the Company and would not normally form a part of the employee’s contract. My questions:- (1) When were these funds advanced? (2) What were the repayment terms and conditions? (3) How much was advanced? Waiting for a response like the rest of Cayman……….
It is impossible to say what is usual about salary advances across the board. Much depends upon the seniority of the employee and the entity employing them. For instance, it clearly makes no sense to say if you are advanced one month’s salary this should be paid back within a month since this leaves you with no salary for the next month. What the writer is clearly attempting to do is to raise the bar to a level that he feels Mr. Ebanks will not clear. No doubt we will have answers to those questions in due course.
I must chime in with the rest CNS – excellent job. What the people of the Cayman Islands need to understand is that once you place yourself in the public’s light you open yourself and your family up as an open book, nothing is sacred, no holes barred.
Am I missing something here? How is a salary advance even news to begin with? I wonder how many have been given out this month alone? Someone could check under the FOI….
The headline and first paragraph of the article strike me as being of mal intent but as long as such things are shared equally amongst all candidates then I guess they are fair game.
I’m guessing these little tidbit leaks will continue to come the medias way via opponents and their supporters over the next two months.
I heard Mr. Ebanks on the Rooster show after he appeared as the man of the year for the Cayman Net News and he stated that he had no other plans, he wanted to stay at the turtle Farm and make something of it. He even stated that friends asked him way he had taken the job at the turtle farm in the first place, because it was just little old turtle farm.
Why, then has Joey resigned? Why is he not completing the job he so elequently stated he wanted with all of his heart to make something of? Looks like he did not love it enough.
The person who posted the last comment regarding the state of the Turtle Farm seemingly hasn’t been up there since quite some time. I have and took visiting friends and I was horrified what this place looks like, and I am not suprised it continues to operate at a loss. If we are to base our votes on the performance that Mr. Ebanks delivered managing Boatswain’s Beach, that I am afraid to say that I have no confidence.
You know i have look around at the various districts including my own and have come to the opinion that we need to put in Honest people this time or we are going to end up like TCI for sure Toomany candidates either are bought and paid for by certain powerful interest or have some serious hidden agenda’s and are merely playing it cool until they get elected.Then they will transform themselves to monster status and then to a dangerous Pariah. The parties are merely focus on Power for themselves and their loyal cronies and will do anything to get it. I have never been a strong supporter of person like Mr Gilbert Mclean and a couple of others but it appears these candidates are demonstrating some of the qualities we are going to need for the next government. a high level of Honesty and integrity and not popularity and a counter balance to certain very powerful influences in our little society. I wish i could vote in the district of Bodden Town.
Ebanks may owe TF?! Owe them what?!! We should be thanking him for trying his best to pull TF out of a failing state and bringing it to the level that it is today! How quickly people forget. For the love of God, where is the articlethat says Thanks Joey for what you have done, for the hard work that you put in down there at TF, for all the time you spent away from your family!
Nowhere we are with a full article on a salary advance! If CNS was to look into the amount of persons that gets salary advances from Government, they would not have time to write anything else! The information on Mr. Ebanks says nothing else except that he might have gotten a salary advance, SO WHAT! Why don’t we wait for the details before we jump to conclusions!!!!!
I think you need to get the facts straight before your post this.
THATS RIGHT JOEY TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET.
You should be getting your salary advances from the PPM in the form of cash, not from the Turtle Farm that you are managing which you know full well has a balance sheet that has a defecit of millions of dollars.
North Siders be warned. This is but a reflection of the PPM government who spends money they do not have and then say that they could not forsee that they will not be able to pay it back in time.
You knew that you were resigning from the Turtle Farm, why did you not make the necessary arrangements to pay what is owed before turning in your resignation?
As I said before, this country does not need any more polititions who overspend now and worry about paying later.
NORTH SIDERS CHOSE WISELY ON MAY 20. VOTE FOR EZZARD MILLER, A MAN WITH A PROVEN TRACK RECORD.
OWE THEM WHAT?
Are you kidding me. Mr. Ebanks worked under the terms of a very lucretive contract that stipulates what he is entitled to for his work. Is there a clause in this secret contract that allows Mr Joey to make a "salary advance" for himself?
Calling it a "salary advance" is a slick way of trying to gloss oner this incident and may help the Board of Directors save face in this embarresing moment, however, if there is no provision for "salary advances" in his contract, I wonder, how will the Board stand behind his explanation?
Not only does Mr. Joey need to explain to CNS and the people of this country, what went on but likewise the Board of Boswans Beach should level with the people in taking full responsibility for the fact that there was a "salary advance" to an employee who was in a position to leave the job overnight without first repaying this loan.
I just hope this is not another Dr. Sayeed fiasco. Our Island has suffered enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CNS: It is very unfortunate that we have still not received clarification on the matter. However, we assume that if there was a salary advance that this was given with the approval of the board.
Did you receive clarification?
CNS: Only what is in the updated story.
You’re in trouble Joey. The only thing that might save you is that Ezzard and Oswell are such truly horrible alternatives. Thank God for Edna for the last several years but many of us wish she was still there.
Thank to the previous person for including the Cayman Compass article. In comparing the 2 articles, the Cayman Compass article does not come across as destructive the way CNS article does! But none the less – CNS article certainly got the people’s attention! I guess that is their intent ! FACTS? Who cares about that anymore!!!!! God help us!
I have to admit I am very please with Mr. Bush’s maturity and fairness on this matter. He is right – it is matters like this that can have long term effects not only Mr. Ebanks but on his young family! I wish people would try to act decent during this election process!
Lose focus on what?
CNS – Great expose!
Compass now running it as breaking news – you guys are ahead of the game: http://www.caycompass.com/cgi-bin/CFPnews.cgi?ID=10381289
It is so unfortunate that this article has caused persons to lose complete focus! CNS have argued their point on why they feel this article is not pre-mature, however, we as people do not have to appear so ignorant to pick them up on what is marely unknown circumstances.
Come on people, it is a Political game! A very sad and immature game but none the less one that we must expect. When there are strong candidates, we unfortunately have persons in our community who is so busy thinking of "self" that they will say and do many things to try and harm the other person!
I am confident that there are reasons at this time why neither the Board or Mr. Ebanks have offered direct comments and not wanting to assume anything, I will not offer any further comments on this matter.
What I will say is, Mr. Ebanks do not allow any immature, vendictive or simply studip comments or actions of anyone to interfere with your progress! I am confident that you can run circles around the other candidates in North Side and when they can come forth with proof of no wrong doing on themselves then I will consider them!
Stay stong my friend, I know that this can not be easy for you and your family. May God bless you and help you through this and bring you our victorious!!!!!!!!
CNS You did a good job! DO NOT be swayed by a few Joey supporters who are clueless and cannot read. The article was timely and informative.
The mere fact that Joey refused to respond to your request for an interview does not mean that there was anything wrong with the story. If he had nothing to hide he should have practiced full disclosure.
Lawyer involved you say- again an interesting tidbit. There was not even a lawyer involved when Chuckie resigned. I’m sure that Joey will regret that day he chose to ignore the media. Ignoring the media is a tactic used here in hopes that the story will not get published. I’m glad that CNS is not accepting those standards and ran with the story anyway.
Brilliant story; well written and we the people need to know. Now this has brought to light another matter with Joey – has he properly and formerly resigned? If he has not he will not be disqualified.
The mentality of this bunch – PPM members and UDP members alike – shows that they have little regard for the rules that the rest of us are forced to live by each and every day.
While I feel sorry for him you have to be prepared to dot your i’s and cross your T’s. We don’t need people who can’t do that in their personal affairs running for public office anyway. We speak of greater accountability BUT when it comes down to it we want to castigate the media for doing their job?
Come on people. Have some standards. CNS has clearly demonstrated journalistic integrity and acumen and I for applaud them for it.
Keep up the good work CNS – right now you are the best news source in Cayman!
Let me understand ths point then. IF Joey is still finalizing the terms of his resignation that means that he has not "RESIGNED" and as such would not be eligible to run for public office.
Therefore, he was NOT nominated within the stipulated rules of the Elections Law. Therefore he would be disqualified!
The Elections Office needs to open an investigation into this as a very serious matter of urgency. We the people need to know what the legal position is.
Joey and his supporters – it was not very smart of you to use this as an argument to cover up why he has not yet paid back the salary advance that have been outstanding for some time. This begs to question, if he KNEW he was leaving TF why would he even take a salary advance?
Shows lack of planning which is typical PPM move. Sad indeed as if this happens you would have just given the election to Ezzard!
People get a grip. When you resign from a company it is the company that finalises any issues not the ex-employee. The TF Board should have been able to finalise this in a day or two and give Mr. Ebanks the details. It appears that has not happened yet so how can Mr. Ebanks comply with any of their requirements?
For all of you, Joey might had got this salary advance way before he decided to run for Election for North Side District, and who say that he was not paying this advance back each month, the advance will be paid back. At least he did not steal.
As long as he is runnung for North Side, he has my vote because he did nothing wrong, it would have been different if he got the advance and left the Island for Good, but he is no thief. He is a good man that care for his little district of North Side.
typical PPM. joey loses credibility with this i feel. I hope he can provide a good answer because this looks bad.
Excellent point about him not formalizing his terms of agreement and how he can run for office! I had not even thought of that one. We need the Electioins Office to respond to that.
CNS – Get on this one please!!
"Excellent point about him not formalizing his terms of agreement and how he can run for office! I had not even thought of that one. We need the Electioins Office to respond to that.
CNS – Get on this one please!!"
Oh boy, oh boy! We can eliminate him that way!. Obviously you can scarcely contain your glee at that prospect. Somehow I doubt it. I suspect that what is being finalized are the arrangements and terms for the repayment of an advance now that Mr. Ebanks is no longer an employee of the Turtle Farm when an amount could simply have been deducted from his salary each month. If that is the case it would have absolutely nothing to do with his eligibility to run for office. What a deflation that would be for the great expose.
TWO SEATS IN LA
I do not see any reason why NorthSide and East End cannot have two seats in LA. If someone has a good reason why not please share it with me. Now I said share it with me, not ram it down my throat.
Twyla,
Twyla, the obvious reason NS and EE cannot have two seats is because they don’t have the population to permit this. If they had two GT and WB would have to have 8 each. It is all about proportion to the respective electorate.
I know Joey and I don’t think he would be that crazy to give himself an “unauthorized” salary advance. If I was Joey, I would bring a copy of the Board of Director’s meeting showing that the advance was approved and laugh at all of you.
"CNS – To clarify again – there is no suggestion in the article that Mr Ebanks ever gave himself an unauthorised salary advance without the knowledge of the board or that anything illegal has occurred".
CNS, this is the problem with writing the article prematurely. The average reader will assume that if it deserves an article there must be some suggestion of wrongdoing, particularly in an election season where political opponents are looking for any excuse to tar you.
CNS: We stand by the story and do not believe it was premature (see the Viewpoint Holding the press to ransom) but some people are misinterpreting the article and we wish to set them straight.
When you are not sure of the facts, please have nothing to say.
Why publish a story before hearing back from either party? If we stick to this, imagine future headlines. People rely on the media to have a certain responsibility of hearing from those involved, getting some facts, and then making them known, not printing a story before we have proof of evidence.
Rather than clarifying an issue before the story was printed, now one side has to be in defense mode to clear it up even if they’re innocent and the story turns out to have no truth!
I think it would’ve been better to wait for a response before releasing the story. If this is the trend, how about choosing each candidate and printing a story detailing what they may or may not have done, based on a rumour, like:
"<INSERT NAME HERE>’s pocket may have benefited from giving away Cayman status to some undeserving wealthy" or "<INSERT NAME HERE> may give you a new fridge if you vote for him!"
CNS: People certainly have the right to respond to questions before the story is posted, which is why CNS sent questions to both the board and Mr Ebanks and gave them sufficient time to answer them. As noted in the article, the board did respond but did not answer this specific question.
How can this Be he is "The Man of the year"according the Desmond and Caymannetnews Well Ezzard looks like he has smooth sailing on this one
Did most of you read the first sentence? The Board is still finalising the terms of the "separation". Just as would happen when any CEO leaves a corporation. I am confident that once they finalise their decisions, any monies that Mr. Ebanks is deemed to owe the Authority will be repaid in full. CNS, I have to say that publishing this article before you got your questions answered or theBoard finalised their decisions apears somewhat suspect.
The Big White Elephant in the room on this one is. If Joey has not yet finalised the terms of his resignation from the Turtle Farm, how is he able to nominate for elections in North Side. As a George Town voter I am aware that the Elections Law does NOT permit employees of Government or Government Statutary Authorities to be nominated for elections.
Com on Kerney Gomez, if Joey has not finalised his resignation from the Turtle Farm, why does your office allow him to run for office? Or is this rule just for npn PPM supporters?
Ezzard??? Ha ha ha haaa! The man that’s invisible 3yrs and 10 months and only knows his own Northside people for the 2 months he runs for election then does a Whodini (POOOOOF) gone again until.
JOEY DONT LET THIS WEAKEN YOUR SPIRITS.
I am aware that Joey is with the PPM Team, and has been for a very long time. I will be very honest to say that I am a supporter of at least two persons from the team. I am not a party supporter, I am a person supporter. I speak of a person how I find them, and I cannot find a negative word to say about Joey Ebanks except "Joey do not be manipulated by anyone." Do what you think is right in your mind. I have been acquainted with Joey for a very long time. I know his mother, sister and daughter very well. They are kind caring people. My comments has nothing to do with politics, its merely asking people to refrain from digging merely to hurt. I cannot see Joey as being a dishonest person and would say Joey, follow your heart and not the crowd.. Do not go with theflow. End of comment
CNS: Twyla, So as not to confuse this thread and have two discussions at once, I’ve copied your other question down and will write a Viewpoint on the subject for tomorrow and include it there.
The Boards that get appointed to run these organizations are a joke, have you seen the make up of some of them? some of these people don’t have one iota of management skills and are simply there due to their political affiliations.
They don’t understand fiscal management and since they are volunteers who cannot be sued, they have no vested interest in the propper management and administration of these organizations.
Is it a wonder then why so many of these Statutory Authorities are a drain on Government and taxpapers pockets?
These huge bonuses that people keep alluding to, they are very real folks, and it will only be a matter of time before a news org files a FOI request to the likes of Pensions Board, Monetary Authority, Maritime Authority and the host of others who loose Government money all year long and then gets rewarded for it at year end.
How dare you say it is a matter between Mr. Ebanks & the Turtle Farm. This is the people’s money we are talking about and if you think it is not a big deal then you should help him pay this back. I certainly hope this is not true as it reflect badly on Joey and it also give the PPM a blackeye to start their Campaign with. I’ve always heard where there is smoke there is fire and Cayman News Service has been very responsible in their reporting. To all Candidates, UDP, PPM & Independents…When you run for Public Office, your life is an open book….hope there are no skeletons in your closets.
What does this have to do with running office? Are you kidding? You don’t think that his fiscal responsibilty as the CEO of one of our government facility is important? Are you on drugs?
We need to start electing people that have a good character – this only speaks to what we can expect of them when they get into the LA. I mean come on here people. If you don’t have integrity and good character in your public dealings expecially when it comes to government funds what can we expect?
This is no different that the "Dr. Syed" situation where he got a salary advance. It shows once again that these boards are often useless and NOT looking out for the interests of public funds.
Other examples under the PPM Government included the CINICO Board and that fiasco there as well.
Not a good start
It may not appear to be a good start but let’s hear the full story first.
As educated people we must remember that a lot of people talk what they don’t know. As a community we tend to repeat things we hear without having the benefit of any evidence whatsoever.
It is beyond my comprehension why people put their mouth in gear before putting their brain in gear. It is the most disgusting thing noting so many people who dwell on distroying people’s and name, character etc. without first contacting the correct person to get the correct information .
It is so unfortunate rumours are published before the facts are known or the person it relates to is contacted.
CNS: As it states clearly in the article, CNS has contacted both the Board and Mr Ebanks on the question of a possible salary advance and we are awaiting answers.
this is at this point all heresay, marl road, rumour and so far most of those commenting are just jumping on the bandwagon without knowing any facts.
Even IF it is true, he and Boatswain’s Beach may have come to an agreement, a payment plan. Why assume he’s trying to not pay it back? Unna know you shouldn’t assume…. You will make an ‘a**’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’.
Many employees can request an advance, there’s nothing wrong or illegal or immoral about it, as long as it is repaid as agreed, especially for a Government or statutory body.
Before we all judge, let’s wait to hear what facts are reported on the matter instead of going off of the apparent rumours thus far in the report.
One of the things about politics that I find distasteful, is the readiness to crucify someone before the facts are known simply on the basis that he belongs to a different political party. Why are we so cannibalistic? How did this suddenly become a ‘Dr.’ Sayed situation with suggestions of criminality? Calm down people.
I may be wrong, but I have to say that the article did sound politically motivated. Why not hold off on the article until there was something to report, or was it that writing the article would force a response thereby giving you something to report?
That’s a matter between Mr. Ebanks and the Turtle Farm. I don’t see what it has to do with his running for office.
Oh, REALLY,? The gas bill at Predro was up for national debate, if there is not an issue, declare it…Joey seems a gentleman, is there a problem or not?!!!
Why are people so willing to dismiss these kind of alligations when it is a polition involved.
If it was a poor North Sider who had been accused of stealing from a place of employment like a bank that person would be in jail.
I am sure the PPM Government will manage to keep this out of court until after the elections and if Mr Ebanks is elected you will never hear of it again.
It is this type of blind party followers who will vote for whoever the party puts up that is the problem with politics in Cayman, not the fact that there are parties.
Come on North Siders and the whole of Cayman, do not vote for any polititian unless they can stand up to the eye of scrutany.
ALL polititians deserve carefull scrutany before you cast your vote, especially those that suddenly have new 45 foot boats and anchor off Rum Point with their friends, drink rum and look down at North Siders.
CNS: Just to clarify, there is no suggestion that anything illegal has taken place.
The story speaks to a rumour about a salary advance. At time of going to press, Mr Ebanks had not responded and the Board chairman did not deny the rumour. That usually speaks volumes.
Lots of people get salary advances – so whats the problem here?
Well to begin with the individual has a long affiliatation with the incumbant Govt and is now a declared PPM candidate so it understandbly creates a negative perception. Mr Ebanks was a district chairman of the PPM in the last election. He may have dropped out of the BT election to allow another candidate to run. After the election Mr Ebanks is put in the number two spot at the Turtle farm with no prior relevant experience. Shortly thereafter the managing director is out and Mr Ebanks takes the number one spot. Lets fast forward. On the eve of the upcoming election the incumbant PPM MLA for Northside announces that Mr Ebanks will be the new PPM candidate in the upcoming elections and Mr Ebanks quickly resigns from this govt entity to be eligible to run.
Now you have speculation of a salary advance from a hugely cashed strapped govt entity being paid to the same individual, A salary advance (loan) in this situation could be seen as the use of public funds to bankroll a political election campaign or at least keep the person going financially through to the elections.
This is a huge blunder for Mr Ebanks, MOT and the PPM.