Jack agrees to ministries

| 29/05/2009

(CNS): Governor Stuart Jack has agreed to all of the proposals for ministries and responsibilities for the new government laid out by the new Leader of Government Business McKeeva Bush, who is now Minister of Financial Services, Tourism and Development. There has been some reshuffling of chief officers, including the return to the Ministry of Education of Mary Rodrigues, whose position as CO at the Portfolio of the Civil Service has been filled by Gloria McField Nixon. The LOGB will have two chief officers, one of which has now been appointed. Chief Officer for Tourism and Development is Carson Ebanks, while an additional chief officer will be appointed to deal with Financial Services.

According to a GIS release, Bush has responsibility for Tourism, Planning, Financial Services, Fire, Public Transport, e-Business, the Cayman Islands Investment Bureau, the London Office, and Liquor Licensing.

As expected, Rolston Anglin is Minister for Education, Training and Employment. Chief Officer for the past 4½ years, Angela Martins, is replaced by Mary Rodrigues, who was formerly Deputy CO at that ministry before moving to the Portfolio of the Civil Service. The ministry is responsible for Education Services, Employment Services, National Pensions, Educational Standards and Assessment, the Sunrise Adult Training Centre, Public Libraries, and the National Archive.

Julianna O’Connor-Connolly, who was promised a Cabinet seat on the campaign trail, is now Minister for District Administration, Works and Gender Affairs. This ministry encompasses District Administration, Agriculture, Lands and Survey, the Mosquito Research and Control Unit, Petroleum Inspectorate, Public Works, Postal Services, Vehicle and Drivers Licensing, Vehicle and Equipment Services, Environmental Health, Recreation Parks and Cemeteries, Telecommunications, Gender Affairs, the National Weather Service, and Sister Islands Sports. Chief Officer for this ministry is Kearney Gomez.

Mike Adam is Minister of Community Affairs and Housing, and is now responsible for Children and Family Services, Community Development, Family and Adult Services and Counselling Services, as well as Housing Development.

Mark Scotland, as Minister of Health, Environment, and Youth, Sports and Culture, is now responsible for Environment, as well as Health Services, Health Regulatory Services, Youth Services, Public Health, and the Cadet Corps. Scotland also has responsibility for Sports, except for Sister Islands Sports, which is now under the same ministry as District Administration.

Two CO positions have yet to be filled on a permanent basis but have been assigned temporarily to Leonard Dilbert and Jennifer Ahearn, who will be acting chief officers for CAH and Health respectively. Their positions will be advertised and filled on a permanent basis, the release says.

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Category: Headline News

About the Author ()

Comments (43)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Anonymous says:

    McKeeva………….don’t forget you will also need a chauffeur!

    So let’s get this right……..a government who has no money will hire the following persons for the LOGB alone:

    2 Chief Officers (Jonathan, the financial expert ……you’ll get your promise fulfilled)

    1 personal assistant (Sherie Bodden)

     1 chauffeur (Dick Arch)

    and possibly a body guard (Charles Whittaker)

     

  2. Anonymous says:

    I don’t know about the housecleaning but I hope he don’t mess with the progress as it relates to the IB programme at John A Cumber. The teachers confirm it is making a positive difference.

    I wonder if he will take his children from private school and put them back into public school.

  3. Cerridwen says:

    Glad to know Rolston is getting Education.  He needs to get in there and do some serious housecleaning! 

  4. Anonymous says:

    For the poster who is wondering how cayman health authorities is going to deal with Cayman Airways flight from Jamaica – the same way they have been dealing with flights from Florida, Cuba, Honduras, Atlanta; these are cities that have had confirmed cases long before Jamaica, and even more cases that Jamaica has reported thus far. 

  5. GT Ninja says:

    Can some one tell me how McKeeva and Juliana are going to manage ALL of these ministries and also tell me what qualifies them to to be suitable to head up what I see on this list.

    Imagine you’re a chef trying to serve lunch for 300 people on  a stove with 100 burners….

    SOME POTS ARE GOING TO BURN… MAYBE EVEN THE ENTIRE KITCHEN!

  6. No mi Son says:

    So let me see if I get this right….you’re suggesting that the Mike Adam who couldn’t effectively run Cayman Airways and who retired in shame after the audit should now be given responsibility at the national level as the Minister for Tourism and Cayman Airways…..you can’t be serious !!!

    We all know that Mike will be lost for the next 4 years and will be led around by his master just like a puppet…..how else will he function…..in case you all didn’t notice given the players now involved in Cabinet Mac now has responsibility for everything, perhaps with the exception of Education.

    Watch it crumble to the ground now !

  7. Anonymous says:

    It is time for a change, look at the Department of Education Services, almost every division headed by an ex-pat. One unit, Early Childhood Services has a Head and no employees. What a waste of government money. Cayman deserves better government! Clean house MAC!

  8. Anonymous says:

    CNS – I just read this morning, Sunday,  in the Jamaican newspaper that there are now two confirmed cases of swine flu on that island.  Wonder how Cayman’s health authorities will screen people coming from Jamaica in view of Cayman Airways daily flights to that hub?

  9. Anonymous says:

    Getting rid of people like Mike Adam, Tim Hubbell, Dave Frederick & Colford Scott is called "getting rid of dead meat" there was a performance issue with each and every one of these men so they were graciously asked to step down, beats being fired I would think. They walked with alot of $$ too. Now to put Mike back in charge of Cayman Airways just becaude he is a nice guy and "we like him" will not be a wise move…………..being nice don’t make you a productive employee. Lets see if he can handle his portfolio better than he did CAL …………….sure hope so.

  10. Anonymous says:

    How quickly  you sour PPM supporters forget when real victimisation of the Civil Service and its Authority’s took place.  Refer back to the Sept 10, 2007 Net News article "Qualified Caymanians Expunged" and refresh your memories!  Add David Frederick to that list also.

    http://www.caymannetnews.com/archivelist.php?news_id=1831&pageaction=showdetail&news_id=1831&arcyear=2007&arcmonth=9&arcday=10

  11. Samantha says:

    To “HELP”, it sounds like you have been watching too much CSI or something!
    I am a civil servant and I am not aware of any victimization or intimidation going
    on within the civil service. If this is indeed going on please provide more info
    because civil servant or not, I certaintly won’t be putting up with any
    victimization or intimidation!

    • Anonymous says:

      The initial press release said McKeeva would be responsible for Cayman Airways, but I don’t see Cayman Airways mentioned at  all in this official announcement. What’s up with that? Why isn’t it under Mike Adam’s ministry/    

  12. Anonymous says:

    I am hopeful that Mr. Adam will still have valuable input concerning tourism and Cayman Airways, based on his knowledge and experience, but I believe that is is now in charge of the area that he can really help the people that need it so badly in Georgetown and the rest of the island. He has the heart for it. Good luck sir. Me and my family are praying for you.

  13. Anonymous says:

    What a National Shame!

    • On the 21st of May,
    • After Election Day,
    • The smartpeople of Cayman
    • Were so sad on that day
    • Not even the birds
    • Sang in West Bay
    • The PPM lost
    • With dignity and grace,
    • The UDP won
    • With shame and disgrace!

    Written by an indigenous Caymanian

  14. Anonymous says:

    I think Mr. Mike should have gotten Tourism….He is well equipped in the field….. I don’t want GT to be left out game!!!! GT had more power in 2005-2009 with the PPM. I hope Mac realises that he has made a mistake and give Mr. Mike the right thing to do. MAC has too much control…..

  15. noname says:

    Before they reshuffled based on strenghts I’d like to see if they did a skill analysis! This makes no sense – Gloria McField was best in tourism – why move her?

    Typical UDP actually. Remember the last time MAC took all these items for himself back in 2001? The then governor would not approve his top heavy portfolio. Funny how Governor Jack does not care.

    Angela has been retired early – did we not see that coming as well? Yes, this is not mere reshuffling. There is definitely more here to explore. Civil Servants remember the last time that MAC was in charge. It was not pretty then and it won’t be pretty this go around.

    • Anonymous says:

      Deputy Chief Officers MCWI     Does anyone know what happen to the Deputy Chief Officers and Financial Unit staff that were in the Ministry of Communications, Works and Infrastructure? Have they been reshuffled or retired like the other two Chief Officers? Maybe CNS can advise us on this.

  16. Anonymous says:

    You PPM’ er’s are just so full of it. Look what your government did such good men as Mike Adam, David Frederick  and others like them.  The victimization there was just terrible cutting off these men in the prime of their careers just for political purposes. 

    Give the new government a chance and stop being such sore losers. Trust me, you guys keep this up and you won’t even have one MLA in the next election.

    Why can’t you at least try to give the government the benefit of the doubt and see how this plays out. The UDP gave your government a major honeymoon after the were elected in 2005 yet you guys are nasty and mean from the get go..

  17. Anonymous says:

    Maybe Dianne Montoya from Ministry of Health is being reshuffled too as I don’t see her name in the new list

  18. HELP !!! says:

    The UDP’s victimization has started. Trust me this is not just a reshuffling of personel. CNS should reach out to these senior officers so you can understand the level of victimization and intimidation that has taken place within the civil service in the past 48 hrs. Civil servants are very scared now and contact with them will have to be done covertly. Sounds similiar to the Turks and Caicos doesn’t it ? The word is that they’re going deeper into the civil service, into middle management, to remove Caymanians. God help us !!!

    I hope Chuckie hasn’t disappeared from the political scene; we need him, Arden and Alden now more that ever. This is our last chance guys !!!!

    • Anonymous says:

      As with every new administration there is a change of personnell – Check the Obama and previous PPM administrations; the same thing happened.  Under the PPM a total of almost 25 good Caymanians got "retired". 

      At least the UDP is not  pushing out Caymanians: anyone who leaves at this time is doing so on their own accord.  The UDP would much prefer to reshuffle them.

    • check point says:

      “The UDP’s victimization has started”

      Please – stop being a drama queen! Did you forget that Kurt, Alden, Arden and
      Anthony are still in government and the “political scene”. Do you really think they
      as the opposition would sit back and watch Caymanians be “victimized”??
      As you know, when there is a change in government, all key personnel are either
      fired or transferred to a different department. its is usually a measure taken to avoid
      conflicts of interest and loyalty between the past government and the present one.
      For whatever the reason is, I hardly think that any “victimization” or “intimidation”
      is going on, and if it is, I would think that the civil servants would speak up or that
      Kurt, Alden, Arden and Anthony would take matters in their hands and put a stop
      to it and bring it to light… and if not….then perphaps you should.

    • Anonymous says:

      "We need Chuckie, Alden and Arden now……….."

      You mean the Chuckie that got rid of Tim Hubbell and Mike Adam, the Alden that got rid of Nyda Flatly and the Arden that got rid of Colford Scott ? Yeah, I guess that’s just what we need.

    • Anonymous says:

      UDP vitimisation

      Why would they be ‘going deeper into the civil service, into middle management, to remove Caymanians"? What would be gained? Replace them with foreigners? Do you really believe that sort of stuff or are you just rumor mongering for anti UDP reasons?

  19. Mrs Rita Myles says:

    I know this is a little bit off  the record here but I would like to say something important to Mr. McKeeva Bush, Mark Scottland, Dwayne and other UDP/PPm elected members.  Now that the people has spoken, we hope change is surely coming.  As a bornCaymanian, I have been obsuring everything that’s been going on here for years.   I have seen the tremendous growth in changes with our Island, tourism has developed more and more, and they are many more expat here in Cayman than Caymanians.   Dont wrong me, it;s great to have such mix cultures but dont you all think we are over doing it a little too much?  Or are you all trying to run us out our own country?

    Where is our future young Caymanian place in this Island?  Why are you all selling off all our good beach land to tourist?  Is seven mile beach going to be up for sale too?   By saying all of this as a concern Caymanian, we need to start working on Immigration and their policies, it’s a crying shame that children from expats born here in the Cayman Islands are refuse in goverment schools.   It’s also a crying shame that we are all treated as second class citizen in our own country.   Another thing that is a concern is that these young people should not be allow to graduate from school until they are eighteen years old, that should be the legal age.  These young people are just larking around and getting into trouble, when we let them out at the age of seventeen.   Why dont we have some kind of job prep programs for them all, get them situated before you let them graduate!  Another thing we need for these young people is a CURFEW!  No child under the age of 18 should be allow on the streets anytime after 10:00pm!  The parents should be held responsible for this.  Parents tend to your children!!!

    Now that I have given you my vote, I just hope it dont go to waste, that’s why I’m speaking my mind right now!  You all promise us this and that, now that your in we want to see action and for you all to put your money where your mouth is!   Number one Caymanians should be your number one piority!  I just want to know why our Goverment dont have programs for us Caymanians who has been working for years, and got laid off, for etc, food stamp! free medical, help with electric,gas and water bills.  Also a job placement program to help them get back on their feet afterwards.  We need these kinds of programs here for your Cayman people to fallback on, so we suggest you all put  some money aside for these important things.  Give back to your Caymanian people.

    Last but not least is the police dept, why is it more expat there than Caymanians?  Throughout all my years I have never known a Cayman police officer to ever talk down to me!  The Jamaican officers & British officers are rude to our people and it’s just the way they talk to you is very offensive!  They need to take that talk along with their morals back to their homeland, I’m so happy to hear that they are doing a review on the police department and I hope we see changes there.   It’s time to get to work and it’s time you think Caymanians first, stop selling out all of our good beach land and let there be limits.   Help our young people thats on drugs and doing theft and find other ways of solution for them all instead of locking them up in prison!  Trust me,prison to them is just like a hotel!  How about boot camp?  Until we see changes then we will have a better future for all.  Thanks for listening.  Mrs Rita Myles.

  20. Anonymous says:

    Get Travers in to assist in the recruitment of the Financial Services Chief Officer – he is about the only one that may have an idea just what is required for this role –  We cannot afford any more mistakes with regards our Financial Services Industry  – all our 9 lives have been used up . 

    Cayman is nothing without Financial Services and we need to realise that it needs to be our primary focus –  

     

     

     

  21. Anonymous says:

    Jack is busy packing his bags people.  He could care less about the long-term impact of these decisions on Cayman.

  22. Anonymous says:

    Where is Angela Martins going?

    • Anonymous says:

      Angela will retire.

      • Anonymous says:

        Talk about violation of the Constitution.  The Governor is still responsible for the civil service. Where is the Chief Secretary and Head of the Civil Service?  Can politicians fire civil servants  or is the Governor and the Chief Secretary  responsible for what happens to  these senior officers that are no longer in their jobs.

         

         

  23. Bob says:

    I would have liked to see Mac hit the road, now that’s change!

  24. Complaints Commish says:

    How much is the payoff for the two seemingly now umemployed former Chief Officers going to cost us?

  25. Anonymous says:

    THe Caymans are a type of crocodile. If you live here, then get to know the correct name for where you live, the Cayman Islands.

     

  26. Twyla M Vargas says:

    NOW THAT,S WHAT I CALL LEADER 

    Use that fine teeth comb and make sure you have people who will watch your back.  Oh how we have suffered for 4 and a half years.  God is Good.

     

    • Anonymous says:

      "Use that fine teeth comb and make sure you have people who will watch your back.  Oh how we have suffered for 4 and a half years.  God is Good".

      Please leave God out of this, for this nothing godly in this new govt.

      Glad you admit to having suffered for at least 6 months under the previous UDP administration. It’s everyone lese that needs to watch their back with Mac around. Kurt learned that lesson the hard way.  

       

  27. Anonymous says:

     so who is going to be the Chief Officer re Financial Affairs  

    • Anonymous says:

      Chief Officer of "Financial Afairs" will have to be recruited. It certainly can’t be anyone presently in the Finance Portfolio (including the lame present Chief Officer) as that Portfolio is a total disaster area of indecision and incompetence. Time to realise that being a Caymanian isn’t the only qualification that is important-the OECD is not impressed by that, just brains, competence and performance.

      • Anonymous says:

        I agree with the Poster on this one, the Finance Portfolio needs a shakeup and it needs to start at the top with the Financial Secretary and go down. For a place with some many deputy this and assistant that, there is an acute lack of leadership.

         The lack of financial records as well as a host of other ills should be laid squarely at the feet of that Portfolio. I also agree with the comments regarding previous Ministry of Tourism, they just got a little too high for their britches, good to see the wheels in motion to right some wrongs. I brought a broom to the political meetings I went to, Mr. Mac, if you need to borrow it I can lend it to ya.

      • Anonymous says:

        I thought part of the UDP platform was parading around the people the PPM had "fired for political reasons". Isn’t that what it is doing right now? Too bad so many are so gullible.  

        • Anonymous says:

          No the UDP are not firing anyone – they are just reshuffling the govt. to place employees where there strenghts are to ensure that the government can run efficiently.

  28. Afraid to Strap on a Pair Also says:

    Hit the road, Jack;  and don’t you come back no more, no more, no more no more… You’ll be doing the Caymans a favor. 

    • Anonymous says:

      If you want to be so disrespectful to the Governor, you should at least strap a pair on yourself and put your name on the post!  Congrats to the LOGB for acting so switfly on his organization.  Thank goodness he made some changes in the Tourism Dept.  You couldn’t even get anyone to call you back from there.  The previous minister and his CO simply got too bigheaded for their own good.  Goes to show you that burning bridges will always come back to bite you.  Right Chuckie and Gloria?