Backbenchers put to work

| 02/06/2009

(CNS): For the first time the government’s backbench members of the Legislative Assembly will be put to work within the actual ministries on specific projects and initiatives. Leader of Government Business McKeeva Bush has said the move is designed to get the backbenchers more involved in the running of government. Bush announced the initiative last week in the LA on the same day as Education Minister Rolston Anglin warned the newly elected members on the UDP team that if they did not work hard they risked losing their seats at the next election. (Left Cline Glidden who has been given a considerable amount of responsibility without a ministry.)

Anglin, the second elected member for West Bay, noted that in the General Election on 20 May the first term serving MLAs had been rejected by the electorate. “If you do not do your work as an elected member you will lose your seat. There are no second chances,” he said adding that the new backbenchers ought to reflect on the election result. “Unless we deliver on our mandate, unless we do the peoples work and unless we make the country better than when we found it, we will be rejected at the next polls.”

Bush told the House last Wednesday that he had cleared the issue with the governor, and the government backbench MLAs would be assigned work that they would be responsible for. He said that the third elected member for West Bay, Cline Glidden, would work with the Information and Communications Technology Authority (ICTA) and the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) and would be addressing the situation with government CUC contract. In addition, Glidden, who was given a number of projects and initiatives, will head a review of the solicitation process for additional electricity generation capacity and assist with the Hazard Management Unit, as well as the port development, the landfill and the Land and Sea Cooperative.

The fourth elected member for West Bay, Capt. Eugene Ebanks, will be involved in matters concerning the environment, tourism, the landfill and the elderly. Third elected member for Bodden Town, Dwayne Seymour, will work in the Ministry of Culture as well as in the fields of sports, small businessand youth matters, including the Youth Parliament. And the fourth elected member for George Town, Ellio Solomon, will head the National Housing Trust and assist with e-business.

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  1. Anonymous says:

    I think that not only should the backbenchers be put to work but work should also be assigned to Alden, Arden and Kurt so that they "earn their keep" instead of just making the big bucks. 

  2. Anonymous says:

    "Ellio Solomon, will head the National Housing Trust and assist with e-business."

    this is the kind of mess I am talking about. Caymanians elect unqualified people and will then complain when they make incompetent decisions that affect everybody in the country.

    curious why put ellio in this position -? is mac setting him up to fail becuz he will never allow ellio to become any type of threat to him.

    hmmmm. watch this space.

    • Anonymous says:

      Why would you think that Ellio isn’t capable of heading up the National Housing Trust? You think only PPM had brainsor what, but God help us if Ellio isn’t capable of doing a better job than they did, which was absolutely nothing!!!!!

  3. Yo no soy Marinero says:

    So lets see if I got this straight, El Capitano, led by J.C.(take that how you will), will steady the sinking ship that is the landfill? I must say I am mildly amsued but look forward to standing corrected.

    • Anonymous says:

      Hey what can we say, El Capitano led by J.C will have to do poor if they don’t do a better job than your compadres aka PPM

  4. anonymous says:

    Can’t wait to see how long they going be called ‘dream team’…..for sure many going wake from that ‘dream’ before 4 years is up…..but let’s hope for sake of the Country that they get it right. But don’t kid yourselves to think Mac is leading anything here….he simply following instructions from the ‘brains’ in the shadows….and he will go along with instructions at least for a while….until he realizes he’s not really calling the shots. 

    • Anonymous says:

      "But don’t kid yourselves to think Mac is leading anything here….he simply following instructions from the ‘brains’ in the shadows."

      Funny you should say this because critics have always said Mac is a dictator! In anycase, a leader in nothing without his people and if there are indeed "brains" in the shadows then he should fully utilize them!

      But dont be bias – we all know that Kurt wasnt really leading anything either. Alden was an instrumental "brain" in the shadows during Kurt’s reign.  

      • Anonymous says:

        Mac is a dictator to his fellow Ministers. The brains in the shadows are not elected reps at all (so Alden doesn’t qualify) and they pull his strings to serve their agendas. He has to reward them for their ‘support’. Obviously it is not a case of Mac using ‘the brains’ but of ‘the brains’ using him.     

      • Fancy Pants says:

        "But don’t kid yourselves to think Mac is leading anything here….he simply following instructions from the ‘brains’ in the shadows."

        I don’t think the brains being referred to here are in the Legislative Assembly at all (at least not as elected officials).  Some of them may, however, end up in there as our ‘Island Council’. Just my thoughts on the matter.

        • Anonymous says:

          If as he appears to say the Island Council is the next best thing to his Senate idea exactly what would have been the qualifications to sit in the Senate? The same as for the Island Council?! A lot is being revealed here.    

          • Anonymous says:

            PPM was going to make expatriates run for public office. At least the UDP is allowing them to contribute to the development of the Cayman Islands without taking control, while at the same time getting some recognition.

            • Anonymous says:

              "PPM was going to make expatriates run for public office"

              What is this statement based on? It goes against basic constitutional principles an elected should not owe allegiance to another country particularly where in the case of an expat he owes none at all to this country.     

              • Anonymous says:

                One could only wish expatriates (ie paper Caymanians) could run for office, we would have some choice versus the intellectually limited bunch we are asked to choose from every 4 years. It will never happen. It is very sad. It will not benefit cayman in the long term. "Hybrid vigour" is required not inborn politics.

                • Anonymous says:

                  "One could only wish expatriates (ie paper Caymanians) could run for office, we would have some choice versus the intellectually limited bunch we are asked to choose from every 4 years. It will never happen. It is very sad. It will not benefit cayman in the long term. "Hybrid vigour" is required not inborn politics".

                  Well they can of course. They only need to demonstrate their allegiance to this country by becoming naturalized as a BOTC and renouncing any other citizenship. 

                  Have you ever considered that it is the arrogant sense of superiority demonstrated in your post that repels Caymanians?  

                  • Anonymous says:

                    Concerning your last sentence: Yes, I can see how you would feel that way. The trouble is I AM a Caymanian and proud of it though not bigoted about it. If you read the hundreds of other posts recently about the election, you will see there are many Caymanians discontented about the calibre of candidate. They may not vote for a paper Caymanian, but a little competition might-ok, might- bring out the truly impressive potential indigenous Caymanian candidates who at this point are doing extremely well in their places of employment and have no desire to be the subject of talk show and political meeting nastiness. As I expect you know, they do exist.

                    • Anonymous says:

                      To: Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 06/06/2009 – 15:09.

                      Your follow-up post paints a somewhat different picture from your previous post which gave the impression that all native Caymanians are "intellectually limited" and therefore good candidates can only be found amongst ‘paper Caymanians’. Perhaps one could be forgiven for thinking that you were not Caymanian, let alone a proud one.

  5. Anonymous says:

    I do agree that every member of the LA should be apart of the decision making process in Goverment, For the last 20 or 30 years the backbenchers have just been sitting there making money that we the Taxpayers pay so deligently. I do understand that the do at times makes motions in the House but sometimes that is not enough for our little country. For a country this size to have just 8 leaders is something that was bound to come to an end. OUR BELOVED CAYMAN ISLANDS is fast GROWING UP and it needs to be Handled with a little more Caution than it use to be.

    Every day you will find new challenges looming and thus having a government of 15 elected members they should all represent the people who put them there even if it requires them to get their hands dirty and pull the same back breaking shifts that we the people have done.

    So in closing I highly congradulate Mr. Bush. Premeire Designate for his efforts to Broaden the Government on a whole so they can all pull together to pull this Country out of the recession and the LOOMING ‘GRAY LIST" 

  6. Kerry Horek says:

    It is about time we have a fully working elected Government!!!

    I am all for this change.  This way more will get done in a shorter amount of time cutting out the red-tape and delays that usually come when there is a shortage of people to get the job done.

    I am all for this new upgrade to the Government.  Well done!!

  7. TRUTH says:

    Here comes the UDP’s Electrical company….the PPM stopped it in 2005 but they’re finally getting their way after 4 yrs…..CNS should check out which UDP elected members own the property in the vicinity of CUC.

    • Anonymous says:

      "If you do not do your work as an elected member you will lose your seat. There are no second chances,” he said adding that the new backbenchers ought to reflect on the election result. “Unless we deliver on our mandate, unless we do the peoples work and unless we make the country better than when we found it, we will be rejected at the next polls.”’

      If that were the lesson of the election result Capt. Eugene for one would not have been re-elected. 

      On thing that cannot be said of the PPM is that they did not work.   

      • Anonymous says:

        That maybe so, the PPM did do THEIR work but not for the people of the Cayman Islands!!!!!!

      • Anonymous says:

        “If that were the lesson of the election result Capt. Eugene for one
        would not have been re-elected.”

        Capt. Eugene got re-elected for the same reasons Anthony Eden got re-elected.
        They both did nothing but are really nice guys.

  8. Anonymous says:

    Cline Glidden, I look forward to the day when you too shall have your own ministry.  You certainly are capable and effective enough to successfully manage your own portfolio.

  9. Anonymous says:

    A man with a plan – that pretty much defines Mr. Bush, Premeire Designate.  The man was born to lead and purposed to serve. 

    No matter what you want to say about him, he is determined to lead these islands back to hope and prosperity and I trust that every Caymanian will see the need to jump on board and steer the good ship Cayman safely off the reef that is dangerously sitting on.

    God bless McKeeva Bush and his dream team.

  10. Anonymous says:

    Good! Lets hope they work together to get the job down….. We need to see lots of progress in the next 4 years.

    I am disappointed that Mike did not get the Tourism portfolio…. He would do well….