First deputy governor retiring
(CNS): Donovan Ebanks, the Deputy Governor and Head of the Civil Service will retire in the first quarter of 2012 on reaching retirement age, and an open recruitment process will be undertaken in August/September 2011 to choose his successor, the governor has announced. Ebanks has had a long and distinguished public service career, for which he was awarded an MBE by Her Majesty the Queen during her visit to the Cayman Islands in 1994. He joined the Public Works Department in 1975, and at the young age of 30 he was promoted to Chief Engineer and was subsequently promoted to Deputy Chief Secretary in 1994. In 2009 he became the islands’ first Deputy Governor.
In the mid nineties, as Deputy Chief Secretary, Ebanks led the reform initiative, which was named “Reinvention of the Public Service”, which transitioned into the financial management initiative and the personnel reforms. During his time as Deputy Chief Secretary he led a number of salary and pension initiatives and was instrumental in the review of immigration laws and procedures.
Ebanks has been a member of the former National Hurricane Committee (now the National Hazard Management Council) since its inception in the mid eighties and chaired the committee on many occasions. At the time of Hurricane Ivan, Ebanks not only chaired the National Hurricane Committee, but was also in operational control before, during and after this catastrophic event in Caymans history.
More controversially Ebanks was a member of the oversight committee for Operation Tempura, called the Strategic Oversight Group, the bungled investigation into alleged corruption within the RCIPS by officers from the Metropoitan Police.
Recently Ebanks, as Deputy Governor, has spearheaded the Review of Public Services which has identified substantial savings in government expenditure. Ebanks has also been instrumental in implementing the new Cayman Islands Constitution and is leading the process for implementing the Bill of Rights, Freedoms and Responsibilities.
This month (July) Governor Duncan Taylor tasked Ebanks with taking the lead in preparing an urgent response to the auditor general’s damning assessment of the procurement procedure and the concerns of political interference. Taylor said at the time that Ebanks would draw up an action plan to address the shortcomings that had been identified.
His Excellency the Governor, on receiving notice of Ebanks’ retirement stated that he was sorry to see him leave the public service as his local knowledge, experience and advice had been invaluable to him since he had taken over as governor in January 2010. He wished Ebanks a well-earned, long and happy retirement.
Category: Local News
I have a crush on this retired man. I have never seen him before, thanks for CNS. Is he available? I am willing to take care of him in his old age.
7/28/2011 -17:53
But we are not ignorant of how you readers hate each other. None of you support your own Caymanians. There are more thumbs down than thumbs up once it relates to a Caymanian, from Bush, Dr. Katrina, Burns, Donny and others. Try and learn to love each other.
I didn't see many thumbs down for Dr. Katrina, but I take your general point.
Happy fishing Mr. Ebanks – enjoy your well-earned retirement!
Perhaps Mr. Bostock will like to share his wealth of experience by taking up this position, after he has the knowledge, the private sector experience, and the connections to get the job done in this most critical position.
Yeah – just like i need 2 chins
I think he is handsome. He is tall, intelligent and fits the profile of a movie star. Enjoy your retirement and if you should get bored move to Hollywood, chances are you will be hired.
Congrats Mr Ebanks who have served us well and we are very proud of your achievements. You were not afraid to be the only person in the room to yes or no and that is so important these days where everyone wants to do the popular thing. You have trained Mr Manderson well and I am certain he will not let us down.
I am sorry to see Donnie leave now. The only saving grace is the hope that he will run for public office in the very near future. What a contrast that would be to our current leadership. Donnie is an extremely intelligent, hard working professional who has a record of service dedicated to the betterment of Cayman and improvement of the lives of all Caymanian people. He is a humble and generous man. Despite a misstep in the past (Tempura), Donnie does deserve National Hero status. I wish Donnie all the best in whatever his future endeavours may be.
I am sad to see Donnie retire too. We need Deborah Drummond to replace him and put the civil service back on track.
Haven't you been told that if you can't say something nice about someone then don't say anything at all.
From what I know about Donovan he is as good as some and better than most.
Come on just wish him a happy retirement.
I dont think Mr.Ebanks can run for election in 2013. According to our new constition i think civil servants need to leaveoffice 2years before they offer themselves for elective office. As far as his replacement goes, Mr.Manderson is a good person . But i would nominate the FOI Commisinor. Mrs. Jennifer Dilbert.
12;31 I like your reasoning but WHO would replace Ms. Jennifer. You would need another person as strong as Ms. Jennifer as FOI does not get much respect at times by you know who and many others. About this if we do find a good replacement for Ms. Jennifer ( Ms. Drummond) maybe and then Ms. Jennifer could run for office. With her past experience and with her Good connections in the UK. What do you yhink of that ? I would like to thank CNS for a great job as I am not in the box ( on island) and thank God I have you even though I can barely see the key pad due to delicate surgery. Thank you to my wife,Pastor, brothers and sisters,my learned friend & co. It all went well and Thanks all of you who are praying for me. Glory to God and he is not done with me yet. I miss Cayman but I have CNS. God Bless. Michel Lemay
Mr. Bostock is the man for that job!
He knows security, policing, immigration etc.
We need fresh blood in government…
I assume that was tongue in cheek.
The Civil Service needs someone that will remain ethical and challenge politicians and senior civil servants when needed. This is an opportuntiy for them to get it right with with a well educated and ethical person.
You seem to be suggesting that Mr. Ebanks is not well educated or ethical. I hope not.
I wish today's politicians had Donnie's integrity. I am sad to see him go, but Franz is another man of integrity. I have seen moments in crises when everyone else in charge were afraid or unable to make decisions and Donny was the only man to not hum and hoy. He assessed the situation immediately and made the decisions that had to be made. The outcomes were a resounding success. He is honest to the core, humble, intelligent, calm and straight forward and that is exactly the kind of person we need at this moment in our history. If he ran in BT, I sure would vote for him. Wish I could vote for him to be Premier! Donnie, what ever you choose, please know that you are well respected and held in high esteem. We appreciate the service you have given to our country and may you be blessed in whatever you choose to do after retirement.
We need to remember an often forgotten fact of life – The pioneer's work always tends to be forgotten when experience and routine later make everything seem easy.
People need to take a much broader view on life and world events and give more credit to their own. Too many Caymanians are pioneers in their own right within and outside the Civil Service, but oneupmanship and credit is taken instead of being given where it is due. Just take a look at some of the important decision making boards in the country and see who are on it, when more capable people are overlooked.
Do we have to ask then why we are going nowhere fast?
Another point is that the mentality that foreign is best needs to be discontinued. Is it really difficult to change such mindsets? OR will be always Crabs in a Barrel constantly trying to minimise the achievements of hardworking Caymanians for frivolous reasons?
You are so right. I've noticed that no one has mentioned that this same Donnie Ebanks tried to put a roads plan in place for Grand Cayman over 20 years ago (the MGTP) but our our brilliant and ever-humouring politicians wouldn't hear of it. As they say, the rest is history and guess who's paying for it since – US!!
We're so good at chosing what we want to remember and what we want to forget.
Mr. Ebanks is a professional engineer. We need to remember that such engineers are problem solvers, which is a skill that can be learned. In the engineering arena, the requirements are a good mathematics and science background, and creative mind.
We need to encourage more of these people in the society and not devalue their efforts.
They need to stop this retirement age of 60! People can still do a great job at that age. Infact they are more dependable than the young'ins. What happens when they retire??? Lil pension? Who can survive on $40,000 for at least 20 years??? Shameful retirement age!Heck, 60 is the new 40 anyways!
CNS- not sure if it's only my computer but all of the posts are out of order so I find myself scrolling up and down the page to keep up with the thread of comments. Can anything be done about this? Would be a lot more useful. Thanks 🙂
CNS: The comments are in reverse chronological order – last at the top – unless someone is replying to a particular comment. Replies are indented so you can follow conversations. We've tried other systems but this is the best and least confusing.
Is there anyone you guys actually like??? You tear down expats, you tear down caymanians… for a christian country theres not a lotta love being shown.
12:17
Yes we do like many of both. What we don't like is when our inteligence is insulted, and the ungreatfulness of some working here refusing or not trying to learn about each other or Cayman as a whole. Of course this does not apply to everyone.
But we have seen many come and many leave and have a pretty good idea who cares and who don't. So when offended we speak up. Let's try to know each other more specially the ones whom are fairly new to the island. Meet caymanians and talk and the same to my fellow Caymanians and we in return let's at least meet half way. you will be very surprised at our warmth and I guarantee you all a much more pleasant stay and who knows you may become a paper Caymanian first if you do what I suggested you your living here will be much more agreable , IF you're sincere. Either way. But the word Paper caymanian will never go away. I am one wet paper Caymanian married to one Born caymanian for a long time and she still tells me that. The word Born Caymanian will never go away either because they were and just get used to it.
Much bigger fish to fry right now.What I mean more important things thatare the source of our insecurity , it's how they perform and itshould always be country and it's people 1st. A word of advice to our new permit holders and long term visitors: Before you strike a conversation with any local or long term residents begin with Good morning or God afternoon with a smile or nice genuine attitude and the ice will melt quicker.
It's really a good time for "Donny" to go. I don't think his public image ever really recovered after being so "naive and gullable" in the Operation Tempura fiasco.
Please keep your ignorant comments to yourself! Why dont you apply for the position and prove that you can do a better job yourself! Otherwise shut up!
Remember rhe buck did not stop with him, and that person is still in charge with the Attorney General not far behind and of course our commish. So Donny is far then to be accused of misjudgement. There are and remains many more.;
"Naive and gullible" eh.
Forgive my sometimes lapse of memory but did not Operation Tempura occur before the appointment to DG?
To put up with that many politicians over so many years and still kept his sanity and integrity…, the man may deserve to be a national hero. I don't know him too well, but he does seem to be humble and may not want any big praise (such as being a national hero), but i am just saying, if any of you went through what i believe he has gone through with all of those poli-trick-tians, bobo i think you would need a well deserved break too.
I am a bit concerned on who will replace Donovan Ebanks.
Sounds like you already know who that will be. Well, al we know is that teh person must be a Caymanian. And I do not believe it will be a staunch, outspoken PPM supporter
That would be better than a staunch UDP supporter who does not believe in abiding by rules or laws. Ha Ha Ha
You are right to be concerned. There are a couple of egomaniacs out there who feel they are entitled. Of course, because of the Constitution, it has to be a Caymanian, and because of the fact that we are not many on the ground, there are only a very few of us with the sort of intellect that could do this job.
Pretty sure it will be his deputy.
"Freeing up a place at the trough" is a geat analogy, considering the options.
It time me gets place on dat troff. Needs some big fat goment cash flo.
Does I get a Police ezcort with one dem new chargerz too?
when the going gets tough……
at least he freeing up a space at the trough……..(his words not mine)
Too bad ! There are more important wasters that should be totally gone by now when is that going to be announced like dat real cowboy ?
Never did much – won't be missed, that's for sure…
I cannot understand why none of you like each other?
I am applying and would like to thank all of you CNS bloggers in advance, for your support.
Are you Bean Counter?
A good man. And it is good to have a Caymanian as Deputy Governor.
As if the CONSTITUTION would allow for Someone OTHER than a Caymanian to be DG…
That is clearly your problem. Can a Caymanian go to your country and be the head of your Civil Service? I think not. Charity begins at home!
WRONG!! Caymanians have gone all over the world and held extremely HIGH positions…just imagine if all those shipping companies had said, "sorry, son, you have to be from the country of registry to Captain our vessel…"….Whilst I believe that Caymanians should always be considered for higher positions within government and indeed the civil service, I don't think it should be written in stone…Cayman suffers from a sort of "Brain Drain" in that we have all these positions and very few QUALIFIED personell to staff them…all one has to do is look at the LA to see this…"Caymanian" is not and should NEVER be a Qualification….
The point being made was that the law does not allow for anyone who is not a Caymanian to be Deputy Governor. Which is not charity and not a problem.
To say that it is a good thing that a Caymanian is Deputy Governor is akin to saying that it is a good thing that a woman gave birth to a baby – it can be no other way.
Its sad. Mr.Donovan whom I think is a very good man and he understand. I was hoping he would fight for us but it maybe a good opportuny for us the and run in the next election. he can then help fight for us the peple. Who’s next, Mr. Manderson ? Michel Lemay
Who care’s: he Never did anything 4 his own! His retirements comes far too late! Ugh!
Please keep your ignorant comments to yourself! Thats what wrong with our country, people are too quick to bring our own people down! Please find something else to do with your time!
How about you do it for yourself instead of depending on "gowment" to do it for you? Ambitionless bunch of complainers boy! Sick of it! You will continuously be disappointed and you will never truly appreciate what you get. AND you will be a perpetual strain (read leach) on our country and a hinderance to our progress.
There is nothing like getting it done for yourself. It's called ambition, and you need to persist to follow through and achieve your goals.
Let's see who the stone hits in the pen now, thumbs down away to your hearts content.
Mr Ebanks is probably a genuinely “good” person, but almost certainly has been “out of his depth” in his current position. Was he not responsible for an appalling “Executive” decision in relation to the Tempura investigation. Nice guy, but as Foghorn Leghorn (Cartoon character) used to say about a small Chicken Hawk ” About as sharp as as a bag of wet mice”.
Anon 21:11
It is quite clear from your likely very accurate cartoon quote your intellect far exceeds Mr. Ebanks’.
However while you were watching the ultra important foghorn marathon he only did a couple of unimportant, slighly difficult decisions to shape this country. While no one liked the handling of Tempura it does not detract from the good he has done.
It is imbeciles like you that make good Caymanians not want to serve in any public service capacity.
His handling of Tempura is more a reflection on the persuasive ability of the two senior Met officers involved than any shortcomings on Mr Ebanks' part. He wasn't the first person to be taken in by these two.
They saw him for what was – one of the good guys – and exploited that to their advantage.
I am a former civil servant who had a chance to interact with Mr. Ebanks over a number of years.
Based on what I know of Mr. Ebanks, I would whole heartedly vote for him if he ran for public office.
He is a high quality individual in all respects.
Cayman is much better for his service.
I wonder where he is going to run? and I hope it is not Bodden Town.
Ummmm….eliminated? The person holding this position is also the head of the civil service.
you know, since i born, im a bit confused…. is it Jaymanian, Caymaican, JayCaymanian, Jamkay… we need to agree on one word me thinks
Exactly. Why is there a head of th civil service outside the various departments where they work?
Too hard against Caymanians. Good riddance, dont slam the door,
If you hadn't posted this, no one would have actually noticed.
Well done Mr. Donny.
You have served well and Happy Retirement.
This is a position that needs to be eliminated. It only clogs up the works.
You are very ignorant of our Constitution and our laws.
How do you know that, Do you know what his responsibilities are? You people make me sick, Its all a load of Jealousy, I hate to hear you all giving us civil Servants that keep this Island going, We cant help it if your werent succesful in becoming a civil Servant….Nufff said..
And i do know how to spell successful it was a typo!
I thought there were four "f"s in "nuffff" not three.
Actually i only meant to put two sherlock.
Meeeeeoww!!!! Pffft….
Perhaps you need a new computer. From the complete absence of capitalisation, it seems your shift key is not working.
There are some capitals, but not always in the right place. For example, “Jealousy” should not have been capitalized.
It’s also an apostrophe free zone and there are commas where there ought to be full stops.
But you weren’t successful spelling “weren’t”!
17:08, you are right about that. That post should be eliminated. Dont need it.