‘Mac, resign now!’ says Miller
(CNS): In the wake of the letter from the UK’s overseas territories minister to the Cayman Islands premier about his defiance regarding issues relating to good governance, MLA Ezzard Miller has once again called on McKeeva Bush to resign from the post of premier. The independent member said at the weekend that if he stubbornly insists on remaining in office, the UDP party machinery must force him to step down in order to save the Cayman Islands for the very real danger of the UK imposing direct rule. Miller said the country could not allow just one man to be the cause of such drastic intervention when most of the country supported the goal of good governance.
Miller said that the 2 November letter from Mark Simmonds, the FCO minister, instructing Bush to transpose the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility into law and to halt the talks with the Chinese over the cruise berthing facilities was unequivocal in its message.
“I’ve never seen such a strongly worded letter when it comes to diplomacy,” Miller said, as he pointed to the use of the word “unacceptable” and the less than veiled threats in the correspondence about the alternatives being examined by the UK.
Miller said the letter that Bush had reportedly sent on 30 October to the FCO, which never reached the minister, was extremely worrying as it showed the premier has no intentions of following the UK’s request regarding these commitments to good governance that the premier had previously agreed to.
The independent member said he has already prepared a committee stage amendment, which he hopes the Speaker will accept ahead of the start of the resumption of the Legislative Assembly. The amendment seeks to bring the FFR Bill that the premier has now sent to the LA back in line with the agreement Bush signed with the UK. Miller said that if government did not accept this he would be forced to vote against the law.
“Bush is playing politics but dangerously so, as he is hoping to drive the independent and opposition members to vote against his bill by adding these clauses when we all support the agreement, which is about protecting public finances,” he said. “But I can’t support the changes the premier has made.”
He pointed to the pointlessness of the premier bringing down a law to the parliament that the governor will refuse to sign and of the very dangerous game Bush was playing with the UK.
“Bush must do the country a favour and resign now,” he said. “If he won’t, I call on Sherri Bodden-Cowan, if she is still the United Democratic Party secretary, to have the members remove him as leader of the party and subsequently the premiership.”
Miller warned that if Bush did not resign or get ousted from office, Cayman was at risk of the same fate as TCI and the people could not let that happen because of just one man.
“McKeeva Bush cannot be so important that he could be allowed to bring down our democracy and ruin our country. It would take us years and years to recover from such a drastic step. He has to be stopped,” Miller added.
Vote in the CNS poll: Should McKeeva Bush resign now?
Related article (with FFR attached):
CIG has 4 years to sort debt (27 November 2011)
Category: Politics
Resign my a$$. Fire him! O wait. Thats right! If you do he will tell on you. Then what? Justice? Good Governing? A good future for all those not involved? Not on your watch.
Enough with criticising Ezzard. All you PPM commenters against Ezzard, I know you want Alden McLaughlin to get his limelight! Lord help us! That will never happen! :o)
I suggest a new slogan for all of us who want rid of Mad Mac, the worlds shortest poem:
SACK MAC!
Here we go again. We DID sack Mac over a decade ago. Anyone remember First Cayman Bank?
Big Mac pops back up like a bad penny and the greed and ignorance continues. I am FOR a TCI deal, let's clean house and start over. No more party-politics and picking my pocket please.
We just need a few good administrators, not politicians. It is only 60,000 people and a big tax purse. We should be sending all our kids to top universities on full ride scholarships with a first world education to envy and no debt as a country, but instead we have let these fools squander our money (you too HR Ez, you have sold out qualified staff for your white collar bosses in the past- Big Red Digi?) Just say NO to ALL these politicians full stop.
Demand accountability and balanced booked. Vote for administration and good governance, stop the madness of appointed cronies on boards and big salaries.
Demand Better.
Udp and ppm should both hang it up! let some fresh blood take over they have failed too many times.its just a stupid rotation for these guys and country and people are not at heart .just paychecks and power.
Obama and Romney ain't got nothing on Keke and Ezzy!
Folks! Here is a solution to this nightmare we are experiencing and the serious repercussions that follows if we do not REMOVE this maniacal person from office "POSTHASTE."
The Solution:
Call a meeting with a group of prominent civic and business leaders who will discuss the on going dilemma we now face, after which a plan is formulated, then The Honorable Premier is invited to sit down with them, at which time he is told in no uncertain terms the following.
Mr. Premier none of us here in this room take any pleasure in telling you what we are about to but, you have given us no choice, and as "citizens" and civic leaders we implore you to avoid any further agitation of the FCO by threatening letters or otherwise and to follow the signed agreement "re the FFR" to which you are obligated to do, so as to avoid what we know and fear will be the next step of the FCO. We implore you sir, but if you refuse, you will leave us no choice but to send this letter we hold in our hands to which we have all placed our signatures asking for your immediate removal as Premier, because as business and civic leaders we have worked too hard to build what we have in this OUR ISLAND to see it disappear because of someone's EGO!
IF THE MAN HAS ONE IOTA OF LOVE FOR THIS COUNTRY HE WILL AGREE TO STEP DOWN.
Don't step down Mr. Premier, if the people want you to step down they will do it at election day 2013. They could not get you out with the OMOV and they won't with the FRF either. Stay right where you are Mr. Premier the UK have nothing on you else they would have come and get you already. Stay right where you are and tell all the detractors to go fly a kite.
I too demand Mac steps down immediately!
I also demand daily foot massages, all my utility bills paid and an extra large spicy chicken combo firm Wendy’s…I am not a greedy man : )
I too demand Mac step down immediately. That alone would suffice.
He can stay if I get the Wendy’s deal,
Would you like a new fridge with that?
This is both funny and sad, because the corruption you refer to is true, well known, not denied by anyone (or even deniable) and the UK permitted it to happen in their OT and did absolutely nothing about it.
Hey UK – nothing says integrity like watching blatant bribery, public official corruption and election-rigging in your OT and you not bothering to do or say anything about it. I guess you like your OTs corrupt and your subordinate politicians buying votes and selling their influence? Shame on you – Shame! Our failure as a state flows from your dereliction of good governance over this OT.
Yes, blame the UK for trying to allow you to run your own place by yourselves.
I am a believer in first causes, so you need to back up a little. These may well be the root of Cayman's problems "… blatant bribery, public official corruption and election-rigging …" but before you blame the UK, you must first blame all those Caymanians who have engaged in these practices and then you must blame all those Caymanians who stood by, watched and kept their mouths shut.
When you're finished blaming these two groups – and there is plenty of blame to go around for them – you may then add the UK to the list. Your failure as a state stems directly from the fact that almost every time a Caymanian is given power and influence, they abuse it and unfortunately such abuse is all too often regarded as their just reward for simply obtaining such a position in the first place.
Ezzard is functioning as the sole voice of opposition to the madness –
but one lone voice in the dark is drowned out by the 5-6 UDP propoganda makers: e.g. Foolio Fridays on Rooster101.ky where Austin bows to Ellio letting him rant on, attack critics and spew idiocy
I have a solution.
Come election time pick an educated man to run the country !
I suspect anyone with a decent education who might be eligible is also smart enough to stay well out of Cayman Islands politics.
Sorry Ezz, 'THAT' will have to be FORCED OUT like the UNRULY RASS that he is.
You folks who want the Premier to be removed from office, be careful what you ask for in complete British Rule in the Cayman Islands. Don't you know the history of British Colonial Rule??
The British took your ancestor's from their original homeland, crammed them like sardines in wooden boats across the Atlantic, starved them along the way, when you died they throwed you A$$ overboard for the sharks to eat, if you were lucky enough to make it to the America's – you were sold like animals amongst the slave master's, flogged like animals and worked like animals in the cotton and sugar cane fields from dawn until dusk and in fact your own surname's today are from those who Mastered you, because you were denied an Education !!!
Is this true or a figment of my imagination ??
The critic's will say, "This was a long time ago and times have changed", but do we forget what "Operation Tempura" was all about recently ??
What in Gods name does this have to do with Mackeeva destroying the country?
As long as you ask… It’s a figment.
Removing the current Premier does not equate to british direct rule! quiteto the contrary, it would serve as a demonstration that we, the voting public of Cayman, can and will address a situation that has become intolerable.
If the premier was "encouraged" to step aside, what is likely to happen is, the Deputy Premier would step in and at some point a new Premier would be appointed.
To use scare tactics about British – direct rule being a direct consequence of the Premier vacating his post, is mischevous and designed to confuse the issue. It is much more likely that Cayman will come under direct rule if the premier remains!
so much for having the country at heart!
If you truly learnt your history properly, you would also know that it was the African tribal leaders who sold their own people into slavery, to the white man. Yes, that's right, I am a coloured person and I say this without hesitation. I am not defending the white man here, but truth has got to be told. Back in those days, the African continent had many different tribes, some were peaceful, some warrior like, and there was a lot of in-fighting and rivalry going on. When the white man came, some of the warrior-like tribes went around the other tribes villages, plundering and taking off their men and women by shackles, marching them off to where the white man's ships were docked, and sold them into slavery to the white man, in return for goods and other things. Do you think the white man just simply turned up and invaded Africa and were able to overcome all those tribes living there, without help from the inside tribal leaders? Again, I am not defending the white men back in those days who did those things, they offered the incentives to the African tribal leaders to round up their own people and sell them to them, so they have a blood-guilt themselves for what they did. However, if all the African tribes had stood together, they would have run the white man out of their country. Instead, their tribal leaders sold one another, their own people, into slavery. Evil cannot prevail in this world, unless the other side is willing to turn a blind eye. So before you go blaming one group of people, look at your own too and see what role they also played.
The answer to this is- yes some Africans sold their own but remember the white man went into Africa looking to build on theirwealth, the African tribal leaders did not ever go to England/Europe looking to sell their own, Bottom line…………………..the Europeans went in to Africa to conquer/colonized and steal precious gems and most of all to control,organized and benifit from one of the wickedest crimes ever against humanity, the slave trade. Long Celia Foundation C.I. 5/11/12
Actually, I was first sold by my own tribal people. Hard to believe that someone would sell out his own people for personal gain?
Let us just say, Mac is not the first…
Clearly you were denied an education or chose not to have one.
I'm sick and tired listening about slaves – we've had our own created by the Immigration Board. Ask about Domestic Help in Cayman. Slavery redefined – and we all know who the biggest perpetrators are. "Work for next to nothing or be thrown off". Lovely sentiment.
Don't worry about Britain though. They can't manage their own Leftie country never mind mess this one up. We appear to be doing that rather successfully by ourselves.
History is full of bad stuff. Slavery was legal all over the world in 1800. There were white slaves in North Africa at that time. Japan, China, Russia, France, all of Africa, you name it, they had slaves. The English got rid of it pretty early. It was not stamped out in Brazil until the 1880's. If you dwell on this, it will hold you back. In contrast to Brazil, look at Haiti. They got revenge on the white slave owners but then what? They make the Dominican Republic look good, hard as that is to do.
Ezzard trying play catch-up with the PPM. Join forces with them if you really have a common foe in the UDP.
"catch up" What planet are you on. Ezzard is all we have. There is no catch up. There is no UP to catch. PPM playing WAAAAY too soft as is the case always. They always want OTHERS to stand up instead of them…Want proof?
BT Elections….They should have raised the issue with Mark and John John not some outsider.
March on Glass House for the new government building. They refuse to stand behind Chucky.
Now they are the better of UDP and PPM but we are not talking miles apart. They are just not corrupt but neither of them have any BACKBONE. It's why Arden jumped ship. Scared of being placed in the same heep.
Come May 2013 I will vote PPM but it's not because I 100% believe in them, it's more because I want UDP out at all cost.
My support actually is behind Ezzard because him and Arden are the only ones we have in there with backbone and the Cahones to take on the great bafoon of West Bay.
PERIOD!!
I think he wants a showdown between him and the UK. Forget how this is going to effect the people of the Cayman Islands. Direct Rule will get back at the PPM wanting to attain power. And the UK's FCO don't really care about us but their own interest. So in the long run, when these two ELEPHANTS fight, they will trample on Caymanians like mere grass. The UK may implement direct rule and cancel the little democracy we have like they did in TCI, or they may make things more austere and hardfor us by imposing laws that will effect our financial industry. Whatever the result, we the people have the responsibility to stand for our rights and protest against this sort of indifference to the Cayman Islands. We are a financial centre, the UK can't undermind this and just become dictator on us. At the same time, this Premier has either block his ears to the his people's advise or has not been clean and transparent with us. I think he should step. It is time for UDP members to take a stand or educate the public as to what the hell they are doing!
I scares me that paid MLAs do not understand the process to remove a minister, even when it is in their own best interest to have researched how. Start the voter-initiated petition or file an injunction with evidence. Asking "pretty please" does nothing, except broadcast how inept you are. This is why we need a new party with new blood. Voters hold all the power in this system, but are afraid to be seen to have started the petition. Even our paid Opposition refuses to do it – or worse, doesn't know how?
I agree with Ezzard Miller & I too demand that the premier steps down immediately. But I do not expect that anytime soon because the premier knows full well that if he steps down the silver bangles will be slapped on his wrists immediately. The only thing that is stopping that at the moment is that the British government do not want another TCI situation & to give him the silver bangles while he is the premier will hurt Cayman & probably cause another TCI! It is now very important that the other UDP elected members show their love for their country & either demand the resignation of the premier or remove him by force (not physical but by vote).If they truly love their country they will do that in the best interests of the Cayman Islands. We shall see.
They apparently asked him last week by telephone conference, and he refused to step down. Is anyone else not surprised. Another vote of no confidence might do the trick if a couple of UDP MLA's grow a pair.
Ezzard this is not aboutMcKeeva!
This country voted in a Constitution in 2009 and now we have side agreements such as the FFR being made to it. We had no choice but to agree with the FFR to get the budget in place.
Agreed! we need to avoid the reckless spending that happened under the PPM Government. However, we have the right as a country to be a part of the solution, if it means putting forward an amendment to protect these islands down the road from decisions made by the UK then you should be advocating and supporting this Ezzard.
Get the facts go to the LA with you ears and mind open and vote to protect these islands, nevermind who is bringing the amendment forward. Look at it earnestly, search your soul Ezzard, because this continued call for McKeeva to step down is getting really old.
We are starting to believe that is your only objective when you took office!
What a pile of UDP BS. Again blame game. YOU SOLVE THE DEFICIT REMEMBER!! You had a 25Mil surplus or do you have a short memory.
YOU MESSED UP…..Not PPM but UDP….
THIS….if nothing else on earth IS ABOUT THE LESS THAN HONORABLE PREMIER….
Why…because of your spineless piss-ants…..
The only part I agree with you partially on is YOU ALL NEED TO GO AND BE BANNED FROM EVER RUNNING IN POLITICS AGAIN…..AND YOU HONORABLE TITLES REVOKED AND THROW IN THE DUMP…..Not even a garbage can…STRAIGHT TO THE DUMP>>>>
Dont be as idiotic as the Premier, the budget decisions are not the UK's, they are his, it is stupid to try and force anyone else to be responsible for your decisions! The FFR simply requires that in coming to those decisions he applies sound principles, what can be wrong with that? This ridiculous stance of Bush is nothing but a further attempt at delay, and what you should bve doing is questioning why delay in requiring responsibility benefits anyone, unless of course he has a personal interest in avoiding respoonsibility?
But its ok for the UK Tax payer to support you and be accountable for our debt as a country?
With the previous governments so far spending & taxiation has risen. Do you think spending & therefore panic taxiation can be controlled without outside help? History tells me no.
Until the younger and educated members of our country stand of for office we are doomed. The old Croonies will continue until fully educated and balanced people run this country like a business. What happens if another Ivan struck tomorrow? Is there money in the bank to pay for rebuilding? Why not – we spent it. The UK & US have debt – but they have resources and reserves to counter it.
We need external help from our mother country who back our debt until we can be rid of the systematic old school stupidity that runs this country.
You can't be McKeeva…but maybe a close friend, the grammer and spelling is too good for the Premier!!! And of course, still blaming the PPM.
(sigh) itś grammar….you shouldn’t point
Ezzy can't see by now that Keke is a BOSS and he ain't going no where till next year bobo!
I am really sorry for all of you who think The premier will be ousted. HE WILL NOT BE. read my lips. Wishfull thinking for you all. Hello !!
You know…you have a point! Especially if those smart West Bayers have anything to do with it.
Better save your sorrow for yourself and your eternally honerable premier, bruno.
Mr. Miller, go sit down.
I understand where you are coming from, but I also understand that you have no solution if he was to step down.
McKeeva stepping down/being removed is a big part of the solution.
His stepping down IS the solution.
ooh… well I could have sworn it was PPM that placed us on the banking doom's list a few years back – This is someone that's trying to actually HELP this country and not his pockets.
PPM clearly didnt give a two, that's why they didnt look out for us then!!
HOW Much can you people expect mac to do/clean up after that disaster?? A FEW YEARS CANT FIX IT ALL – and next year when PPM gets in – I'll be laughing this time around at you people whom are constantly misjudging Mr. Bush!!
– A young angry Caymanian
It 's obvious the UDP plans on screwing life up for the Caymanan people and the new government snce they will not be re-elected.
The minister. Mr.Simmonds said he wll have no other alternative??????
He means DIRCT RULE!!
Ezzard,Alden, forget politics, lead a delegation to the UK and stop this fate.
I t means we will be taken Cayman back 100 years! By the UDP
This in my opinion is very spiteful manipulaton , usurping and provokation of the relatonship between the UK and the Cayman Islands.
'DELIBERATE" VINDICTIVE"
Mac must honor authoirty and obey rules! I think Mr. Simmons is his "Waterloo!"
I believe an early election is in order.
This is the best way to kill many birds with one stone….
Restore our election cycle and get rid of Bush and his puppets (sorry for disgracing puppets)