Clean hands & pure heart
If the allegations against Premier McKeeva Bush are proven correct, he will go down in this country’s history as a liar and a crook. But if they are not proven correct, what happens then? He and his party carry on the same? I don’t think so. Relying on the legal axiom of “innocent unless proven guilty” isn’t good enough when you are in high public office.
Public office is a position of trust and power and we expect those in positions of trust and power to be held to a higher standard of conduct than the rest of us. They have to be accountable and transparent in their private dealings and it goes without saying that we expect them to avoid any conflicts between their public duties and their private interests. If such a conflict does arise we rightly expect that they will proactively declare their interest, remove themselves from any decision making role in which their impartiality might be compromised, and make sure there is a paper trail to prove the true nature of any payments. If their integrity is questioned we expect them to come forward and explain themselves or step aside until the issues are resolved.
We don’t know much about the allegations McKeeva Bush is facing. We do know that he received a payment from Stan Thomas at a time when Thomas wanted the Cayman government to rezone some of his land and that the explanations and documents McKeeva has produced have not convinced everyone. We know that he used his position to try and have some improperly imported dynamite released to a business owner and again the explanations have not answered all the questions.
And we have heard rumors of other murky dealings, the Cohen & Cohen loan, CHEC, the dump contract to name a few. It may well be that none of these involved any illegal activity or that nothing will be proved but in the court of public opinion “no smoke without fire” is just as firmly entrenched as “innocent unless proven guilty” and, as the country’s leader, avoiding criminal conviction alone is not enough to clear his name and restore confidence.
McKeeva has failed in his duty to remain above suspicion and that failure has brought the office of premier, his party and the entire country into disrepute. Of that, at least, we know he is guilty and in most other democratic countries that would be enough to disqualify him from office.
Declaring that he has clean hands is not enough. If he can’t prove to the public's satisfaction that they are clean then he has failed to hold himself to the required standard and he should resign or be removed before any more damage is done.
Category: Viewpoint
Agreed, he doesn’t need to be ‘legally” convicted. What he’s done and doing are not acceptable for a public servant.
"Clean Hands and Pure Heart" is likely to be the title of the book he writes when he finds himself unemployed with lots of time on his hands.
Enough people may cuss me out for this, but "clean hands and pure heart" is reflective of my people in Cayman. Their leader says it all. McKeeva Bush is an image of what many people of the Cayman Islands are like. Full of pride, ego, pomp, self-interest, and see themself as righteous. Most of these type of people are from West Bay, because they voted for him, so they wanted someone to miror them, and they found him. As a Caymanian I can only hand my head in shame. We put our hats too high and expect not to fall.
We see. We know. We still wish he would go.
Enough said Cay Man. Totally agree.
Dirty underwear and unwashed hands…
Add that to the all the wasted money on court cases, pay off to companies he screwed over, the never ending school work by his tribe, and all the money that has dissapeared without a trace of evidence as to where it all went and you have the worlds most incompetent leadership. But hey! Maybe thats what Caymanians want.
To tell you the truth, Caymanians put him there! Caymanians, really? Which Caymanians? have you seen the voters list?
What is it your trying so hard to say?
Hey there ya late. All of what you said has been said many times over. What is your point?.
Very well put!
It is also important to focus on his current "defence", that the FCO are targeting him for political reasons. It is clear to any reasonable person that the FCO "attack" is nothing more than the reasonable requirement that he observe proper due process, as Cay Man has outlined. The problem is that his devoted followers dont seeem to grasp this simple concept, they never have, as the First Cayman episode proved. Many Caymanians including those that lost their money, still saw him as an innocent bystander who didnt understand. They dont see the land rezoning issue as questionable, indeed they dont see personal gain from political office as needing transparency.
With that sort of mindset, coupled with the lopsided four vote system in his constituency, it is entirely possible that you will see him back in power after the next election, so lets hope there IS fire behind that smoke, and that there is sufficient evidence!
These words involve concepts of public duty and honour. They are not in the Mac dictionary. "Ask not what you can do for your country but what your country can do for you" is his motto.
I thought his motto was take all you can and give nothing back?
Well stated.
What disappoints most is that McKeeva promised so much when elected and we (as neutrals) were hopeful that he would deliver. But in the end he has achieved so little and blamed everyone and anyone within range!!
Every year he appeared at the Alternative Funds Conference and the Captive Insurance Conference as well as the annual Fidelity Financial Forum at The Ritz in front of most of the senior local reps of the Gov’t and financial services community as well as many visiting clients and business partners and outlined so many plans and “done deals” that would secure Cayman’s future. And we believed, in hope !!
Alas, there is little progress to show for all ” his efforts” and overseas travel. Rather, blame ad-nauseum of the previous Gov’t, an 18 month police investigation into his activities, his becoming the First Premier of The Cayman Islands and then to be arrested by the Cayman Islands Police Service on various criminal/corruption charges, albeit in fairness at this point unproven. Not to mention his total disrespect of the Governorand the FCO. Reality check McKeeva but if you want Cayman to have the British connection, then you must play by their rules, not West Bay rules !!!!
The police case will come to its conclusion in due course, but in the meantime, can anyone other than diehard McKeeva supporters, business beneficiaries of his influence and the reported many Caymanians dependent on him for favours/handouts really believe that he has anything positive to contribute to the Cayman Islands.
Sad to say, but in my humble opinion, enough is enough!
Time to go McKeeva !
Adios, au revoir, paalam, ciao, so long, goodbye, slan leat, auf wiedersehen, adeus, mi ah gu gu, and finally in Jordanian (Arabic) !!! bay, bay.
If you actually thought that there is/was anything positive about William McKeeva Bush then you are an unmitigated idiot in the first place. Anybody with their head screwed on right knew this long before the last election cycle, unless they were/are crooked or stupid or both. Now everyone has suffered the consequences for the decrepid and derelict souls who have facilitated this national nightmare.
You forgot the old Caymanian favourite, "Hasta la bye-bye!"