UDP 5 blame Mac for split
(CNS): The three cabinet members and two back-bench MLAs that remain part of the beleaguered UDP government have blamed the premier for the dilemma that the UDP administration now finds itself in. After Juliana O'Connor-Connolly, Rolston Anglin, Mark Scotland, Cline Glidden and Dwayne Seymour voted in favour of the opposition leader’s no confidence motion in government Tuesday evening, the five members said they were left with no choice given Mckeeva Bush’s refusal to step down, even though all his colleagues agreed that was the only option available. The group now finds itself in a difficult position; it has the support of the opposition benches to form a quorum but not a government. (Photos by Dennie Warren Jr)
In a short statement released early Wednesday morning, following the brief comments by Scotland, the only member of the government benches to speak during the no confidence vote, the five members said the motion had created an extremely difficult day.
“This motion was necessary as the country found itself in a constitutional dilemma caused by the refusal of the premier to step down when all of his caucus requested him to do so,” the group stated. “The caucus considered all possible scenarios, but the majority were still of the view that the right thing for him to do was to step down at this time.”
The group added that they would continue to put Cayman first and work together with all members of the Legislative Assembly to ensure a functioning government and legislature, saying, “We need united and mature leadership at this time.”
However, the issue is now out of the group’s hands. It may constitute the largest group of the UDP but it cannot hold a majority government without forming a coalition with the opposition or regrouping with Bush and his supporters. As a result, the governor may well proceed to call elections, given the split down the government benches.
As the motion opened for debate on Tuesday, Bush, along with Mike Adam, Captain Eugene Ebanks and Ellio Solomon, crossed the floor to sit on the opposition benches, signalling their split from their five colleagues.
During the debate Scotland said that all of the members had agreed to ask the premier to resign. He said that what they were doing may result in them losing their seats. He did not have a “lack of confidence in the government or his colleague”, he said but they had all agreed to ask the premier to resign and he was standing by that agreement.
“I am sticking to the agreement that we had all made that is in the best interests of all of us — the country , the premier and the government,” Scotland said adding that he was proud to have been elected with the group of UDP parliamentary members. Describing the situation as one that he and the others would rather not be in, he said that, given the construct of the constitution, without the premier’s voluntary resignation this was the best option available.
Neither Scotland nor any of the other members have spoken about the arrest of Bush on suspicion of theft and several offences under the anti-corruption law in relationto the misuse of a government credit card and the importation of dynamite without a permit, but it was clear that the group accepted that, even though no charges have been brought, having a sitting premier on police bail in the face of such allegations was untenable.
Sacrificing their own political futures in the face of the premier’s refusal to resign, the UDP government has now fallen and it is up to the governor to now revoke the premier’s post as he no longer commands a majority group in the legislature and then to decide what to do. He could either anoint Juliana O’Connor Connolly as Cayman’s second premier and allow the five members to attempt to maintain government until the parliament is prorogued in March ahead of the scheduled May general elections, or dissolve the parliament and call for an early election.
The premier, too, remained surprisingly silent on Tuesday, making no contribution to the debate but speaking volumes with his walk across the floor of the parliament. He was later seen at the UDP offices in West Bay with the party faithful but refused to comment on the situation to CNS.
Ellio Solomon, however, denied having an agreement with the caucus to ask the premier to resign, and said it was only one of a number of options the group had discussed. He further denied allegations that he had been the sticking point on a caucus agreement to force the premier to step down and claimed he had been offered the Cabinet post in a reformed government, which he had refused.
Solomon insisted he was standing by the premier because he believed in innocent until proven guilty. As party general secretary, he maintained that Bush still commanded the support of the party membership and that the government group which had just expressed a lack of confidence in themselves could not expect anyone else to have confidence in them.
He said that the party split now had to be addressed and in the meantime, if the members that had ousted the premier and themselves from office were able to limp on, he, the premier, Adam and Ebanks would examine legislation on merit. But, he said, the Bush four would not support the five other members to form a government, as he accused them all of mounting a power grab.
Sources inside the UDP told CNS on Tuesday evening that there was no consensus in the party rank to support Bush remaining as premier and a cabinet minister and the wider party membership was expecting to meet Wednesday.
Category: Politics
Respect to the five UDP that voted to remove Mac! I must give credit where due as I didn't think any of the UDP had it in them.
I was wrong!
As for Mike Adam, Capt. Eugene and Elio aka mini mac…you did just as I thought you would. Shame on you all for not doing the right thing…and BYE!!!
It's over now, the former Premier had his opportunity to step aside instead of being forced out until the investigation was over. In my opinion that would have been the right thing to do way back then. I do not blame the other members of the UDP for what they had to do to save the country. Many of the advisors of the Premier were part of his problem and downfall. I see not winners in this whole fiasco because, Cayman's reputation is tarnished, friendships are destroyed and people are hurting. I just pray that as a people and country we will heal from this very soon.
Is Ellio on drugs? Can we have him tested? Am I understanding correctly that his ENTIRE premise for not doing the right thing is because he thinks that his colleagues were all about the power grab!? Is he stupid or does he think we all are?!
Reality check Ellio – the RIGHT thing to do when one is under investigation is to remove themselves from a position where there might be danger of affecting the outcome of the situation – whether by intention or not. We have police officers and other government officials taking FULL PAID leave of absence…so why not the highest seat in the land!!!???
Here's my thinking: Mr Solomon is FULLY aware that Mac intends to likewise expose the deeds of those that opposed him and Mr Solomon thinks that by staying close to Mac's hem that he will be safe. Trouble is, there is no loyalty among…you get the picture!
Plus, everything has a funny way of coming to the surface. We just have to wait long enough…
I for one and sick of the grandstanding, flimsy attempts to 'be different' and misplaced notions of 'honourable' deeds. It's stupid. They're stupid. Just deal with life man.
I will speak of a person as I know them, and I can safely say John John JJ is a very good Bodden Town young man. I do not believe anyone should disrespect he or Mark just for political reason and grudge.
But if God is for you, Man can do nothing.
You must be family because you sound just as illiterate as John John JJ.
Further proof of the cultural taboo of never taking responsibility for you actions.
Its ironic that our first Honourable Premier created our first constitutional crisis under our new Constitution, which could have been avoided by him resigning.
You are membersof the government not a social club. Just because one member is a friend you still need to protect the country at large. I believe that this has been forgotten and it has become more of a social club with social status than a civil service.
Here's something else to think about voters – no matter who is standing for election and what party they are aligned with – would they pass the "sniff test" ? Time to start checkin' those closets for "skeletons".
“Solomon insisted he was standing by the premier because he believed in innocent until proven guilty”.
For someone like Elio whom appears to be educated and intelligent sure leaves a big question mark when thinking of educated and intelligent people within that group. It doesn’t matter at this point whether he is innocent or guilty. The fact that he has been under investigation and was arrested is enough for him to step down in the interest of the reputation of the Cayman Islands. Additionally, Elio let’s not forget, another person connected to one of his allegation has already been found guilty and charged. Solomon, your commitment to an arrested party leader is an indication that you are definitely not about country, but about party and self. You would rather the CaymanIslands to continued having the reputation of corruption than to do what is in the best interest of the people. You should really apply your own assessment of “irresponsible” statements to yourself.
That's just it – he "appears" to be educated and intelligent, but when you probe a little deeper I think you will find it is not so. Also his political stances on certain matters, his inferences as to the UK taking over, his involvement and support of the CHEC and Dart deals speaks volumes for me. I think he's a very dangerous man to have in politics – not dangerous to me at all, but potentially equally if not more dangerous than Mac was… if that's possible!
I think it is now time for the UDP to change its name from the United Democratic Party to the United Den of Pirates with all the back-stabbing and throat cutting going on!!! A real cassava republic!
That's what i call all cassava, and no potato
you mean legislations weren't being passed on merit before this Elio? Thanks for giving us the inside scoop! I love spin-doctors, they give you such valuable information.
Let me get this striaght:
5 (Rolston, Julie, Mark, Dwayne, and Cline) voted a no confidence in government or on themselves to remove the Premier McKeeva Bush.
And 3 (Mike, Ellio, and Eugene) voted no to removing the Premier.
The 5 amigos defense was that he was causing serious reputational damage to the Cayman Islands by still being in power and arrogant about it. The 3 amigos defense was that he wasn't even charge yet, so why remove him and create a situation like TCI.
The Governor have these options: (1) The 3 amigos fear he declaring full british rule where we would be under British governance and no more legislative assembly. (2) The Governor can call for early elections which would probably be sometime in February; or, (3) The Governor can approve a smaller UDP government which would need to ally with Opposition members in order to get anything done in Cayman.
Is my rundown accurate?
Nice try at spin.
"The 3 amigos defense was that he wasn't even charge yet, so why remove him and create a situation like TCI".
Err… it is allowing him to remain that may create a situation like TCI. The UK is giving us an opportunity to sort this out ourselves without the nuclear option of direct rule. The 5 did well to recognise that. Ellio has proved what a fool he is. Mike has no spine and Eugene has always been a stooge.
The no confidence motion was in a Govt. led by McKeeva Bush, not no confidence in the individual Ministers under him. You remember how he loved to call it "My Government"?
I disagree with many, many, many things done by the UDP government up to last Friday, including some things done by the 5 who split from Mr. Bush, but I RESPECT that the 5 saw what needed to be done in relation to Mr. Bush staying on as Premier and did it. That took courage and I respect that.
Whatever they did wrong otherwise, and in my view each of them did things wrong in government, they should not be criticised for what they did since last Friday. They are the only ones in the UDP that showed that they have any understanding at all of what it means to put country first.
Of the rest that stayed with Mr. Bush, all I want to say is that Mr. Adam has lost all respect in my family and he will get none of our votes in the next election instead of the many he got last time. As for Elio, none of us voted for him last time and we certainly won't next time.
Why do you always claim to speak for others? Don't they have minds of their own? Your manner of dictating your family's position always undermines the rest of your comment.
I respect Ellio, Adams, and the Captain's fear of a UK takeover. It doesn't mean they agree with Bush and pals XXXX. It just simply means they fear for the worse and hence decided not to remove the Premier until elections. Please respect that!
That is pure scare-mongering nonsense. Nothing there to respect.
Hopefully the government can stay paralyzed for a long, long time. That much less damage they can do.
In anticipation of the impending statement from the Governor:
We are accepting bids on the Govt owned Christmas lights that were previously installed at the Premier's residence. Originally cost $5,000. Please address your bid to me as I will lead the effort of removing them once the Premier has been properly deposed…
How can they blame him for the split. The man says he has done no wrong and beleives in his own innocence; therfore, he was not stepping down to satisfy the demands of the UDP 5.
They are behaving like spoilt childrent because they still did not get want they wanted, ministries for every body in the party.
The premier should reform the UDP and kick out the UDP 5 to scramble to be ready for an early election which they have unwittingly caused.
Rollie thinks he is stronger than Mac in West Bay, but we will show him where most of his votes come from.
I think the point is that he just expects everyone to believe and trust that he is innocent, fact is that whether aperson is guilty or innocent they will try to get people to believe they are innocent. Bush should not expect other people to believe him just cause he says so, he should have done the right thing (from the time he was first been investigated) to step down until proven innocent.You cannot let a potentially guilty person continue in his position, it is just far too risky.
I guess you would say it is better to pay for damage to reputation. Just because you don’t like someone doesn’t change the fact that they are entitled to basic human rights. Innocent until proven guilty! Put yourself in someone else’s shoes……..it changes perspective!
The presumption of innocence and human rights are completely irrelevant to whether he should have stepped down. Whether he is innocent or guilty the fact is that he was arrested on suspicion of certain corruption offences, his continuance in office is doing serious harm to the reputation of this country, he cannot run the country while on bail and preparing his own legal defence. Bush accepted all of these points when he resigned from ExCo in 1997 even though he had not been arrested or charged with any offence.
sounds like you drank too much of Macs koolaid, two gun crowely claimed his innocence also.
If he has done nothing wrong then he should have no issue with stepping down. His issue with stepping down is, to him, a forfeiture. Therefore, in HIS eyes doing so shows guilt and acception of fault, and staying in office shows strength. Where as it is actually the opposite, stepping down would show humbleness, and allowing the investigation to proceed.
There is too much pride involved, and not enough political sense.
Hmmm, who to believe Foolio or rest of UDP?
Sincethe UDP and opposition have ousted the Premier, there's not much of a choice left to pick good leadership from that is "Strong." and that we need at this time in our history. I have been assessing the matter.
I conclude that the only sound and strong leadership I foresee for the Cayman Islands; is for the members to now form a coalition with Mr. Ezzard Miller as Premier. If everyone is honest and has been paying special attention to all that's been said, all the complaints, the comments in the news media, the talk shows:- It says only one thing:-. Ezzard is who the people of this country "really" want and don't allow Alden or those doctored polls tell you anything different..
Alden McLaughlin wants an easy ride in on his white horse! That he does not deserve! I agree with Dr. McField on that one.
Ezzard is the man for Premier and Arden McLean should be Deputy Premier. Not Rolston Anglin, we do not need a Deputy premier, with personal issues unresolved…
are you insane?
As a Bodden Town voter, my suggestions are that we must not be too quick to judge Mark Scotland and John John JJ. Because these two young men may know more than we the people of Bodden Town know why they made such a decision. They have not been saying anything before, but I know they have been trying to get things done in this district. However, maybe one day we will or will not know the reason why. Meantime I am going to accept what they did was in good faith and there was a reason not associated with power.. Those two young men are strong in Bodden Town, but they took a step, not caring whether they got a seat next year or not. I applaud those thoughts and I will continue to support them and I will vote for them if they run next year.
Have you forgotten about the DUMP?
Apart from giving away the odd free turkey at Christmas, WTF have they really done for our district apart from encourage us to put up with an illegal dump? We still have the same flooding problems we complained of, we still have the same shit going down, BT still hasn't had its facelift or its dock, and they still haven'ed honoured the numerous promises they made to our district prior to the UDP being elected.
What you say Dred? Where u is?
BT er 09:58 I have noted your comments and greviousness, but I am going to ask you this question.
Have you ever given thought that the Dump issue was not up to Mark and John John JJ to control.?
Have you give it some thought that the reason why the flooding problems was not fixed is because the shots were not being called by Mark and John JJ.?
Do you know that the reason why we did not have a face lift or dock was because they were not the ones calling the shots?.
Do you realize that all of the promises made and not kept, was because they were not calling the shots?
Now do you see the reason why they voted as they did. BECAUSE IT WAS TIME THAT THE POT WAS SHARED WITH ALL DISTRICTS AND NOT HOGGED UP BY ONLY ONE.. So that is the reason why Bodden Town was not getting all that was promised. Trust my words when I tell you that both of them were asking, begging and pleading for more for Bodden Town. HOWEVER THEY GOT NO FURTHER THAN begging and pleading, and that is why decisions were made to set the record straight. Now what I am watching is to see if the other party will get along with them, or we are going to have the same old, same old, power wrangling all over again. I hope not.
1) The fact that neither were eligible for election in the first place
+
2) The pair's disgraceful abdication of responsibility and total failure to represent their putative constituents over the whole dump issue which reeks of corruption
=
3) Both will be thrown out of office at the next election with ruined political reputations & careers.
Mark and Jon Jon? Are you serious right now? These two will never get my vote again, they have betrayed the Bodden Town people and fooled us for 3.5 years and still continue to lie using the excuse that they had to follow a process? Listen if the Premier is up to no good and they even suspect it they are obligated to act.
Now they want to bring a Dump to BT after all our loyalty to them. The Dump plan is a joke, its a scheme for certain people to get rich selling fill to the facility – same as we see with the Road project. The cells being constructed last only 2 years each and then they are full of garbage and new ones have to be built. We are only getting two cells so the Dump in BT is a 4 year band-aid and then we are looking at two seperate Mt Trashmore problems.
What else have they done in BT? besides lock their doors and hide.
They helped mess up the Port deal,
They approved of the Cohen financing.
wait a minute…They were not even legally elected.
I say we Dump Mark and Jon Jon before they Dump on us!
These guys choose personal benefit over what isbest for Cayman and if they could have gotten away with keeping Muckeeva in office politically they would have done it. They are not fooling me!
PS. I will give them this, anytime I need a drink I can find them at the bar buying a round. Bunch of jokers and waste of good tax payer money.
Come again? I wish I could agree with you but I cannot. Frankly speaking there had to be a valid reason for the decisions made. I think that the poeple of Bodden Town should not jump to conclusions and wait to know the facts. I am going to wait and see what comes out in the bath water. Something, something very grave must have caused them to make such a decision, so I will wait and learn.
Im confused ? Something very Grave must have made them decide to put a dump in BT? Check out who was owed a lot of money by a certain paving company and which politician owns the company and who just sold Dart a bunch of land for this Dump (same guy that is owed money by the politician) and it will make sense.
Hey Mark, you all lost your seats way before this
"AND THIS TOO SHALL PASS"
That's what you get UDP 5.
You expected to oust the premier and had the audacity to turn around and ask him to still support you by way of the back bench. You have to be kidding me.
The UDP 5 find themselves in water that's deeper than they can handle without guidance from their leader. It was a power grab pure and simple, but they did not expect to see themselves fall the way they did.
The Premier had the last laugh after all, becaue the UDP 5 thought he was going to provide the support they needed to form a government while kicking him out and appointing JuJu as premier and drunk Rollie as Deputy.
Please these 5 traitors are not even UDP members, and did not even consult the UDP executive on this important decision.
Oh go crawl in a pit Elio…
Huh? When were they removed them as UDP members? The party executive should not drive these decisions. Each member should decide them in his or her own conscience for what is in the best interests of the country. The UDP executive failed in not making any statement on these matters. Can it be because they are conflicted in self-same matters?
What a surprise!
Early election can’t come soon enough.
UDP blame blame blame…
Never take responsibility…
Clearly it is not just a Mac thing this is a party thing!
JuJu and Co please go away.
“The group added that they would continue to put Cayman first”….
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
HA!
For 7 days they decided to support the party over taking the actions that are best for the Cayman. Our country is more important than any leader or person.
Not true. Some of them were always of the view that he needed to step down.
And so the blame game continues. Quite scary that they don't see that they have been complicit in the charade, but now that their perks (oh, sorry, jobs) are on the line the finger pointing starts…