(CNS): Government officials confirmed Monday that the United People’s Movement and its new leader, Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, will not be holding a press conference before the end of 2023. In an unprecedented move, the new administration, which formed after an internal Cabinet coup ousted Wayne Panton from the position of premier, will not face the local media to explain what happened, what their plans are, or address any of the issues that have been raised over the last few weeks.

This includes comments made by the new premier during her only media appearances so far since being sworn in to office.

O’Connor-Connolly appeared on Radio Cayman’s For the Record with Orrett Connor on 20 November in the wake of the fall of the PACT Government and the emergence of the UPM. During the show, she spoke of external forces influencing and even controlling previous Cabinets, but did not explain which ministers she was referring to or who was controlling them.

Since then, the premier has given the civil service a Christmas bonus of $1,500 and increased the duty allowance for goods being brought in by residents going overseas. These two moves have been greeted with a very mixed response from the public, with critics pointing out that this gives very little to low paid workers in the private sector who don’t have the money for a Christmas shopping trip.

Over the last few weeks, there has been public outcry after the earnings of local politicians were revealed in a special report by the Office of the Auditor General. Over 112 comments have been posted on CNS alone, most of them angry about the perceived unwarranted level of compensation.

However, the premier believes that the two ‘giveaways’ — one to civil servants and one to those in the position to take a foreign shopping trip — and her taking over have been broadly welcomed. In a second appearance on the government-owned Radio Station on Friday, this time alongside Governor Jane Owen, she said that the “reset” was “resonating” with the people.

Her optimism was echoed by Minister Kenneth Bryan in a message he sent to the show, which said that “things have been a lot more positive with the running of government” since O’Connor-Connolly took over. “As a minister of the UPM, I am very happy and excited about our country’s future. Just today’s appearance is an example of some of the little changes that are making a great difference. Communication with the public is essential,” the minister wrote, according to the premier.

Despite the premier’s decision not to face the independent press at all before the New Year but to restrict her public communication to the government station, the governor also spoke about the importance of communication.

O’Connor-Connolly said her government would be delivering a “people-centred” budget on Friday. She said she had managed to get the opposition to agree not to submit any motions or parliamentary questions during the forthcoming sitting, and her own members have agreed to keep their contributions to 45 minutes during the debate on the Throne Speech and Budget Address.

She said this would allow MPs to concentrate on the appropriations bill, which outlines the actual spending, and get that passed, assented to and implemented before the deadline of 31 December.

Watch the premier and the governor on Radio Cayman below: