[ad_1]
(CNS): Premier Wayne Panton has been pushed out as premier and has been replaced by Juliana O’Connor-Connolly MP, (CBE) according to a social media message circulated by McKeeva Bush MP, (WBW), Wednesday. After rumour and speculation about the PACT’s future mounted in the wake of Tuesday’s no confidence debate MPs spent the day horsetrading over a new government which according to the veteran West Bay MP is effectively the old PACT line up absent Panton under the new moniker of the United People’s Movement.
CNS was told that an official statement would be released from the premier’s office before 5pm. But by 7pm no official information had been released about the new government line-up or Panton’s alleged new post as Speaker of the House.
Just after 6pm, Wednesday evening however, a press release was issued by the parliament stating that Speaker Katherine Ebanks‐Wilks, MP (WBC) had resigned from the job. This was described as an effort to maintain stability and support the government in meeting its constitutional requirements. She made no mention of her new role which, according to McKeeva Bush, is as a minister in the new Cabinet picking up the former premier’s sustainability and climate portfolio.
“I found myself in the position where my casting vote would need to be relied on as the Speaker in a hung Parliament,” said Ebanks‐Wilks in the release. “Our Parliament deserves better than this, and I took an Oath to serve the people of the Cayman Islands so I had to make the very hard decision to do what is best for our country when neither side was able to find a solution between themselves.”
The youngest person to ever hold the office she held it for just one year but she said decisions should be made based on what is in the best interest of the country and the people of the Cayman Islands. “I want to make sure that we stop this instability and that we meet our financial obligations of 31 December so our hard‐working civil servants are paid on time,” she added, referring tot he budget.
If Bush’s message is accurate it will now be down to O’Connor Connolly who is understood to have been given the role of finance minister to bring the budget process to a close. That will now almost certainly include the money for a new high school in Cayman Brac and likely West Bay. This was rumoured to have been a major sticking point among PACT over the last few weeks.
O’Connor-Connolly returns to the government top job after almost a decade. The MP for Cayman Brac East took the helm in the wake of the last government that fell following a no confidence vote after McKeeva Bush was arrested in December 2012. She then led a government made up of former UDP members with some support from the then opposition PPM for just a few months until the election of 2013 under the name the People’s National Alliance (PNA).
While Bush indicated a number of other changes in the new cabinet including the ousting of his West Bay colleague Bernie Bush the reshuffle has not been confirmed and given the continued political wrangling and the absence of any official confirmation the current alleged state of affairs could change in a matter of days or even hours.
CNS Note: Since this article was posted government has issued a release confirming the new line-up and that the governor swore in the new UPM Cabinet behind closed doors in what can only be described as a secret ceremony, Wednesday evening.
Check back to CNS later for more on the new government line-up.
[ad_2]
Source link