JOCC leads ethics, Miller stays at PAC, Rivers takes on OCC/ICO
The new Legislative Assembly, 31 May 2017
(CNS): Following the pomp and ceremony of Wednesday morning’s proceedings in the Legislative Assembly, in the afternoon members got down to their first task to elect the chairs and members of the various parliamentary committees. Juliana O’Connor-Connolly will lead the Register of Interests Committee, which deals with the financial ethics, interests and potential conflicts of MLAs, while Ezzard Miller will stay as chair of the Public Accounts Committee scrutinizing the auditor general’s reports, and Tara Rivers will take on both the OCC and ICO committees in anticipation of the merger of those offices.
O’Connor-Connolly, the member for Cayman Brac East, is also sitting on the government front bench as a minister, though her ministerial portfolio has not yet been allocated. But as chair of the RoI committee she will be overseeing the transition towards a new regime for political ethics, as the Standards in Public Life Law is due to be implemented at some point this year.
As well as requiring civil servants, public authority employees and government board members to declare their interests and conflicts, the new law will impact the current parliamentary register as it calls for more information and scrutiny. The members joining O’Connor-Connolly are Roy McTaggart, Capt. Eugene Ebanks, Arden McLean, Alva Suckoo and House newcomers Barbara Connolly, David Wight, Austin Harris and Kenneth Bryan.
Meanwhile, North Side MLA Ezzard Miller, the new leader of the opposition, will remain as PAC chair. His new membership line-up includes Bernie Bush, Barbara Connolly, Chris Saunders and Austin Harris.
Tara Rivers, who is still expected to retain her education and employment ministry, will lead the committees that oversee the work of the Office of the Complaints Commissioner (OCC) and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). But once the new ombudsman’s office is established later this year, it will encompass those two committees as well as cover complaints about the RCIPS. The other members of this committee are Capt. Eugene Ebanks, Barbara Connolly, David Wight and Kenneth Bryan.
The House Committee, which deals with the general running of the Legislative Assembly, will be chaired by opposition member Alva Suckoo, with Bernie Bush, Austin Harris, David Wight and Kenneth Bryan making up the membership.
And finally, the Business Committee, which deals with what goes on the Legislative Assembly’s order paper and when, will be chaired, as always, by the premier. Joining Alden McLaughlin will be Leader of the Opposition Ezzard Miller, Deputy Premier Moses Kirkconnell, Bernie Bush and Alva Suckoo.
Category: Government oversight, Politics
Really?
Juliana and ethics — an oxymoron. But look at the competition — not a lot of choice and she won’t do too much damage.
Marco would have been great for that.
Marco is not part of government, get over it
Marco is gone –get over it!
Jo Jo and ethics? She can take her whole committee first class and convene the first meeting in conjunction with an exotic post office conferences or private road building seminar. You couldn’t make this up!!
The fox is guarding the hen house!
Next they will announce Anthony Eden for Gender Affairs.
Tara Rivers for Education and Labour, AGAIN? Truly McLaughlin has turned a deaf ear to the electorate. As I followed the election both on and off Island, the recurring themes for change were education and the woeful literacy/numeracy results. The most passionate outcry concerned the 1,500 Caymanians without jobs while the cash cow of work permits flourished.
This is after 4 years of Tara at the helm of those two ministries. Apologists for her claimed that she was “blocked”. If “blocked” then, what of the next four years? McLaughlin claimed/complained that but for 50 votes, there would be no need for a Coalition. Further proof that he has no respect for the wishes of the Island (who kicked two of his “stalwarts” into touch), then he rubs salt by putting Tara back in probably the most important portfolio for the future of Caymanians. UNBELIEVABLE !!!
Are you sure that Tara is the Education Minister? Covfefe!
“Covfefe” (lmbo) — I like!
The biggest problem we have with education is PARENTING and the lack thereof. Be an advocate for free condoms and abortion rights if you want to make a change.
Children having children… Always there is talk about “parenting”. An unwanted pregnancy becomes an unwanted and neglected child which becomes a delinquent at adolescence and a criminal in adulthood.
Fully agree planned parenthood is required in this country.
If those 1,500 Caymanians are out of work because of lack of Education, it is not Ms. Rivers fault – they would more than likely be over eighteen, which means their education started and ended quite some years ago, she has only been Minister for Education for four – the blame clearly lies with someone else! Further, we have been griping about Education for many years, if she has the answers, she needs time to get attitudes, programmes, systems, etc. changed.
To start from scratch, it is hard to accomplish much in four years, give the woman a chance.
We complain b/c ministries keep changing hands and one minister tries to outdo the next. Give her a chance to see if she can gets things in place that will make a difference. She has started to put programs in place already – now we need to roll up our sleeves and help the woman out. Stop complaining if you are not willing to make suggestions and get your hands dirty.
For all the ppl that claim to love Cayman so much, there sure are a lot of ppl content to sit back and watch the island fall apart. We need to band together and lift each other up. We complain that expacts come here and take the island from us and take our jobs but we are not willing to help each other across the finish line, so eager are we to cross the line ourselves, or is it that we are not even willing to enter the race????
Juju ethics??? I remember trips overseas for the postal service and ‘bodyguard’. Hahaha pigs in charge of the trough still.
Praise God we have JOCC in this position – certainly a God-fearing person knowing that she will be judged by the Almighty one day, so doubt it if she would be anything but a prime example of ethics for others to emulate – go UDP, go PNA, go PPM, go and get your picture put up on the shoppe of your once enemy. I lived long enough to see the day that Liz and Levonne are on the same team – the rapture soon come!
6.26…err, ok if you say so. Don’t forget to take your tablets. Seems like you may have missed one or two unintentionally.
JOCC I dare you to make the ROI easily accessible to the public like it’s supposed to be.
Lawd if labor goes to Tara again caymanians are double screwed
Why on earth would they allow Tara Rivers to maintain Education??
You can’t undo the mess the Education has been in since 40 years ago in four years to see the benefits, she has done a lot to make the system be beneficial to our children, listen to the children that go to the private schools they say she has made a lot of difference…Rome was not built in a day…Education will take years to get back on stream as it should be!
*Public school
I think they want her to wave her magic wand.
JOCC on ethics? Get your new road orders in quick, before the rush!