FCO: Choudhury re-posted to UK
Governor Anwar Choudhury
(CNS) UPDATED: Cayman Islands Governor Anwar Choudhury will not be returning to the Cayman Islands but will be re-posted to London, according to an extremely brief statement from the governor’s office on Thursday. Officials said that a short-term successor will now be appointed while the recruitment process for a permanent replacement begins. Choudhury was suspended from the job more than three months ago and recalled to the UK, following unspecified allegations against him from his household and office staff, understood to relate to bullying. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office appears to have completed the investigation but has not said anything at all about the findings.
Although Choudhury has not been fired, the fact that he is not returning to this posting is an indication that he was not completely cleared of wrongdoing regarding the unspecified complaints. But the FCO is not commenting on the results of the inquiry into the governor, who served for just a few months, having arrived in March this year. Despite his brief stay, he had made a solid impression in that short time on the people of Cayman.
It is not clear if a petition started several months ago to have the governor returned as soon as possible was ever presented to the overseas territories minister, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon. CNS had reached out to the organisers of that petition on a number of occasions since it began circulating for updates on its progress but we have not received any response.
CNS has also reached out to FCO officials regarding further details of the investigation surrounding Choudhury and we are awaiting a response. But as the FCO has said it will not make any further comment, we are not expecting much more information from them. We have therefore also made a freedom of information request for reports and documentation about the process and the outcome.
Shortly after the statement from the governor’s office Opposition Leader Ezzard Miller released a statement expressing his disappointment that Choudhury will not be returning.
“This is particularly disconcerting as Mr Choudhury had won the hearts of the people of the Cayman Islands in the three months he was here, achieving a level of comfort and acceptance that the previous governor had not managed in five years,” Miller said on behalf of the opposition.
“Because of the affinity he had struck with the people of the Cayman Islands and their concerns, I had held out hope that Mr Choudhury would have been afforded the opportunity to continue to serve his term and make the changes that are so necessary to improving governance and to reducing corruption.”
Miller described that statement from the FCO as “high-handed” with an “autocratic tone” that “communicates a lack of respect for Caymanians”. He added, “The FCO seems to have forgotten that we have advanced since the early 20th century when dictates from our colonial masters were accepted without question.”
The opposition leader said the UK should have given a reason for Choudhury’s recall because the reposting to London suggested the “allegations against the governor could not have risen to any very serious level”.
Miller also raised concerns about the plan to replace Acting Governor Franz Manderson with a temporary governor.
“This similarly communicates disrespect in its implication that Mr Manderson’s performance has been prohibitive of his continuing to act until a replacement for Mr Choudhury is found. I assert that the recruitment process should not be so protracted that it would require an interim governor, with its inherent disruption and lack of continuity.
“I see no reason for Mr Manderson being sidelined and we unreservedly support his continuing in the post until a new governor is recruited,” Miller said, adding that sweeping Manderson aside added further insult to injury over the way this matter has been handled.
Category: Local News
Make no mistake, there is plenty of politricks in the private sector too. May the Lord help you if you become a whistle blower and expose the corrupt practices of certain influential people.They will undermine you in any way they can and in fact come gunning for you and employ any and all methods to remove you.
All done. Move on!
You spelled it wrong
What I find amusing is the number of people posting comments here who can’t even spell the former Governor’s name properly. In the UK there’s an old Jasper Carrot joke that goes, “I always feel sorry for Sun readers, as they can’t write in to complain.” Guess more than a few CNS readers have the same problem.
Not the UK mate!
What was so egregious that the governor had to be withdrawn from the islands but he still has a job waiting for him in London???
Like he’s fired from Cayman but what he did to merit his removal here wasn’t enough to merit his forced retirement or dismissal overall am I missing something
This smells very fishy
Good riddance old chap as you came to mess with our great leaders.
You’re terribly misinformed. He demonstrated only a unconventional passion to streamline things in gov’t services, which seemed to rub people the wrong way that prefer things to remain the same… This whole situation is suspect
Hi Elvis Presley!!
You are singing my tune of not having Mr. Manderson turned out before our new Gov comes to town.
It just makes sense.
Why have all the extra expense and training.
Thank you, thank you very much, your a fantastic audience, thank you, ( in the voice of the king )
You are welcome Elvis Presley. We will keep things in line for the readers of CNS.
Thanks CNS. We appreciate you because you keep us informed in a concise and professional way.
Why all the secrecy in the handling of this matter? The caymanian people have been treated like mushrooms. I would venture to guess that we will never know what really happened.
Let’s wish Anwar safe landing in his next post. He gave a speech for senior leaders just before his departure and he emphasised the need for leaders to have humility. Let’s us all remember that.
You want to know what happened. Here it is. Mr Choudhury came to the Cayman Islands thought he was to be the Governor and oversee the Civil Service. When he experienced blatant disregard for rules and regulations he asked for explanations from CEO’s, he also thought that it was not professional for his own staff to go home just because he was not there. We all know that putting your head above the parapet in Cayman is foolhardy as Mr Choudhury found to his cost. Of course he will be deployed to another job in London for the simple fact that he has done nothing wrong.
the secrecy is because Cayman is run by the biggest ‘secrecy club’ in the world.
12:13am you must have being one of the civil servants or someone that were dear to you that were in their comfort zone that needed to get a shake-up and Mr. Choudury must have did that shake-up. So the tension remains for Mr. Choudury.