Premier makes false allegation against CPR activist
(CNS): Premier Alden McLaughlin made an entirely false allegation against one of the activists who has spearheaded the Cruise Port Referendum campaign, as he wound up the Legislative Assembly debate on the Referendum Bill. In a speech delivered today containing several factual inaccuracies, he accused Johann Moxam of being involved in a tender for a previous port project to try to discredit the campaigner. But Moxam has never been involved in any port bids.
The local business owner and long time political pundit was involved in bid in 2010 relating to the long awaited and ill-fated waste-management project — Moxam’s only foray into tendering on government capital projects.
The allegation by the premier, if it had been true, would have been extremely damaging for Moxam, who has been at the forefront of the campaign for a referendum on the cruise issue, as well as the opposition to the project. However, Moxam said that the allegation is false and the premier had deliberately mixed up his involvement in a dump tender with the port to mislead the public.
“I have never been involved or engaged in any project relating to the port or port operations,” he told CNS. “This is real ‘politricks’ and desperation on the part of the premier and his cohorts. I was part of a bid team which responded to the RFP to bid for the Comprehensive Waste Management Solution in 2010, which was subsequently awarded to Dart.”
But what the premier stated in the Legislative Assembly Wednesday morning was factually incorrect, he said, as he accused him of misrepresentation the facts to suit his political agenda.
“It was a deliberate act to mislead the public using parliamentary privilege as protection against potential law actions being brought against him for defamation,” he noted. He also emphasised, in the face of other untruths, that he has never been involved in anything relating to tender boat operations.
But these false statements were not the only inaccuracies the premier alleged as he made his closing bid on the Referendum Law. He misinterpreted, misrepresented and misled the public about several of the contributions in the debate about the port from opposition members and also accused CNS of reporting that China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) had been awarded the contract.
However, CNS has only ever reported on the fact that CHEC was a bidder, which was confirmed by the tourism minister, and that the controversial Beijing-based company remained in the bidding process until the end. Despite the concerns about the company, there remained the real possibility throughout that it could have been selected, as the bidder was only eliminated in the last few weeks of the process because it did not meet the full bid criteria.
Following the premier’s speech, in which he attacked his opponents but urged people to be civil during the campaign, the vote was taken on the second reading on the draft bill. All of the members present voted in favour of the bill.
No amendments have yet been tabled by the opposition to address the widespread concerns about the proposed legislation, but lawmakers were expected to deal with government’s own committee stage amendments Wednesday afternoon.
That presents an opportunity for amendments from the opposition to address some of the main concerns, such as the inclusion on the current electoral roll of the 220 new voters who would otherwise be disenfranchised on the date of the poll, and the introduction of some form of campaign finance rules.
Check back to CNS later for more from the committee.
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Category: Politics
I think that crash on his bicycle in 2007 is finally catching up with him.
4.13pm Boy you CPR supporters are mean spirited
3:36 That’s the pot calling the kettle black. We’re not the ones slagging people off and making false accusations against them under the protection of a privileged position in the LA.
And you pro port supporters are selfish and incredibly dumb assholes.
Vote yes vote yes
Alden McTrump.
Alden McBush! (let’s keep the US political idiots out of this – we have enough of our own!)
Vote No
And Ms. Gloria is not pleased ….
Why did the government lie to its people by saying that the Cayman Islands is competing with Belize….Belize is not, and do not intend to build a cruise pier…their water is too shallow to allow ships into the harbor….they currently use tenders which is quite effective…why and how do these guys get off by lying to their people….(an ex-PPM supporter) Mr. Moses…you are very disappointing…
Really? Actually Belize is building a cruise port https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/work-begins-on-stake-bank-belize-port-with-4-cruise-berths/
I am a smartbot and have caught you at…
Fake news. You don’t fool us.
There is a cruise port – but it’s still a 20 minute fast boat tender to Belize City
“with facilities for tenders to the mainland” – from the article. So they’re not really cutting out tendering, now are they? (Yes it is technically different to walk off the cruise ship dock and then get on a tender, but it still invalidates Belize as a comparison site. They are building something different for different reasons.)
hmmm really? https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/work-begins-on-stake-bank-belize-port-with-4-cruise-berths/
So inquiry minds still want to know who Francis Ebanks is…Are you a figment of Alden’s imagination?..
Come on now, stop trying to be a someone you are not, you might as well just sign as anonymous..
According to the voters list there is a Francis Zelmalee Ebanks
Until they remove the deceased…
And you are a figment of your own imagination. Francis’s writings are too well put together for you to attack so you resort to personal attacks.
The last few weeks have shown what I suspected for a long time that many of our “Leaders” have total disrespect for most of the voters – but especially those who dare to disagree with them. They are nothing more than a bunch of dictators.
No wonder the island is in disarray
Day 3 of this session and he’s still stepping on the same rake every time he opens his mouth
Alden running scared making false accusations…Austin calling us muppets….McKeeva calling us Rascals…John John making up words….
You can’t make this $hit up!
This is our Government people!!!
7.17pm False accusations. Where is your proof.
Thank you CNS for performing such a valuable public service, by clearly laying out the facts.
Apparently you have a promising career ahead of you.
Alden is becoming unraveled..Nobody needs to stoop that low to try to destroy someone’s character particularly in a small community like Cayman.. So unbecoming of someone that sits in the Premier’s chair.. McKeeva has taught him well.
There is a small thin marginal difference between Alden and McKeeva. Alden tries to be a little more sophisticated with is arrogance and ignorance , McKeeva down right don’t give a rat’s ass. I am sure they low key take pointers from each other.
The madness of King Alden will lead to many lawsuits that the public pay for at this rate.
The Premier is going nuts right before our eyes!
Gone and off his rocker long time ago. Delusional like Nero!
You mean .. delusional like Trump! Shame on Alden. He’s truly showing his true colours.
lawsuit???
Anything said in the LA is privileged – even if it is libelous you can’t sue.
It is unbefitting an officer of the court to mislead in relation to another officer of the court. Both Alden and Johann are lawyers. The Cayman Bar should insist that Alden correct his statement, or be subject of disciplinary proceedings. Enough of this dishonest bullshit. Our children are depending on what happens next, and deserve so much better.
Johann Moxam might have a 25 year old law degree but he never obtained an Article Clerk position in any law firm and was never called to the Cayman Islands Bar to practice law in the Cayman Islands. He is therefore not a lawyer nor an Attorney-at-Law. Nothing personal, just the facts. To claim otherwise would also be misleading.
There is a reason why he said it on the floor of the LA and nowhere else, MLAs have immunity from slander and libel in there, the rules of the LA prohibit members from claiming other members are liars, or impugning their motives but the rules allow members to attack outsiders with no restrictions not like the Speaker would have intervened even if there were rules against it, he hates Johann just as much as Alden does
Alden could probably claim Johann assassinated JFK on the floor of the house and Mckeeva would happily send the Sgt-at-arms out to arrest him and bring him to ‘justice’
If there was truth to his claim, he would have said it outside of the proceedings
You can tell when politicians are using their parliamentary privileges because he wont repeat the claim anywhere else, he will just let the media cover it and propagate it so as to maintain his immunity
What a sleazebag Alden McBush is.
Did anyone else noticed how smug Big Mac was looking while Arden was reading the letter that little Mac wrote to the governor about him. He reminded me of the cat that swallowed the canary. The cord that binds each of them together is just held together by revenge arrogance and fear towards each other. Certainly no love there. I would rather pull weeds for a living than have to hold up all of that pressure. Big Mac is too comfortable and little Mac is becoming undone.
Parliamentary Privilege.
Poor Alden has become the new Big Mac
https://cnslibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/McLaughlin-letter-to-governor-re-UDP-Funding-and-Promotion-of-Anti-OMOV-Campaign-17-July-2012.pdf
Not new. Alden betrayed his true colors years ago.
I think you mean he shows his true colours now
3.10pm That is the biggest insult anyone can hurl at him, unfortunately it’s true.
He is more dangerous and desperate than McKeewa
Dart name back in this conflict again lmao. Fix the damn dump!