Premier makes false allegation against CPR activist

| 30/10/2019 | 46 Comments
Cayman News Service
Premier Alden McLaughlin debates the Referendum Bill

(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

Comments (46)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    I think that crash on his bicycle in 2007 is finally catching up with him.

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  2. Anonymous says:

    Alden McTrump.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Alden McBush! (let’s keep the US political idiots out of this – we have enough of our own!)

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  3. Kurt Christian says:

    Vote No
    

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  4. Anonymous says:

    And Ms. Gloria is not pleased ….

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  5. Anonymous says:

    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…

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  6. Anonymous says:

    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.

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  7. Elvis says:

    No wonder the island is in disarray

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Day 3 of this session and he’s still stepping on the same rake every time he opens his mouth

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  9. Anonymous says:

    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!!!

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  10. Say it like it is says:

    Thank you CNS for performing such a valuable public service, by clearly laying out the facts.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    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.

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    • Anonymous says:

      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.

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  12. Anonymous says:

    The madness of King Alden will lead to many lawsuits that the public pay for at this rate.

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  13. Anonymous says:

    The Premier is going nuts right before our eyes!

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  14. Anonymous says:

    lawsuit???

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    • Anonymous says:

      Anything said in the LA is privileged – even if it is libelous you can’t sue.

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      • Anonymous says:

        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.

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        • Anonymous says:

          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.

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    • Anonymous says:

      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

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      • Anonymous says:

        What a sleazebag Alden McBush is.

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        • Anonymous says:

          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.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Parliamentary Privilege.

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  15. Anonymous says:

    Dart name back in this conflict again lmao. Fix the damn dump!

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