Juliana jumps from PPM-Alliance ship

| 21/04/2021 | 130 Comments
Cayman News Service
Juliana O’Connor-Connolly in Parliament (file photo)

(CNS): Juliana O’Connor-Connolly waited until the eleventh hour, but as a result of the wishes of her constituents the MP elect for Cayman Brac East has now jumped from the PPM-Alliance political ship and sailed across to the PACT. Premier Designate Wayne Panton confirmed that O’Connor-Connolly had agreed to support his government and the invitation remained open to other members of the Progressives’ former front bench. In a message to her PPM-Alliance colleagues on the morning of the swearing-in ceremony, O’Connor-Connolly revealed the reasons for her decision, which she described as “a leap of faith”.

The former education minister, who will almost certainly be given a ministry in Panton’s administration as she shores up his majority and helps to better reflect the election result, brings more than two decades of experience in government. In the message sent via WhatsApp to her former colleagues explaining her decision, she said that in the end the Independents had achieved the numbers to form a government, an important recognition of the result. She also pointed to the wishes of her voters, who, she said, had made clear in “no uncertain terms” that Cayman Brac and Little Cayman need a minister in the government..

It now remains to be seen if any more of the PPM will move, as the invitation to Moses Kirkconnell and Roy McTaggart remains open.

“I want to thank my PPM family for being such an organized and dynamic team and it has been a distinct honour working with each of you under the very capable leadership of Premier AL and DP Mose. We gave it our very best  and won our seats. Further, we spent endless hours endeavouring to form a PPM / ALLIANCE Government  and then a Coalition of PPM / INDEPENDENTS. For various reasons this did not materialize and in the end the INDEPENDENTS achieved the numbers to form the Government,” she messaged.

“Additionally, my constituents have expressed in no uncertain terms that Cayman Brac and Little Cayman need a Minister in the Government. As a result, I had to respect their wishes and accept the offer of a Minister. I have requested Mr Panton offer more seats to you my Colleagues and he is open to DP Mose and our Party Leader Roy M being Ministers. I am prayerfully hoping that this would materialize but if not, please know that my decision is based purely the requests my people on the Sister Islands.

“This is a most difficult decision for me but please rest assured that this decision will not diminish my love, respect and admiration of each you and I pray that somehow, someway we can all work together in the interest and love for our blessed country. I truly covet your support and prayers in this sacrificial leap of FAITH. I wish for each one of you the very best, as we try to continue to build these beloved Cayman Islands, into a safer stronger jurisdiction. Love and prayers Juli.”

Panton told CNS that he has given his word to McKeeva Bush so there is no indication that his role in the speaker’s chair will be threatened as the now eleven strong PACT prepares for the swearing-in.

Nevertheless, speculation continued that the PPM-Alliance leadership is still preparing a legal challenge to Panton taking the government, though that will now be considerably less viable with the departure of O’Connor-Connolly, who has throughout her 25-year political career worn every party colour to ensure she remains in the government and has served only one term in opposition.


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Category: 2021 General Elections, Elections, Politics

Comments (130)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Can be trusted with what she says or do.

    Her actions will always speak louder and for certain out of self interest.

    From the moment she switch her name around on the ballot sheet, we knew she was going to be the same ole, same ole.

    Some people will never change. I do not want to hear it. Never!!!!

  2. Anonymous says:

    “The wishes of her constituents” hahahahaha pull the other one. Juliana hitches her wagon to whichever team she thinks can pull it the furthest for her. Probably the most harmful politician in recent times since she has ensured the schools help the construction industry and the teachers, but continue to turn out illiterate, innumerate, immoral, violent slobs? Every problem in the country can be traced back to the appalling standard of schooling. Really what had this election achieved when our two worst politicians are back on the government benches and in the speaker’s chair?

    • Anonymous says:

      I am gonna ask her how she could ever support Mr. Panton and his LGBTQ support? She preaches to us that she does not believe in gay marriage and would never support it. I am so disappointed in her.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Juliana is only loyal to Juliana.

    • Anonymous says:

      Just for curiosity sake, why doesn’t anyone here like Ms. Julianna? Specifically for Education? I’m honestly rather curious to know why people are so upset.

      In recent years she increased teachers pay (well deserved) and has increased the government scholarship by $10,000 per year. Not to mention the newest scholarship additions: $75,000 for the top boy and top girl in the Cayman Islands, per year.

      Can someone please explain why all the hate?

      • Anonymous says:

        Dear God, get help.

      • Anonymous says:

        Have you seen the state of public education in the Cayman Islands? Most public schools barely scraping by in terms of student achievement?

      • Anonymous says:

        Because of what she hasn’t done for education
        Last year she put a means test that deprived children o scholarships(this year it has been relaxed to the right level).
        Education at government schools is terrible yet it costs much more per person than the private schools.

      • Anonymous says:

        YEP – She’s absolutely great at spending our hard earned tax payer’s money in blatantly buying votes, by throwing future generations dollars around like a drunken sailor at a public house. No accountability or thought as to who is going to pay for this largesse.

        She’s Fantastic!!! NOT.

        Her middle name is Charalatan – no offence intended to those who need the sun to warm up the blood.

      • Maybe says:

        It might be issues like the driveways. It might be her religious extremism. It might be her horrible views one other religions. It might be her general ignorance, “who is Pisacco”? It might be that she has never achieved anything ever.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Hey folks, Panton’s choices are limited. He can only pick among those who got elected and willing to work with him

  5. Anonymous says:

    She is running education again. How much damage will this woman be allowed to do?

  6. Anonymous says:

    Disgusting Juliana – She will fly whatever flag suits her. She’s not about CBE people!

  7. Anonymous says:

    “Leap of faith”?….nah Juju more like leap to where you know who has the upper hand and you will benefit!

    And I hope to God she doesn’t get Ministry of Education! Useless….

  8. Anonymous says:

    I would prefer a representative that sticks to their word rather than one that sells out their party for a pay cheque

    • Anonymous says:

      She sticks to her words okay. She’s been spouting homophobic rhetoric for years and never changed.

    • Anonymous says:

      It’s not like PPM is a real party. Just a tribe of power seekers.

    • Anonymous says:

      She is sticking to her word. Her loyalty is to CBE before PPM. Politics requires strategic moves and sometimes people’s feelings get hurt, but sitting on the back bench for 4 years waiting on scraps for CBE was not an option. Unlike Moses that only cares about himself, and not the people that put him in office. As for the education system, teach your children how to study and devote themselves. Too many parents expecting teachers and education ministry to create miracles when their children aren’t applying themselves.

  9. Anonymous says:

    If the intention is lighten the proposed cabinet, these heavyweights are not really helping.

  10. Anonymous says:

    Mac has to go. He wouldnt think twice switching to PPM if he had too. Shocking he is still there.

  11. Anonymous says:

    JuJu has always been, and will forever be, PIP (Party In Power)

  12. Anonymous says:

    She does not deserve a Ministry.

    • Anonymous says:

      Couldn’t agree more! Definitely not education which is now an unmitigated disaster

    • Anonymous says:

      Spare our children and make her Speaker.

      • David S. says:

        Some of you are as idiotic as can be. Spare???
        God spare us all from the likes of you morons who are not qualified to clean Jujus shoes much less walk in them.Much less deserve to have your children be honored by the great blessings of having an Educaytion Minister such as Juju.Why make noise who knows what portfolio she’ll take it.if you’re worried about Jujus portfolio, then you really don’t mean your children any good intention, more like you’re corrupt parents that would sell your own kids into slavery of any kind.Poor kids.

        • Anonymous says:

          Did you proof read your little rant before posting?

          By the looks of it you had the lovely privilege of being “educated” under Juju’s watch!

    • CAYMANIANS CONFUSE CONFIDENCE WITH COMPETENCE says:

      It’s not even a question of *deserving* a ministry, it is about her track record. Or lack there of. In Cayman, we too often confuse confidence with competence.

      Time for Julie to sit down. Please. Actually, it’s time for many of them to sit down.

  13. Anonymous says:

    Ok so hang in and let me get this straight:
    Two groups tied with 9 apiece and dirtbag woman beater in the middle
    This supposed group who is going to turn everything around cuts a deal to make mcdirtbag speaker of the house, insane pay increase and power over political decisions
    Voters are ok with this?
    Then, two knuckleheads who don’t know what they’re doing cross the line. One of whom is violently anti lgbt despite Panton being pro lgbt rights?
    Panton no longer needs bush at all…but keeps him in the speaker position?

    How, on gods green earth is anyone thinking this is going to be good. I don’t love ppm…they have problems for sure 100% agree. But we’ve just proven in one week that Sabrina, JUju and issac have no actual compass and are just going to where they’ll keep power and money. The soon to be premier made a deal with the devil to get into power, and then brokered more of that power to people he supposedly disagrees with.

    We have very clearly just elected and empowered a group of independents who are acting like individuals and not part of a team. Clearly all in it for themselves and no unified platform. The writing is on the wall now and I can say I’m terrified of what this bunch is going to do. Let’s see. I hope to be proven wrong.

    • Anonymous says:

      You have to understand that if Wayne pulls the plug on Keke right now then he risks him crossing back over to the dark side and taking Juju and Isaac with him. Alden is just rubbing his venomous fingers hoping this happens.

    • Anonymous says:

      Very well articulated my friend.

  14. Anonymous says:

    Julie can never be trusted! She jumped ship UDP & NOW PPM & SOON U ALL!!

    • Anonymous says:

      You forgot when she was PNA as well…

    • Anonymous says:

      Sounds like she can be trusted to represent her Cayman Brac people over any party. Can’t say I think she’s been wildly successful w her Ministry but admire her putting people over party.

  15. Anonymous says:

    Roy and Moses as Ministers would be an enormous improvement on what was proposed to be in Wayne’s Cabinet as of yesterday.

    • Anonymous says:

      Roy brings no value

      • Anonymous says:

        He just brings a less experienced version of Alden…which we don’t want

        • Anonymous says:

          I think Roy will actually do well as OL. He is intelligent but sadly not a politician. Hopefully he can take over the PAC and run with it.

    • Anonymous says:

      No Moses is no body.

      They need Roy and Joey, then I can honestly say the Govt will have some good ministers. The new Independent ones are questionable, especially Kenneth, Bernie and Jay!!!!

      Really Wayne. Please reconsider those 3 goons. Heather should have a Ministry has she has more sense than those three combined.

  16. Anonymous says:

    Yo Panton while I appreciate you are trying to be honorable in this case it’s kind of one sided….look at Mac’s performance during establishing coalition last term

    • Anonymous says:

      EXACTLY! I think all would forgive him for not keeping his word to Mckeeva.

    • Anonymous says:

      Nah you’re doing the right thing…don’t start justifying deal breaking…it gets too easy and you become like one of the dinosaurs we are trying to get rid of.
      And you know the punishment was a joke for beating a woman and he’s totally unrepentant…he’ll likely do something disgustingly dishonorable again and we can kick him out then.

  17. Anonymous says:

    I pray to God that she is not given education.

  18. Naya Boy says:

    Poor old Alden Franz divorced him and gone marry Wayne!and now left him with the child Eric!What a mess i told you he was going leave yeh Alden i guess you can call your old boyfriend Kurt!

    • Anonymous says:

      Hey Alden, do the right thing and resign! Then you can travel around with your bike and be a roving good will ambassador!

      • Anonymous says:

        Don’t use this as a distraction to the hypocrisy that’s in front of us. Alden has not a thing to do with it. Why don’t you call out Wayne and the rest of the bunch who forced Alden to dissolve the government because they wanted Mckeeva gone? And now swallowing their own vomit? Geese I forgot you are one of them. 🤷‍♂️

  19. Anonymous says:

    Who was surprised?

  20. Anonymous says:

    This demonstrates that these governments are formed on absolutely zero ideological principles.

    Fiscally, socially, politically, ideologically no core principles. Will say what ever is necessary to appease and obtain any form of power.

  21. Candid says:

    The party system is not working well. It is engendering political prostitution. We should consider a system where people just run as a group for a particular election, as Wayne and his group did. Also, amend the law so that any attempt to pay anyone or confer financial benefit after the election is a criminal offence.

    • Anonymous says:

      Political prostitution is not the result of the party system – it is the chosen vocation of most of the people who go into politics in Cayman.

    • Anonymous says:

      Actually it’s the opposite. The party system would have made it absolutely clear who the chosen leadership is after the polls closed. Instead we were left with extremely uncertain circumstances for 7 days. If we had parties fielding candidates across 19 constituencies, we wouldn’t be in this quandary over leadership.

      Also, nobody was aware Wayne had a group beyond Heather and Ozzie and who is that group. That, in effect, is not being honest with the voter who one precious vote for an MP.

    • Anonymous says:

      12.07pm Parties are not the problem. The problem is candidates refusing to form an allince or team before the election. Instead they call themselves independent and then as soon as they are in their first task is -you guessed it-become part of a team or alliance in order to form a Govt. Had independent candidates done that in this election their team may well have gained 12 or more seats and no horse trading would be needed. Ten or twelve independents are just that; 10 or 12 members with their separate manifestos. They are not part of an ‘Independents’ party. Obviously they want to keep their options open when it comes to choosing sides. Therefore until they become better organized the horse trading will continue in future elections.

  22. Anonymous says:

    A bunch of clowns

  23. Anonymous says:

    Vote Elvis 2025!

  24. Anonymous says:

    The door is open, Roy and Moses. Let’s make Cayman great – FINALLY. 😆

    • Anonymous says:

      Roy AND Joey……not Moses! Just what has Moses done in government, other than support initiatives that destroy our environment and give free import duty to Brackers, while people in Grand Cayman pay hefty import duties.

      NOT FAIR

  25. Anonymous says:

    LOL

  26. Anonymous says:

    Cluster**** coming here?

  27. JTB says:

    Reading Juliana’s statement it’s very easy to see why Alden made her minister of education. Such peerless prose is a shining example to Cayman’s youth of the benefits of learning.

  28. Political Sense says:

    Please don’t let Issac back, he’s already shown what he’s good at. He’ll switch again for sure, let him remain where he is.

  29. anon says:

    Ju Ju is not ony a serial turncoat she has the nerve to blame this latest betrayal on her constituents!.

  30. Anonymous says:

    PLEASE DO NOT GIVE HER BACK EDUCATION!!

  31. Anonymous says:

    Flip-flopper-in-chief! So much for standing up for her values or those of her constituents, she only serves one constituent — herself!

  32. Anonymous says:

    Miss Julie needs to become the Minister of Jumping Ship!!

  33. Anonymous says:

    BAM! With Ju-Ju and Isaac, PACT doesn’t need Mac. Wayne proves himself to be a master politician, out-maneuvering Alden and ending the PPM’s reign of unbridled development. PPM is TOAST no and all them jokers will have to toil in the Opposition seats for 4 years. Having been relegated from Premier to Opposition, Alden will with he hadn’t run and will spend most of his time on his farm. Joey will return to his good life of champagne, caviar and his elite Jamaican friends. Seymour will continue to talk about donkeys while Moses continues to get rich with his Brac businesses. David and Barbara will continue to do nothing at all and the people who voted for them will now see how truly useless they are. That leaves Roy, who will be the face of this ineffective Opposition as he wrings his hands and asks, “Why me?”

    • Anonymous says:

      🤣 LOL

    • Anonymous says:

      How do you know ppm arent just planting seeds for the first vote of no confidence? After all the tactics I’ve seen from Alden and Roy lately (ok Kurt to be exact), I just wouldn’t put this past them.

    • Anonymous says:

      Only ting you forgot, is the question of the free advertising Alden got on Election Day on cable, how was this allowed to happen? Surely this must be damaging to his opponent and before I forget what about the many repeated interviews of him on his farm since he was Premier?

  34. Anonymous says:

    We have a pro LBTGQ premier and he adds the Cayman Bracker as a minister who is openly anti-gay let’s see how this turns out smh

  35. Anonymous says:

    Don’t take back Issac tho, let him go back to where he’s been

  36. Excellence says:

    So said be done, the party animal is back…woiiii!!!

  37. Anonymous says:

    There we go, not a surprise at all

    • Anonymous says:

      Guess Miss Julie waited long enough to force Wayne to take her buddy the woman beater Big Mac first. Birds of a feather….once again Mac is the mastermind and Miss Julie shows us Brackers that she doesn’t care about women or Christian values. Sad. I wish I had voted for Elvis.

      • anon says:

        Well remember it next election! Juli is for self and self alone.

        • Anonymous says:

          we kind of knew this already but I vote in the wrong part of the Brac to have any say about her.

      • Anonymous says:

        I’m assuming you actually voted then, and voted for JuJu. In which case, how the hell did you vote for her, knowing exactly what she is like and what she represents???

        Of course you should have voted for Elvis!

      • Anonymous says:

        Wait for the Juli and Mac to take over this Govt.

  38. Anonymous says:

    I can’t believe she sided with the woman beater twice in a row now. There is no excuse. At least last time it happened while they were already in Government together. She had a choice this time and her choice was to support HIM not the women he abused!!! Sad day and horrible example for young Caymanian women!

    • Anonymous says:

      Her choice was to feather her own nest as always. Given her track record it makes me wish Elvis had gotten a few more votes to shake things up.

  39. Anonymous says:

    The end of the ppm is near. Roy please join the PACT

  40. Anonymous says:

    Of course she did. I was wondering what took her so long. This woman has been on member of every squad.

  41. Anonymous says:

    PACT can definitely put Juju in charge of BS, if there’s any vacancy there.

  42. Anonymous says:

    So Mac is out of the speakers chair then, right?

  43. Anonymous says:

    Roy is a good Minister. One of the best Ministers of Public Finance ever. I don’t like PPM and I really really hope he joins PACT because he has so much to offer as a Minister. He started independent, he could go back to independent.

    • Anonymous says:

      Roy is Alden and I don’t think either are ministers that care about their people as much as their pockets

  44. Anonymous says:

    No surprise, JuJu jumps ship every time. She’s all about where she gets the biggest pay cheque.

  45. Anonymous says:

    As Gomer Pyle used to say, “Surprise, surprise, surprise!”

  46. The Constitutional Critic says:

    Accepting Madame Turncoat into the government is fine, she’ll do as she’s told as always she’s only there for the title and the pay

    In my opinion Issac Rankine shouldn’t be allowed into the coalition, there need to be consequences for disloyalty and dishonesty as he has displayed for the past week as far as I’m concerned let him rot on the opposition benches for 4 years and lose next cycle

    The only other person they should consider accepting is Roy although he might also make a good PAC chair so there is also a reason to leave him in the opposition

  47. Anonymous says:

    Had she done this before the right honorable Mr McKeeva would not have been required to form the Govenment.

  48. Anonymous says:

    😄 now we’re cooking with gas. Better late than never

  49. Anonymous says:

    Blind Bartimaeus, right Mac? Wink, wink.

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