PPM back-bencher calls out PACT hypocrisy
(CNS): Opposition MP David Wight (GTW) called out members of PACT on Wednesday over the hypocrisy of their decision to put McKeeva Bush back in the speaker’s chair despite his assault conviction and after many of them had not only campaigned against him but had publicly stated they would never work with him. Wight admitted he had campaigned against Bush before joining a government that included him, but claimed he had never said he wouldn’t work with him.
When the Unity government was formed in 2017, he said at the time that he was prepared to “eat his own vomit” to do what was necessary for his country and work with Bush. But this was not the same as the hypocrisy displayed by many PACT members in the wake of the 2021 election, he said.
Wight was speaking during the re-instated budget debate on Wednesday morning after the speaker overturned the decision he made Monday evening and invited MPs to continue the debate.
Following the formal welcoming of Dwayne Seymour to the government benches after his departure from the opposition that ended a four-year partnership with the PPM, Bush explained the reasons for stopping the debate and the decision to restart it today.
In a relatively short speech, Wight said there were many good things in the budget presented by the PACT Government but he could not trust that any of it would be delivered. He said he had learned that several of the government members were not able to keep their word and were not to be trusted as a result of the hypocrisy many of them had shown.
Wight said his decision to stay in the Unity government with Bush was not hypocritical. While he had often and loudly criticised him over many years and campaigned hard against him, he said had never once refused to work with him or anyone else.
He said that several MPs now sitting on the government benches had made that public declaration before and during the election campaign. But a few days after the election they broke the promises made to voters by putting Bush back in the chair in order to claim power, Wight said.
Former premier Alden McLaughlin had blamed the situation surrounding Bush’s conviction for assaulting a female bar manager in 2020 for his decision to call early elections. This allowed McLaughlin to avoid an actual vote of no confidence in the speaker and had given him and his party room to navigate the political challenge Bush’s situation presented.
The assault conviction went on to play a prominent part in the campaign, and for the first time in decades Bush was unable to carry any of his running mates in the West Bay district and came within two dozen votes or so of losing his own seat to Mario Ebanks.
But having scraped through the election, Bush then played a significant role in the backroom dealings in the wake of the uncertain election result. With some skillful political maneuvering, he positioned himself as kingmaker.
Panton made the decision to give Bush the speaker’s chair based on certain conditions (though it is not confirmed these were fulfilled) in an effort to form a government of independents, reflecting what the people had voted for. But this was seen by many as a bad move.
The public remains divided over the decision, which had been forced on Panton after Bush played his political hand deftly. In the end, whichever side he chose would have had the reins of power. The speaker pointed this out to Wight, making it clear that some of his PPM colleagues had also been willing to indulge in hypocrisy in the wake of the 2021 vote.
“You know, there were those on your side who also said that they would not work with me but they were still prepared to form a government with me when they could not get a government formed,” Bush said, as he interjected into his debate. He said Wight was in opposition because he (Bush) had not joined with them, as he confirmed the horsetrading that had gone on behind closed doors in April.
During his debate Wight detailed why he was “hurt” by the behaviour of some PACT members. He said that for the four years of the previous administration, again and again he had endured the taunting of people now sitting on the government benches about working with Bush, including the ribbing that gave rise to his comments about dining on his own vomit when he appeared on a radio talk show in October 2018.
Wight avoided naming any government members but he said one current Cabinet member had support the motion to remove Bush as speaker in 2020. “He wanted to get rid of you,” Wight said, adding that two members had resigned from the Progressives because the Unity government continued to support Bush throughout the arrest, charges and eventual conviction for the violent assault.
Without naming anyone, it was clear Wight was referring to the Premier Wayne Panton and Savanna MP, Heather Bodden. He pointed to the removal of the Progressives sign at the district office, which was replaced with the hashtag #sheissupported.
Wight reminded Parliament about how, when directly asked on the campaign trail, several members of PACT had clearly and categorically said they would not form a government with Bush but went on to do so. He accused the PACT of having no morals or integrity, having campaigned on the grounds they would not work with Bush and then gone back on their word.
“When… these people were saying they would not form a government with you, how do we know that they weren’t elected by the people who had that in mind… And they campaigned on that and a week later they are sitting in government with you as speaker,” he said, adding that promises were broken so how could he know that this budget promise would be delivered.
He said he had heard several members of PACT say “nasty and derogatory things” about Bush but a few months later they were sitting alongside him in the government.
“In all the years I criticised you… I never… never once said I would not work with you,” he said, during the debate, as he stressed what he felt was an important distinction over his allegation of hypocrisy.
See the debate from Wight below on CIGTV:
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Category: Politics
It’s a sad day for Cayman when David Wight(nice guy and all) would be a step up.
Kudos to MP David Wight for speaking up and pointing out some interesting facts, and calling out instances in which serving MP’s had made statements about never working with Hon. McKeeva Bush then turned around and embraced him as Speaker. It just goes to show, there is still some wisdom in the old saying “Never say never”!
However, there is a salient point MP Wight may have missed in his analysis, and it has to do with numbers in the balance of power in order to maintain a majority in Parliament. Perhaps the primary “cause” for Hon. Mr. Bush returning as Speaker is not so much that the PACT MP’s were hypocritical, nor frankly that PPM MP’s would have absolutely refused Hon. Mr. Bush to be speaker either if that would have enabled them to hold on to power, but rather the main “cause” appears to have been the lengthy hesitations of Parliamentary Secretary Isaac Rankin and MP Dwayne Seymour to realize earlier that their best option and Cayman’s best option, in light of the election results, was for them to become a part of the PACT government. Both of those gentlemen eventually came to that pragmatic conclusion, although MP Seymour took a whole lot longer than PS Rankine to do so (and yes, Hon. Minister Sabrina Turner was wavering at first, but to her credit she was much faster to realize, confirm, and publicly declare that she was aligning with PACT). The reality though is that if those two (or three) MP’s had been much quicker to do the calculus and join PACT in the days following the election, the so-called “Kingmaker” Bush would not have held such a strong “key card” in that shuffle.
Or so it seems. And as always, hindsight is 20/20.
So the question now is, have our current elected representatives and our aspiring future representatives learned the lessons from all of this? Let’s hope so! We’ll see.
The majority of them are ethically compromised and have no business getting involved in representational politics.
Never did think much of David as a politician…but he is absolutely correct.
Hypocrisy on top of hypocrisy. The PPM exposed the Cayman Islands to YEARS of headline scandals that ought to have prompted urgent changes to prevailing Standards in Public Life – a Bill they deferred and watered down and passed into Law after years of meddling and reluctance. We find ourselves on blacklists, in no minor coincidence to their cowardice and conflicted self-interest.
PPM are a bunch of Cry Babies.
What you saying now Bernie?
https://caymannewsservice.com/2020/03/sheissupported-protest-launches-movement/
How about you Wayne?
https://caymannewsservice.com/2020/03/panton-finally-quits-ppm/
“In all the years I criticised you… I never… never once said I would not work with you.”
Yeah dumbass, but you heavily implied that you didn’t want anything to do with him. Why would anyone even ask about the possibility of you working with Mac when you were such a staunch critic and on different sides politically?
His point seems to be he was at least honest about the fact that he would sacrifice his moral standards in order to get a job as a politician. Whist it’s nice that he is honest about his integrity – or lack of it – not sure that gives him a moral platform to criticize others for doing what is wrong and also lying about it. Sure the lying makes it worse, but it doesn’t make the primary offence any better. It’s like someone who pleads guilty to a crime criticizing his fellow offenders who pled not guilty.
Ministers are public servants, and youth role models. All of them should have the integrity to agree to step aside when or if they should sully the House with serious criminal charges. They should never find themselves if those scenarios! Nobody should have to wait around enduring great embarrassment for an outcome which could be deferred for years. This is why there needs to be overhauled standards for that House. How many convicted criminals occupy seats in there?!? None of them should qualify to stand for office. PPM had years to fix this and did nothing.
#sheissupportedjustnotbypact
How easy people forget the PPM stood by him and called early elections to avoid having to deal with the issue. The PPM still wanted to have him on their side to regain the government after the elections in April 2021. That is how politics works. Talk is cheap and hypocrisy is a national disease.
Incorrect. PPM called the early elections in hopes that the people to do the dirty work for them and remove him from the position, and Bush’s people put him right back in. Which means all of the demands and protest were just a perfect planned production lived streamed to by the now elected ex-protesters to insight outrage and emotion prior to the election to tip in their favor. They really don’t care if she or and recent shes are protected. They would put money on that.
Oh my, Mr. Wight, you are so saintly, thanks to your hair-splitting: “Wight admitted he had campaigned against Bush before joining a government that included him, but claimed he had never said he wouldn’t work with him.”
Griping by appointment eh David WHITE south Church street needs YOU I am sure glad they took down that Creepy Pirate Sign your greatest fan put up !
Nuff respect David they might not want to hear the truth but they can’t deny it! PACT (Power hungry And Can’t be Trusted)
“in an effort to form a government of independents, reflecting what the people had voted for”
This is just not factually or otherwise correct.
People did not vote for a PACT Govt or any Govt made up of independents. They voted for individuals on the whole who represented their district.
Mr Wight, – timing is impeccable, talking about hypocrisy now. Whilst Alden was giving the run around for avoiding a vote of no confidence following an assault conviction by Mr Speaker, there wasn’t a lot of outcry then by you or anyone else in the PPM supporting Mr Millers and Mr Maclean’s initiative choosing instead the long shot of retaining power and cohesiveness within your party. You didn’t have to like either of them but you could have chosen to work with them and do the right thing, – sit down please, thank you for your contribution
I’m not sure Bush is the king-maker he once was anymore but just advantageous. He passed that knowledge on to the loudest and intimidating influencers of local social media. What shaped our current government was the bullying of MPs to form alliances, rounding up mobs, threatening to expose them and the quick cover ups for certain MPs with convictions of breaking the code of conduct more than we are told can all be sourced to one person. The king-maker is not Bush but the younger version of him when it comes to manipulation of their audience and stirring the gossip tea with a special type of honey, child. Power is held by those who know the secrets our politicians want and don’t want the public to know, and the politicians who can afford to keep this “ally” will always be squeaky clean every morning, once the filters are put on.
Boo hoo! Dry your eyes.
PPM lost because they completely misread the sentiment of the people who were fed up with PPM constantly siding with developers and big business whilst doing nothing for us. The port fiasco when they used public money to campaign for it didn’t help either.
The ppm are still reeling at the fact they got outplayed and outsmarted in a game they know so well and are experts at themselves…they sound like school kids moaning about not getting ice cream…as for this guy, didn’t even know he was a politician, what’s he done?!
How about this – stop staring at your belly button and blubbing and try doing some community reach outs and earn your massive salary. There’s more to our lives than feeling sorry for losing and Covid…there is a sh*t load of stuff collapsing around our community and you’re upset people in politics didn’t keep their word?!?!?!
wwwwaaaaaahhhhhh
PPM would love to have McKeeva leave the pack and rejoin the UNITY coalition right now so what is David talking about?
McKeeva will be making his move in the new year in his quest to be Premier again.
Everything is about me and Christofa..oh lord help us! Poor David he doesn’t have a clue. This is just not the right job for him. Nice guy but he really needs to get out of politics. This was so embarrassing..I felt so sorry for him.
Poor lil David, unna try so leave him alone. Felt so sorry for him today.
David, David, David, this was absolutely painful and embarrassing to watch. I voted for you..Didn’t have much choice in that one but thinking now next time might have to vote for the other guy.
I call BS that was his strongest speech to date and you know it
lol
I think David showed up with the speech he read right after the election instead of the one he wrote for the budget. I was hoping that somebody on the backbench would signal to him that something was wrong but he kept on reading and digging in. He just made himself look like a total ass. I doubt he will be back next election.
Why the hell is David going here again? doesn’t he know that the election is over?
Not one member of ppm can be trusted or respected. They sold out Caymanians. They represent the super rich and developer mafia. They are finished
Poor Alden and his puppets are really hurting and should go to group therapy.
This man has no shame just STFU go away pretty please
Who?
David is a disgrace as a MP
What has he done to disgrace his position?
Has he physically assaulted someone or sold drugs?
Or has he made honest statements about the political process in Cayman?
Mr. Wight is an example why OMOV must be replaced with National voting for 17 Members of Parliament. 19 is too many and the quality of representation is poor. I am embarrassed every time Wight speaks.
I agree with National voting as the narrow pool of candidates in each small bloc reduces our choices.
I disagree that Mr. Wight causes embarrassment when he speaks. He at least has given thought to what he says, even if you disagree with it.
While we’re judging, I also appreciate him not taking a smug demeaning approach in his manner of speaking (“my people”) and being able to actually articulate himself.
Has the phrase crawling out the woodwork been more apt?
You may not like him but the thing is everything he said is true
This is true. Everything David has said is truth and fact. But the trump-supporter mentality of people who wanted this current bunch in is unfortunate and unsettling.
Almost everyone who I know that was so adamant to support Wayne or any of the “independents” are all embarrassed. It obvious. But the depressing part is even though they see what hypocrites and failure he and his bunch are, tgese same supporters are offended to face the truth of having to fess up to their own hypocrisy and tolerance for this whole thing.
All PACT has done is divide us while Kenneth winks and smirks at us.
There are rumors floating around of another instance of #shewasassaulted but PACT are doing a good job of feeding Sandra and suppress it. Nice to know they are good at one thing at least.
#sheisforgotten
I think Alden and the PPM divided us long before elections..that is the reason the PPM didn’t win.
The country was fed up with the Poor People’s Mistake.
You PPM supporters are the Trump supporters and Republicans of Cayman. Just stfu.
Spoken like a true Trump supporter. You are blind, stupid or just refuse to see the truth. Please don’t start a Jan 6 fiasco when the new year comes. You’ve already done enough damage putting Wayne on your Messiah pedestal.
You’re all lashing out because you’re embarrassed of your embarrassing and pathetic choice.
PACT is UDP version 2. And the UDP supports were all ignorant and bullies during those dark ages. I read comments from PACT lovers and the similarities are obvious.
You guys are – JUST. LIKE. TRUMP. SUPPORTERS.
Anyone who says to get rid of Bush is a man i would vote for. Obviously his moral compass exists.
Funny. He didn’t have a thing to say about it between February 2020 – April 2021.
A box of rocks could offer more substance.
It seems that you have not even offered that.
Whilst not a fan of the PPM OR PACT for that matter I must tip my hat to David Wight for the short but emphatic speech.
It is truly sad that we have a Government that has 2 ministers who can’t (shouldnt) enter the USA, we have 1 minister who apparently left NS for school, but only attended recess and lunch and we have 1 minister that claims health experience but got no further than a nursing assistant.
I will give kudos to PACT for having the most illiterate ministers of any government the past 40 years, for having the most ministers with legal actions hanging over their heads, for having the most uneducated ministers, for having the most inexperienced ministers and last but not least having a set of ministers who are obnoxious, greedy and who are lower than a snakes ass is to the ground. Great jib, I mean job Wayne-O!!!!!!
You elected them.
No numb nuts I didnt. The man I voted for in Savannah was unsuccessful. So I cant accused of electing them.
What a slumber you’ve had minister Wight, did you just wake up? We’ve not heard a significant peep out of you since your campaign in 2007. Please go get some 💤. Too feeble to speak up when you really needed to, you are hopelessly pathetic, save us all the sob stories.
Very true.
It was all cool when Alden was telling you to do it. SIT DOWN and hush…. take it like a man
Take what like a man? Is it not his job to speak up?
Here we see criticism for Mr. Wight not speaking enough in the past and the same folks telling him not to start speaking now.
Would his speech be more convincing if he was on the other side of the hall?
Mr. Wight, my question is, sir:
“What have you done while being elected for two terms?”
You and Ms. Connolly don’t meet with Caymanians when you “promise” to do so.
You rarely say anything when Parliament is in session or in sub-Committee meetings.
Before you criticize others for work with Speaker Bush, please explain what “WORK” you have actually done as an MP.
Honestly want to know what “WORK” you have done. And sleeping during Parliament session is not “WORK”, sir.
What has this joker ever done except criticize, no substance.
Probably his job. Thats why you don’t hear about him.
Facts!!!
I thought this was the budget debate not elections results revisited?
David, you sound like such a whiner and sore loser. You need to put this behind you and focus on what you can do for the country while sitting on the backbench. Regurgitating this foolishness every chance you get is wasting everyone’s time including yours.
So true.
Poor David, his feelings are going to be hurt forever..
Alden really needs to help him get some mental health care to get past the lost election. This will not end well if he carries this for the next 4 years..
When will David and the PPM get over this?..They lost, accept it, move on..We can’t keep reliving this every time Parliament convenes..
Poor Poor Pitiful me..Get over it!
Sore loser.