Bush finally resigns as police fold up inquiry
(CNS): McKeeva Bush has finally announced his resignation from the position of speaker of the House of Parliament, which will come into effect on 30 November. Police Commissioner Derek Byrne has also announced that the RCIPS investigation into the allegations against him for sexual harassment is nearing completion.
Bush made the announcement on Radio Cayman’s 6:00pm news on Wednesday, and shortly afterwards the police issued a short statement indicating that the case file would be passed to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
In his announcement on Radio Cayman, Bush said that even though some people said he should remain in office, he had given the matter a great deal of thought and, in the interest of all parties given the political nature the situation “had taken on”, he had decided to resign. He said he had written a letter to the premier on Monday tendering his resignation and that it would go to the clerk on Wednesday. However, Bush will now remain in office for a further eight weeks.
Immediately after the resignation announcement, the RCIPS stated, “The Commissioner of Police confirms that the investigation file on the incident involving a senior politician on Tuesday, 13 September, is nearing completion, and will be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions.”
The news comes shortly after Deputy Speaker Katherine Ebanks-Wilks refused to accept the opposition’s no-confidence motion against the speaker.
Listen to Bush announce his resignation:
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Category: Politics
This is Clown Car governance at its lowest. Well, hopefully at its lowest, but it gives me the creeps to think that maybe they can go even lower.
If the stories in the press are true, Panton has approached the Opposition about ditching his PACTless Clown Car and joining forces with the Opposition to form a new government–that is, as long as he can still sit as Premiere. Separately, members of the PACTless Clown Car have approached the Opposition about jumping off the Clown Car and joining the Opposition to form a new government. What the hell is going on?
If the stories are true, then the very Premiere and some members of his Clown Car have effectively cast a big no-confidence vote against their own government! How can we allow this abysmally dysfunctional government to continue in office? It is time for those with integrity in Parliament to do the right thing and support a no-confidence vote in the Panton-PACTless Clown Car. Failing that, we the people must petition the Governor to step in and ensure new elections are called.
Panton and his Clown Car have basically admitted the they have zero integrity. Greed for power motivated Panton to make deals with devils in order to get into the highest office. Now he wants to make more back-room deals to remain as Premiere. And his Clown Car wants to desert and make even more Machiavellian deals. How pathetic is that? We clearly now have a totally dysfunctional government that must be replaced.
Pissed off developers….
Gee what could possibly happen between now and November 30th.
Maybe bye bye PACT and Panton?
I don’t believe that Bush has actually resigned just like I did not believe the hype about him making comments regarding resigning weeks ago. What Bush has done is give a vague reversible indication of his possible intention to resign at a future date, if it suits his purposes for him to do so. That is why no formal non-reversible resignation signed text has been released.
McKeeva Bush, OBE
If we can’t get him completely out of government or in jail, maybe we take aim at the OBE. The process is called forfeiture.
See below from gov.uk:
What is the process for forfeiture?
Recommendations to remove honours are considered by the Forfeiture Committee. Each case is considered individually. The Committee’s recommendations for forfeiture are submitted through the Prime Minister to the Queen. If the Queen gives her approval, a notice of forfeiture is usually placed in the London Gazette.
What is the role of the Forfeiture Committee?
The Forfeiture Committee considers cases put to it when the holder of an honour has brought the honours system into disrepute. Examples include if an individual:
has been found guilty by the courts of a criminal offence and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of more than three months
has been censured or struck off by the relevant regulatory authority or professional body, for actions or failures to act, especially which are directly relevant to the granting of the honour
has been found guilty by the courts of a criminal offence covered by the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (England and Wales), Sexual Offences Order 2008 (Northern Ireland) or Sexual Offences Act 2009 (Scotland);
has been found to have committed a sexual act which is listed in the Acts above following a ‘trial of the facts’.
But the Committee is not restricted to these two criteria, and any case can be considered where there is evidence to suggest that the retention of an honour would bring the honours system into disrepute.
The Committee is not an investigatory body – it does not decide whether or not someone is guilty or innocent of a particular act. Instead, it reflects the findings of official investigations and makes a recommendation of whether or not the honours system has been brought into disrepute.
This man should be punished, even if it’s just this one thing. Who is with me!?
any and all who hold this prestigious title should request his be revoked. Stains the appointment or whatever it is.
Then there is the respected….JP.
Seriously @4:00??
You write: “The Committee’s recommendations for forfeiture are submitted through the Prime Minister to the Queen. If the Queen gives her approval, a notice of forfeiture is usually placed in the London Gazette.”
Seriously??! All I can say is that whoever manages to get the Queen to approve the forfeiture of Mac’s OBE will have effected a miracle on par with what Jesus did with Lazarus. In any case, methinks that being deceased will make her approval of none effect as I am kinda, sorta sure that the protocol calls for the approval of a living monarch in order for the forfeiture to be valid.
Appoint a speaker from OUTSIDE the Parliament. It makes more sense to do this. than to allow the Status QO to prevail to the detriment of the electorate.
What’s the point of giving “additional notice”? It’s not like the Govt meets in the House often enough to get anything done. The Deputy would have more than enough time to figure out the rules.
He is still a Member of Parliament so what penance has he truly paid other than now receiving a pay cut?
Has anyone even confirmed if he is making the monthly payments to the Cayman Islands Crisis Center yet?
@2:26:
What other penance can Parliament make Mac pay?
Mac does not make payments to the Crisis Centre because they refuse to accept his money, and they have have publicly declared that position.
It’s the RCIPS and CoP Byrne that have been heel-dragging on this for a month.
“The Commissioner of Police confirms that the investigation file on the incident involving a senior politician on Tuesday, 13 September, is nearing completion, and will be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions”.
DPP doesn’t even have complaint on their desk yet!
So what? He will still be a voting, functioning member of LA…leopard don’t change spots…
Unless he is forced out by a no confidence motion in Parliament, in a few weeks Bush will likely announce his decision to either stay on as Speaker or become Premier ‘at the request of so many’ and ‘for the good of the people’.
He has not resigned. He has announced a revocable intention to maybe resign in November, unless of course he stays.
DPP needs to see the territorial importance of dealing with this case file today and charging him without further delay. Passports need to be surrendered and held (should have been at commencement of criminal investigation). Bush needs to be immediately remanded to HM Northward Prison to start serving his suspended 6 months. Trial can be set for new charges to add time to that and disqualify him forever. No LA vote on his candidacy as MP/Speaker is necessary that point, unless it’s also petition to strip him of honourable titles, salaries, pensions, driver and other perks. He did it to himself and only now serves as an example of what never to do.
Never happen. The courts and the DPP seldom take these actions against anyone. Not the “done” thing. Sitting in Northward would also keep him from voting, which would be nice, but no one has the guts. Sad.
Never happen because most of it is complete tosh, based on what the poster thinks should happen rather than the law or the facts. Whilst I am sure the vast majority of people think he is a scumbag would should be thrown out ASAP, just because you want it doesn’t mean you can just make stuff up about how easy it all is. For example:
1. Passport being confiscated from a Caymanian resident with no established residence overseas, charged with a relatively minor offence? Last time you saw someone’s passport confiscated when they were charged with groping or assaulting someone, let alone at the outset of an investigation ?
2. His suspended sentence isn’t for 6 months. Its for 40 days of a total 60 day sentence (the first 20 of which was served on house arrest).
3. The rest of his suspended sentence is triggered by conviction for another offence within a 2 year period. Conviction. After charges. After a guilty plea or trial. not because the general public “knows” he did it.
4. No LA vote is required to strip him of his Speaker title. Actually, that’s not what the Constitution says now, is it? Absent such a vote, we can only get rid of him if he gets removed as an MP or the Governor dissolves Parliament. Try reading s65 of the constitution.
5. No LA vote is required on his candidacy as an MP. Well this ones right, in so far as that an LA vote is completely irrelevant to someone’s candidacy to stand for MP or remain as one. However, the Constitution defines when an MP can be removed. Poster is referring to the condition that an MP cannot have been convicted of a charge carrying more than 12 months in prison. As above, Bushes suspended sentence is for way less than that. And the idea of new charges to get the total above 12 months is an interesting one. But you dont get disqualified by totting up convictions for different sentences – has to be a sentence for greater than 12 months. So what’s the charge – when do you get 12 months for sexual harassment if you only get 60 days for hitting someone over the head with a tray? And you are not going to get 12 months for breach of a suspended sentence when a) that would massively exceed the amount of the suspended element let alone b) it would exceed the maximum sentence the court could have awarded for the common assault charge – conveniently 12 months – in the first place.
This idea that getting Bush out of Parliament is straightforward and would be immediately precipitated by criminal charges or if the authorities would simply remove him is fantasy stuff. The only things determined to get him out is if the people of West Bay West stop voting for him, if we change the constitution to invalidate the candidature of people with any criminal record, or if he gets charged way more serious. Duncan Taylor tried that and failed. Otherwise I suspect we are waiting for the Grim Reaper to remove him form Parliament.
@3:32:
Oh wow! You mean Mac must receive due process and as a politician must be dealt with according to the Constitution? Are you saying that Bush cannot be convicted and punished according to the court of public opinion? Damn! Who woulda thunk?
The problem is that Bush wasn’t even arrested and released under investigation (RUI), so the mechanism to reclaim the UK Crown travel document on page 4, wasn’t triggered. In many other countries, the travel document can be held for investigation, or for the duration of conviction and probation, without constituting any rescindment of the right of abode or citizenship. Passports belong to the state of issue, it’s Crown Property that can be annotated with official observations on page 3, held, or canceled. the whole premise of being under investigation is that you could be called to report to a police station, and/or officially arrested at any time. In Cayman it means bunga-bunga party in Honduras.
2.25pm Because our whole island including our Justice system has been handed over to Jamaicans and no-one is taking action to stop it.
Mac gave them all status.
That’s where their sympathies lie, with a Caribbean brother.
We seem to be paying for 2 Drivers.