Cabinet cracks deepen over road debate

| 03/05/2023 | 179 Comments
Minister Jay Ebanks Addresses parliament on the EWA issue, Cayman News Service
Minister Jay Ebanks Addresses parliament on the EWA issue

(CNS): Premier Wayne Panton’s ongoing struggle to hold the PACT coalition together was laid bare last Thursday when his front- and backbench colleagues made it quite clear that they do not support a major part of his policy agenda. The debate over a private member’s motion on the environmental impact assessment for the controversial East-West Arterial Road extension exposed a full revolt on PACT’s primary policy platform of sustainability.

Veteran MP McKeeva Bush (WBW) brought the motion asking the Cayman Islands Government to start building the road without an EIA. Bernie Bush (WBN) was the first of four Cabinet ministers to not only openly support the proposal but to call for the National Conservation Law to be amended to allow the CIG to override the decision of the National Conservation Council that an EIA is required.

Ministers Jay Ebanks (NS), Dwayne Seymour (BTE) and Kenneth Bryan (GTC) all followed with comments that undermined and contradicted the premier’s position on the need for government to do things properly and in a sustainable way.

Bryan even openly questioned the premier’s commitment to the highway and pressed him to respond to the backbench motion, as he claimed the road was a national necessity supported by virtually the whole country. He criticised the conservation law, took aim at the people who he said were environmental extremists and claimed that more people were concerned about spending time with their families than the mangroves.

The George Town member made a number of misleading comments about the impact on the Central Mangrove Wetlands and the stretch of road that MPs voted to build without an EIA. Bryan claimed this part of the road went through only three miles of wetlands.

However, the negative impact of the road will be far wider than this, given that the area is a basin and the road will act as a damn. It will fragment the delicate system and undermine the eco-services it provides. But except for the premier, none of the MPs spoke about this during the debate.

Bryan’s outright opposition to the premier’s position and his direct criticisms of the conservation law underscored the serious divisions in the Cabinet over construction of the road and the need for an EIA.

The premier appeared to be a lone voice, unable to persuade his colleagues that it is critical the proper process is followed. Not conducting an EIA will also fly in the face of the new climate change policy that was rolled out for public consultation this week.

During the debate, the ministers called for action on this project and not just consideration of the motion, even though the premier has said that an EIA is required. Panton has said on numerous occasions that there had been an ad hoc approach to development without considering the wider and unintended consequences and that this had to stop.

Seymour, who at one time had been the environment minister, said that he and former premier Sir Alden McLaughlin had tried to change the conservation law but had come “under friendly fire”. He said he would take some kind of unspecified “action” if work on the road did not start soon.

Minister Ebanks, who has direct responsibility for roads, was equally direct in his opposition to the premier’s position. He said that the officials at the National Roads Authority had told him that the EIA was not required for the stretch under debate. “What we need… is just to make sure we put the culverts in the right place” to address the potential flooding, he said.

Ebanks said he had “people around me that have to agree with me to get there” and that the EIA was the only thing holding up work on the road. “We are waiting on one study that has almost doubled its price since we had the meetings… Something is wrong there… to tell me now that this parliament can’t start that road is a serious problem,” he said. “If certain laws need to be changed, it needs to be changed. I don’t care who brought the law,” he added.

This again undermined the premier, who had steered the law through the Legislative Assembly (now parliament) after a protracted battle in 2013. Since then, it has come under sustained attack from developers on the one hand, and on the other, criticism from those who believe it does not go far enough.

Faced with a motion that calls only for the consideration of the proposal, Panton opted to support it, despite taking a very different position from half of his front bench and all of his backbencher MPs, including his long-term ally and political running mate, Heather Bodden.

“Ready, fire, aim. That is what we have been doing in this country as we have failed to plan,” he said, adding that he was not upset by the anger of his ministers about the issue but was upset that they implied he did not want to take action in the interests of the people.

Taking aim at the civil service rather than tackling political differences, Panton referred to the timeline of events surrounding the EWA, starting in March 2005 when the Department of Environment wrote to the NRA confirming the need for an EIA.

Panton reviewed the correspondence and the chain of events for the next 18 years, including the NRA’s repeated indication that it did not want to conduct an EIA. He also noted the huge time lags where either the NRA or the planning ministry had failed to respond to the DoE’s correspondence or did nothing about it.

Panton said that conflict within the CIG over the road had been going on for years. Accepting that this government should have been able to move things more quickly, he said that it wasn’t the ministers who were to blame but the ministry staff. He said the National Conservation Council and the Environmental Advisory Board had not been getting the responses they needed or had been faced with flip-flopping from other civil servants in the various ministries, including the National Roads Authority, which “didn’t engage”.

“I support getting this road done, but I support getting it done in the right way,” Panton stated, maintaining that this had nothing to do with the conservation law, despite what was said by his colleagues during the debate.

The premier stressed the concerns that the environmental risk would be too great and that people were tired of the impact of poor decisions. He said that every day he received enormous amounts of correspondence from people across the country raising the alarm about development decisions and the destruction of the natural environment.

The motion itself does not compel the government to stop the EIA process. But following the contentious debate, in which Cabinet ministers demanded that the assessment process is stopped for a significant portion of the road and that work start immediately, the premier appears to be a lone voice in his own Cabinet defending the fundamental PACT policy of sustainability.

See the timeline regarding the EIA for the EWA below and in the CNS Library.


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Category: development, Local News, Politics

Comments (179)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    The problem is that Wayne laid down with dogs to become Premier and now he has a real bad case of fleas! I like Wayne as a person and had good hopes for his politics but knew from the morning the PACT was first leaked just after the election that who he was negotiating with was bad for him, and messaged him accordingly.

    Here we are:

    1. McKeeva is the Svengali of a ‘ghost’coup which was hatched about 6 months into this administration.

    2. Wayne has been aware for quite awhile but is moving too gingerly. Saunders was exited later than he should have been.

    3. Kenneth and Jay already smelled their piss and puffing up against Wayne publicly. Tricky!

    4. Meanwhile, with Wayne on the cusp of a possible NC vote from his own plus the Opposition, Sven looks on, quietly contemplating his own woes but too hooked on power to really stay out. Fragile!

    5. McKeeva says he’s stepping get out next round. Even if so, he still has 2 years to manipulate his way back into a short Premiership, as a swan song. Don’t underestimate him! Then pave the way for KB to follow him.

    6. We really need a Constitutional advancement to allow the people to elect the Premier.

    7.Will the present hyenas in charge of legislation put that forward anytime soon?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Those azzholes you are calling hyenas are not interested in what the people need or want…… they just want to get on and stay on that big ole gravy train we hear about! The people are of no interest to them. The people will never get good leadership as long as the theives are in power.

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    • Anonymous says:

      In answer to your number seven question…….. NO ! They are only interested in WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM !

  2. Anonymous says:

    Wayne and the new Gov need to dissolve parliament and set a new election. Now. That’s all it takes, no votes or meetings required.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Given that Wayne is happy to contradict all his stated policies and principles to stay in power, given the accommodations he has made for Bush for the same reason, given half his ministers are clearly in it for the money and the favours they can do for their clients, what in earth makes you think any of them would voluntarily give up another two years of this?

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    • Hubert says:

      1:43, A new election and bring back the great McKeeva. That is what we are going to get.

      You make it sound like there is a brilliant political talent pool to choose from.

      You are playing right into McKeeva’s strategy.

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      • Anonymous says:

        I don’t like the way the so-called representatives rally around a self-centered dishonest excuse for a representative that has proved that he is not for the people of the Cayman Islands!
        He should have been tossed out when it became obvious that he was NOT suitable for the job!

  3. Concerned Citizen says:

    Cayman will learn the hard way the impact of this new road if an EIA is not completed. I think even if an EIA was done, Bryan and others would just ignore it.
    When hurricanes occur, then they will understand the necessity of mangroves in some areas.
    If a catastophic hurricane like Ivan was to occur again, the same road would be covered with water and get washed away…..wasted public funds.
    I am not against the road, but as the Premier said, do it the right way. The EIA will give them insight on the proper way to do it.

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    • Anonymous says:

      They will ignore ‘the proper way to do it.’

      Imbeciles, elected by under-educated and unconcerned. But they also will cru for help when their homes and roads are flooded or washed away. And the increased traffic bottlenecks will be epic.

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    • Anonymous says:

      But it’s also safe to conclude our MPs can’t read reports, and don’t want to pretend to try. Especially those that explain best practice in bullet format. These studies, commissioned by you and I, will be buried from scrutiny if they reach a conclusion that varies from the pay day the MPs expect. Welcome to Cayman politics. Cayman’s voters don’t even think it’s a reasonable idea to ban criminals from the house of parliament, so that’s what you get.

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    • Anonymous says:

      If you looked at the Ivan storm surge map you will see that the proposed path of this road was not affected by storm surge. In fact that is a mean reason why this alternate road is needed. On the other hand South Sound and Seven Mile Beach were greatly affected by storm surge because of all the mangroves had been removed.

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      • Anonymous says:

        that proposed road path was never survayed after ivan. or during or before.

        it was never a thought in our caged swimmers.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    There is an easy fix for this and it is called “RECALL VOTE”. We need it urgently in our Constitution.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Recall Vote. lol. That’s like changing your phone or TV service provider. Has that ever worked well for anyone?

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Have the Aggregate Committee produced an up dated quarry schedule showing what’s approved and what’s still in the ground?

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  6. Ghost of KT says:

    If history is anything to go by, the Premier needs to watch out for a CayMac-style coup.

    Could happen this very weekend.

    We could end up with the ultimate nightmare. Saunders and Bryan as P and DP. And you know who controlling the puppet strings.

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    • Anonymous says:

      You know I was just sitting here thinking that we are heading towards a disastrous situation. We post on here, some making sense and some don’t but I really wonder how many of us are seriously aware of what seems to be going on in our homeland. Kenneth really thinks he can be the Premier, he is just bigoted and uneducated enough to do whatever is in his power to make it happen. Chris is a bit smarter than Kenneth but he has been publicly embarrassed and that could drive him to stop at nothing to make it happen for him. They won’t fight against each other but they will settle on being no. 1 and no 2. Mac will play the part of adviser and will probably become a Minister, jay and Dwayne will be all in favour. Right now they are drunk on power, they are not thinking of us, nor the implications for Cayman. If the Premier really care about us and this 2×4 Rock he should make the first move. Mr. Premier you need to , take the few who supports you and join the Progressives asap. Put aside your pride and save us from this Pack. They do not respect you, they do not like you, you will never get on with them. Stop trying to please them, it will never happen. Most of us will respect you. You are losing with them, do not just remain inactive. If anyone who reads this has close contact with Wayne and agrees with this post please have a conversation with him over the weekend . There is no time to wait. Act now or forever be held responsible for the complete downfall of the Cayman Islands.

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      • Anonymous says:

        I have no close contact with Wayne but I agree with you 100%. Although the Progressives have their serious issues to consider as well, I believe that Wayne has to accept that he is powerless and this PACT thug governance has to be broken up. Otherwise the further demise of these islands will be in him.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Wayne should sponsor amendments to Elections Law to prohibit the nomination of those with any past criminal convictions and those guilty or facing charges of serious civil charges. Let’s see who will oppose or abstain from voting that, if Nolan Principles mean anything in Cayman. Let the crooked Members of Parliament show themselves.

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    • Anonymous says:

      How would this be possible? 10 is needed to control majority and I don’t see Mc having those numbers. BUT maybe I am wrong.

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      • Anonymous says:

        It would be a simple swap. Chris for Wayne. Very possible and the numbers remain the same.

        Wayne needs to make the first move and eat some humble pie – go make a deal with Progressives and accept a lesser position that Premier. Needs to be done for the sake of the country. It’s either that or we go back to the polls. Either one of those options are better for the country than the current status quo or Chris becoming Premier with Kenneth as his DP.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Wayne
        Heather
        Andre
        Alden
        David
        Sabrina
        Roy
        Joey
        Juliana
        Barbara
        Sabrina?
        Isaac?

        Progressives then pick from the rest on the list.

    • Anonymous says:

      McKeeva cumin bak.

      He #1.

  7. Anonymous says:

    We all know the state of the country when Cayman Marl Road becomes enough of a reputable news source to interview the new governor.
    That lady must be wondering what she’s let herself in for.

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  8. Anonymous says:

    The Illegal Billboard has still not been addressed by Planning

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  9. Anonymous says:

    The Civil Service is literally out of control. It is accountable to no one, and lashes out at even the most constructive of criticism.

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    • Anonymous says:

      What the f*** does the Civil Service have to do with any of this? Elected members make the policies and the Civil Service carry out the policies.

      What is a Civil Servant supposed to do when the Premier gives one instruction and the Minister appointed by the Premier instructs them to do exactly the opposite?

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    • Anonymous says:

      They have a 13% pay rise on the cards , going to put a dent in the budget surplus.
      CIG – just keep spending like it’s 1999. Lots of shiny new Kia’s are going to be flying off the lot.

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  10. Anonymous says:

    and this is the reason you do not vote in a bunch of independents with no common manifesto or vision. they cobbled themselves together just to form a government….no-one ever voted for a pact government. and this is why they are known as no-plan-pact

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  11. Anonymous says:

    caymanians elect these people so you have no-one else to blame but yourselves.
    and to make things worse, you also prevent the most qualified and successful people on island from being elected…
    welcome to wonderland.

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    • Anonymous says:

      10.12 Of course when you say “you also prevent the most qualified and successful people on island from being elected…” you are referring to Brits on permits. They are certainly more successful economically than the average Caymanian; more qualified..no. They are not Caymanians so no they do not qualify.

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      • Anonymous says:

        But they have brains, 4:52, that is the difference……….

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        • Anonymous says:

          And also not influenced because their uncle or brother in law owns landlocked land which they want to develop. Or their school buddy owns a construction company and so on…

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          • Anonymous says:

            to 6.04 pm But their tennis buddy runs the bank, or real estate agency or law firm or is a developer. In other words they have much better connections to ‘money’ and power than the Caymanian.

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        • Anonymous says:

          England needs their help. They are as much of a mess as we are.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Maybe “they” might, but you certainly dont

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        • Anonymous says:

          Many would love to believe that…

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        • Anon says:

          Typical expat calling Caymanians stupid? If you are a Caymanian, you should be ashamed of yourself.

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          • Anonymous says:

            Politically naive is a more PC term. That said it does take a few idiots in a constituency to vote in an idiotic representative. So if that is the case then a particular constituency has very good representation.

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        • Anonymous says:

          the best thieves have the biggest brains…

      • Anonymous says:

        I figured this referred to Marco Archer.

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      • Anonymous says:

        I suppose your pride will be satisfied when you are 10′ under water… but was able to keep professionals out of the conversation. Bully for you.

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        • Anonymous says:

          This island will be flattened by a Cat 6 before that happens, but that will bring much more than a 10 foot surge.

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  12. JTB says:

    Wayne is the Premier we need.

    Bryan, Saunders, Bush (x2) are the MPs we deserve.

    Do better, people.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Wayne did his deal with this lot. He alone unleashed this Cabinet upon us. He could have worked with his old PPM allies. The aftertaste would have been bitter but at least not totally poisonous.

      OMOV has led to this mess btw. We are left with micro-garrisons to ensure that the voters can never do better.

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      • Anonymous says:

        OMOV (OPOV) is the democratic way, otherwise East End and Northside would be disenfranchised. I could be wrong but I believe the rest of the free world vote OPOV?? I do not think that is the problem . The issue is that voters need to be more informed on what should be expected from their representatives and stop the begging/ expecting them to personally financially support them. I know it is a tall order but vote buying should be considered a criminal act..

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  13. Anonymous says:

    You just have to love the statement by Minister Jay McEbanks “What we need… is just to make sure we put the culverts in the right place” .

    Isn’t that the purpose of the EIA? Where and how to build the road is exactly what the assessment is about. Culverts, raised roadways, etc. to prevent the flooding that can be caused.

    Building the road with such information is like building a ten story hotel without a plan.

    What a donkey!!!

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    • Anon says:

      With fairness to Minister Ebanks, you know he didn’t come up with that statement on his own, he heard it from someone else and decided to say it to make himself “sound smart” but as you said ending up inadvertently supporting the Premier’s argument.

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  14. Anonymous says:

    Wayne is finally getting to understand that using morons to create a party just to become Premier is not such a good idea.

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    • Hubert says:

      7:19, Panton really did not have a very large talent pool to choose from. We live on 3 islands that have a very low political gene pool to choose from.

      A sad reality for Cayman’s future and our environmental future.

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      • Anonymous says:

        He had a choice. He could have worked with old PPM colleagues to give the country the best administration out of what was voted for. But he decided to put his ego first, and work with numbskulls because he HAD to be premier by any means necessary.

        This is the Westminster parliamentary system, people. Independents as a collective do not work – you need to know their groupings so you know the cohesive manifesto for which you are voting. Otherwise you are left with this. a lone premier standing with everyone else in opposition to him.

        The most bizarre parliamentary week ever witnessed. Makes Cayman look so politically juvenile.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Progressives acted the very same way when Wayne was Min. Environment, so how would rejoining with them make any difference?

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        • Anonymous says:

          Cayman IS a political juvenile. And it’s have tantrums now just like toddlers.

      • Anonymous says:

        Panton chose self over country.

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      • Anonymous says:

        to 8.17 You are totally wrong. The purpose of the EIA is right there in the name ..the purpose is to assess the environmental impact wherever the road is placed, not to dictate where the road goes. It is an advisory board only meaning that Cabinet is not bound to accept the terms of the assessment.

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        • Anon says:

          Environment Impact Assessment….it WOULD essentially dictate where the road goes once the assessment is done on where they plan to put the road and if it was determined that it was not a practical place to put it.

          Cabinet is not bound to accept the terms of their assessment but that is why you have experts in certain areas. None of the politicians have a clue of what the impact will be, they just want to build a road to assist their constituents but what if they build a road, a major hurricane comes and the road is completed flooded and gets washed away, which could have probably been avoided had they listened to the experts?

    • Anonymous says:

      The sad part of this is that we will all suffer. Right now we hace much more urgent issues than this road that’too many of you think will solve all the problems. I think this road should not be pushed ahead now. After listening to the last debate in the LA I believe we should not be starting any new projects until we can get this political morass cleaned up. Each one of them is hell-bent on having their way, they detest the Premier and other members of government, they don’t lseem to have a working relationship with the civil servants So I do not think either one of them should have any oversight of our finances to the extent of building a six lane highway. I am no road builder , no engineer etc., but I do know that they need to know more than where rhe culverts should be places. He definitely should not be in charge of millions of dollars of our money.

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  15. Anonymous says:

    When is the next election already? It can’t come soon enough. My fear is the lack of intellectual ability of the voters. You really can’t make this up. Sad.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Your fear should be in there is district voting instead of one man one vote. They will always control us with district voting.

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    • Big Bobo In West Bay says:

      McKeeva is laying the political groundwork to become Premier again.

      A comeback coming and because the Caymanian electorate is so ignorant we will get him again.

      McKeeva is an amazing political survivor. The Cayman Islands own Donald Trump.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Even the ones that have some intelligence are corrupt or corruptible. Until this “wha ya gonna gimme fa ma wote” is wiped out then a sustainable future will be continually stolen by ministers behaving like miscreants. The majority of our politicians are akin to leaders of African failing states.

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    • Anonymous says:

      to 5.16 Well if we look at the UK and US elections. (Boris and Trump) it seems that Cayman has plenty of company in “lack of intellectual ability of the voters”.

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    • Anonymous says:

      My fear is intellectual capacity of candidates.

  16. Anonymous says:

    Build the damn road. Then we wait and hope with eager anticipation that the road causes a massive flood, which ultimately washes away Bush (Mc), Bryan, Ebanks, Seymour and Bush (Bernie). The Cayman Islands MUST be the laughing stock of the world when we are governed by this set of inept, incompetent, immoral, uneducated, arrogant, self-serving and selfish bastards.

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    • Anonymous says:

      The rest of the world is too busy worrying about their own sets of inept, incompetent, immoral, uneducated, arrogant, self-serving and selfish bastards, to worry about ours.

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    • Anonymous says:

      England needs their help. They are as much of a mess as we are.

  17. WBW Voter says:

    A great photo which depicts the puppeteer and the puppet. Guess who is who.

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  18. Dennis Connor SR. says:

    Stop wasting time and money on EIA we need to road and we need it now, what Panton and the DOE should be doing is protecting our seven miles beach not wetland where it is breeding grounds for mosquitoes 🦟 and In fact they allowing Dart and other developer to fill up all the wetland in George Town and West Bay Road to build up a concrete jungle and then want us the people of the Eastern District to suffer the rest of our lives like we can eat wetland, we need a change of leadership and we need it now.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Yeah what you need is a road designed to open up the rest of the island to development so Dart and his like can concrete over that part of the island too, and the MPs who enabled it get rich off their back deals for facilitating it. You complain about the development on SMB but then want the politicians to allow the same process to replicate elsewhere. Its deep thinking like that why we have complete morons and the corrupt in the LA – you’ll vote for anyone who promises you some short term benefit without any conscious effort to think it through.

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    • Anonymous says:

      OK Mr. Connor – if we build the road, can you elucidate as to where the traffic will funnel to? As far as I know- there is only ONE road into GT and that road passes Grand Harbour where the bottle neck occurs. So THE ONLY thing the road will acheive is to lessen the travel time to said bottle neck.

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  19. Nautical-one345 says:

    The PACT Government is a shambles yes. Bear in mind that so far absolutely nothing has moved the likes of Mac. Someone else made the comment recently that Wayne, Andre and maybe Juliana should cross the isle, mend ties with The Progressives and form a new government. Not a bad idea given the lot we have in power now “the highest in the land”. Then again if we knew for the better part of 2 decades that we would need the EIA, what was happening?
    Once again, I’m all for the road. I live in the eastern districts and see firsthand the mess caused by inaction and poor planning. Therefore, I’m also for the EIA – but for the love of people’s sanity, and road safety concerns, let’s get it done! Let’s incentivize government departments and private businesses rather than just talk about it as a side note!
    If we’re waiting on the governor or King Charles to intervene, then we are out of luck!

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    • Annoying 345 says:

      Got some points but….bear?bare?beer? 🙄😁

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    • Anonymous says:

      Leave Juliana/ aka never absent never late with them so she can stop screwing up our education system. Another one who will cut off her nose to spite her face.

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  20. Anonymous says:

    THANK YOU PREMIER!!!
    There are many that support your determination to do it right the first time. Imagine the potential consequences and cost of having to go back in a few years to rectify the mistakes that are bound to happen if we build miles of road without the benefit of an EIA. Stand firm Premier. I support you.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Wayne really need to swalllow his pride and join the Progressives and save Cayman from this bunch of lunatics he has latched himself on to. Yes I know the Progressives are not perfect but right now they are our only hope. Shake off the shackles of the PACT and start over before they completely destroy our Beloved Cayman Isles.

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    • Anonymous says:

      But the premier voted for the road. So he’s on the record as agreeing to the road. His comment regarding the EIA was his way of trying to wash his hands similarly like potius Pilate.

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  21. Anonymous says:

    Reminded of the Have I got News for You episode on British TV where they replaced a government minister due to be in the show with a barrel of lard labelled “The Rt. Hon. Tub of Lard MP”), as it was “liable to give much the same performance and imbued with many of the same qualities”. In our case that could be said of much of the cabinet.

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  22. Anonymous says:

    Wayne’s capacity to absorb and ignore embarrassment and humiliation are a wonder to behold. Not a day goes by that his earnest speeches aren’t publicly contradicted by the actions of his ministers – now they are openly contradicting him in parliament, and his reaction, rather than enforcing the rules on cabinet adherence to policy, is to actually vote with them and against his own stated policy. A jellyfish would have more spine – and be more effective as a leader.

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  23. Anonymous says:

    Time for Wayne to resign and move to the backbench. Saunders and Kenneth will fight over who gets to be Premier, and everyone will see the reality of what’s really been the true situation for the last two years.

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  24. Anonymous says:

    I don’t care if the fountain of youth is in there, Build that road

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  25. Anonymous says:

    I don’t think there is anyone who lives pass Savannah that is against the road. Something obviously has to be done. Try spending 3 hour or more of your day in traffic. Quality of life is terrible. Spend the money for the impact assessment on some more garbage trucks.

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    • Anonymous says:

      You will still be sitting in traffic, but you will get to the congested area much quicker.

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      • Anonymous says:

        The congested areas can be fixed by trying simple things. But do they have the balls to at least try? No. They are so afraid of upsetting a handful that they let everyone else suffer!!!!

    • Anonymous says:

      PAST..

    • Johnny Canuck says:

      So 8:38, what are you going to do about the Hurley’s Roundabout congestion first? You are putting the cart before the horse as many do in your area.

      Bet you will enjoy getting to Hurleys faster and enjoying spending more time there in the future.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Stop the importation of all the damn cars and limit the cars per household. That’s your answer

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      • Anonymous says:

        can’t do this until there are reliable and affordable alternative options for people to get around that don’t include putting your life at risk on a bike or scooter!

        15
    • Anonymous says:

      I do spend over 3 hours a day in the traffic, have endured it since it started building up at Grand Harbour two decades ago, before it became the hell it is now. I don’t want the road I want to see Grand Harbour fixed. THAT is what most people east of Grand Harbour think.

      EE

  26. Anonymous says:

    I am thinking that most people realise that we do not have a government, we just have a bunch of selfish thugs fighting each other in power struggles, while the will of the people is ignored. They have torn up the climate change policy, and what little we had of an environmental policy in their bids to get ahead of their rivals. Shameful and disgusting. Premier Panton won his battle to be leader, but he has lost the war. Remember the words of Minister Ebanks describing himself and his cohorts as ‘the highest in the land’.

    50
    3
  27. Anonymous says:

    My guy say we just gotta make sure we put culverts in the right place.

    💀

    I can’t tell if he’s stupid, corrupt or both to the nth power but these stains need to go. A large portion of the country (if not the majority) thinks mckeeva is a villain. he knows that, so here he is trying to buy up the eastern districts loyalty.

    The road won’t kill traffic, arguments can be made for route redundancy but doing it without an eia is STUPID and he is gambling that the eastern districts are so fed up with how past governments (THAT HIS SLIMY A$$ WAS INVOLVED IN) have kicked all these cans down the road, that they will look at him as some.kind of hero cutting through the holdup. 🙄

    The man is so slimy and he’s insulting everybody on the eastside with this crap. If you can’t see that, you’re one of the ones he’s gambling will support this idiocy and UNNECESSARILY put our ecosystem and quality of life at risk.

    Why would anybody think it’s a good idea to recommend not doing something properly. It’s as simple as that. Mckeeva and his spineless legion of doom should know it’s better to measure twice and cut once and they do. They just dont respect the intelligence or give a damn about the people and this is just more proof of that.

    69
    5
    • Anonymous says:

      8:01, McKeeva setting the stage for a political comeback.

      Brilliant. The Donald Trump of Cayman.

      We really do need direct rule from London as we are rapidly screwing over this place.

      We are incapable of ruling ourselves.

      18
      7
  28. Anonymous says:

    So much for a government that wants to protect Cayman for our children to enjoy. Their plan prioritises votes unfortunately, and the next election can’t come fast enough!

    32
    3
  29. Anonymous says:

    Panton has lost the confidence of his cabinet. Protocol demands that he now resign!

    8
    24
  30. Anonymous says:

    I would like to measure the IQ of Bryan, Seymour, Ebanks and Bush. I am fairly sure that a birch tree would have a higher number.

    52
    2
  31. Rod says:

    This is how government works 18 years and hasn’t finished.

    15
  32. Anonymous says:

    How about finishing the roads that have already been started?

    27
    1
  33. Anonymous says:

    Kenneth Bryan needs to be put firmly put in his place. Man is running amok

    56
    2
  34. Anonymous says:

    What a real mess. This lot are the worst I’ve ever seen.
    A collective of egotistical halfwits that think they’re demi-gods and are completely removed from reality.
    No doubt the biggest idiot of them all was proud of himself getting a photo with Frank Schilling for his Instagram at breakfast earlier in the week.
    You’d almost feel sorry for Wayne if he didn’t help bring this stable of donkeys together.

    50
  35. Anonymous says:

    My neck, my back….

    10
    1
  36. Mario Ebanks says:

    We need a National Development Plan…period. Sick and tired of “short term gain for long term pain”.

    43
    1
  37. Anonymous says:

    Ask the governor to dissolve the government.

    Environmentalists are ready to lawyer up.

    63
    13
  38. Anonymous says:

    Thank you, Minister Jay.

    18
    91
    • Anonymous says:

      Thank you for what? He proved beyond any reasonable doubt that he is inept and uneducated.

      51
      2
  39. Anonymous says:

    Greedy, selfish, ignorant louts. Not one of these degenerates deserves to be minister.

    98
    6
    • Anonymous says:

      If we could buy Jaybird, Kenneth, Chris, Mac, Jon-Jon for their worth and sell them for what they think they are worth we could pay off all debts, finance all the projects needing financing etc., we would have enough left over to pay for all children’s and seniors health cost, build the school in west bay, triple the granting of scholarships , get the EIA done, build the roads, give the civil servants a raise, buy another spray plane, and anything else we are longing for.

  40. Anonymous says:

    New election now please. This PACT government has been incompetent from day 1.

    62
    9
  41. Anonymous says:

    Kenneth Bryan is an abject moron who should be nowhere near any position of authority or responsibility.

    130
    2
  42. Anonymous says:

    Ok. Minister Bryan’s tone and words when the Premier tried to make a point were notable.

    67
    3
  43. Anonymous says:

    Collective IQ of par golf. The entire cabinet.

    56
    1
  44. Anonymous says:

    classic no-plan-pact.
    can we start a petition for a referendum on the issue? we did it for the port(take note PPM) and we can do it now!
    i am not against the road…but i am against road building without an overall plan to reduce traffic congestion.

    59
    6
    • Anonymous says:

      This has little to do with the road, and everything to do with the Saunders, Seymour, Mac , Jay and Kenneth power grab from Panton. Just a dress rehearsal to test the waters.
      Love the photo with Mac in the back ground calculating “What’s in this for me”.?

      28
      1
  45. Anonymous says:

    I can only hope that there is some archaic law on the books from the 1800’s that we can use to put them all in prison.

    71
    2
    • Anonymous says:

      Best comment I’ve heard all week. Criminals, the lot of them.

      If they don’t smarten up we are going to see the UK intervening.

      Best we all vote them out!

      15
      1
    • Anonymous says:

      Laws don’t apply to these People.

      11
  46. Squealer says:

    Outrageous egos at play here.

    PACT is literally and figuratively paving Cayman’s descent to the bottom of the political gutter.

    74
    3
    • Pete says:

      squealer: no they are proving exactly what we should have known from the start: independents cant form an effective government.

      PPM is laughing as they will now look like saviours

  47. Anonymous says:

    Gypsies running the palace. The Premier has been cuckolded and needs to resign.

    63
    8
    • Anonymous says:

      And then what? No other clown could lead this circus…

      32
      1
      • Anonymous says:

        Let’s get a new circus with fresh clowns. Can’t be worse…

        10
        2
      • Anonymous says:

        Don’t let Saunders or Bryan near the chicken coop!

        19
        1
      • Anonymous says:

        When a clown goes to the palace he doesn’t become a king, the palace becomes a circus.

        18
        • Quoth the Raven says:

          Well said sir.
          I don’t know if you’re the first to use this but it’s a great quote and I intend to borrow it!

      • Anonymous says:

        The current one cant either. He could at least safe the vestiges of his reputation and resign. Better still – eject Jay, Kenny, Dwayne and tell the governor he can no longer form a majority and ask for an election.

        4
        4
      • McCarron McLaughlin says:

        What is all the noise about? The environmental lobby has got the people of the Cayman Islands held hostage, no East West highway will ever be build until the inventory of quarry materials increases. How does that happen when the government doesn’t have the stones to take on this environmental lobby?

        3
        25
        • Anonymous says:

          Note this.
          NRA say ‘we can build the road now’ (well, actually they don’t but don’t let facts stop us)
          But the new claim is that we need more quarrying so we can build the road. (Has never come up before, perhaps someone should do a study to check.) So now the road will become a driver for more quarrying being approved despite it not actually being needed to build the road and any studies to show how much fill we might really need being completely avoided.

          7
          1
          • Anonymous says:

            Cheaper aggregate can be imported.

            3
            1
            • McCarron McLaughlin says:

              I agree, however what about logistics, you’re sadly mistaken if you believe 5k to 7k yards per month imported quarry materials can support the local construction industry and large government infrastructure projects! Do the math before you speak!

          • McCarron McLaughlin says:

            Do the math there is not enough materials readily available to support the construction industry and a large infrastructure project by the government, the Bigwigs in Government know this. People just don’t like to hear facts. One of two things have to happen and I don’t really care who likes it-more local lands for quarries or bulid a proper bulk shipping facility that would allow import of larger quantities of materials, 5k to 7k yards imported per month can’t meet the objectives and anyone that says otherwise is flat out lying.

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