PPM challenges premier to oust Mac from PAC

(CNS): PPM Leader Roy McTaggart is challenging Premier Wayne Panton to remove beleaguered MP McKeeva Bush from the high-profile Public Accounts Committee following the news that he had been charged with rape. The opposition leader has also asked if Panton will continue to allow Bush to remain on the government benches, given that he now faces two criminal indictments.

In a very short statement issued Thursday, Panton said very little about the latest allegations against Bush, merely stating the obvious about the charges being serious and of deep concern across the community. However, he said nothing about Bush’s role on PAC.

“These charges are serious,” Panton said. “Given the sensitive nature of the same, the rights of the parties involved and the fact that the matter should now be regarded as sub judice, it is inappropriate for me to comment further other than to say that I believe in the integrity of our judicial system and this is now a matter for the courts to address.”

CNS contacted the premier directly to ask whether or not he is planning to organise a vote in theHouse to remove Bush from parliament until his legal troubles are over, but we have not yet received a response.

McTaggart said that while Bush is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise in a court of law, PAC, which he chairs, is an important committee and the facts cannot be ignored.

“Mr Bush is currently facing other serious charges against him involving two females,” McTaggart said. “That case will be going to trial later this year. Also, in December 2020, Mr Bush pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct and two counts of assault on a female.”

He pointed out that Panton had criticised the Progressives for their decision to call for a no-confidence motion in the PACT Government at the time of Bush’s conviction, as Panton worked to remove Bush as speaker.

The premier had accused the opposition of seeking power rather than standing on principle. But earlier this year Chris Saunders (WBW) was sacked from his post as deputy premier and parted ways with PACT amid allegations that he had bullied civil servants and reports of a major conflict with the governor. As a result, Panton reshuffled his Cabinet and put Bush on PAC.

The opposition queried that appointment in a statement issued in April, stating that despite Panton’s many admonishments of Bush and the charges he is facing, the premier “continues to promote his former speaker into high-profile political positions. It begs the question of whether Premier Panton’s claim that he cares about the treatment of women in our society is genuine.

“Instead, it would appear the premier is more interested in appeasing some members of his government in a desperate attempt to cling to power,” the opposition added in the April statement.

See both statements in the CNS Library.