Ahearn moved to new job after ‘political’ removal as CO
(CNS): Deputy Governor Franz Manderson has confirmed that Jennifer Ahearn has been given a new role working in his office. In response to questions from CNS and other media houses about her recent removal as chief officer in the Ministry of Sustainability and Climate Resiliency, the government issued a press release on Wednesday, saying that she had been appointed as chief sustainability officer.
However, the release said nothing about political interference in her removal from the ministry, apparently based on claims she was conflicted due to a distant connection between her husband and the London lawyers involved in the dump project talks.
It appears that political pressure to remove her from the ministry mounted after former premier Wayne Panton was ousted from office at the end of last year and the UPM was formed under the leadership of Juliana O’Connor-Connolly.
Ahearn is not the first CO to be ousted from a top government job because of political pressure and to have a new one created for her. Even though under the Constitution, elected officials have no jurisdiction over government personnel, there has been interference on numerous occasions, often resulting in the Cayman Islands Government having to pay large compensation payments.
Ahearn’s departure from the ministry, and therefore from the negotiations over the ReGen waste-management project, appears to be related to the current dump deal, which is not fully supported by all members of the UPM administration or some of its backers.
The talks over this controversial project have dragged on for years, not least because of allegations that the PPM-led administration signed a bad deal with Dart. Ahearn has been at the helm of those talks since the beginning, first as chief officer in the health ministry and then as CO in the new sustainability ministry, which took over the proposed ReGen project after the 2021 elections.
In the last few months, the question of a conflict of interest has grown legs and appears to have been used as justification for the political interference to have her removed.
CNS has learned from sources close to the talks that Ahearn’s husband is employed by a law firm in the Cayman Islands which has an affiliate office in London that represented CUC in one element of the deal. This element largely relates to how much CUC is willing to pay Dart for the energy produced from burning rubbish once the waste-to-energy facility is up and running.
Although Ahearn’s husband has no connection with the law firm’s London office or any involvement at all in the negotiations, she had asked Attorney General Sam Bulgin for his opinion, and he had advised that no conflict existed. She had nevertheless recused herself when CUC was involved in discussions to avoid any perception that there could be an issue. Negotiations on that part of the deal had been passed to her technical staff and deputy chief officers.
However, Ahearn is no longer involved in the negotiations at all. They are now being overseen by Acting Chief Officer Neyka Webster, who joined the ministry just a few months ago, which might further delay the start of this project as she gets up to speed. While it is believed that there are significant issues with the deal and an array of stumbling blocks, starting over could be even more problematic.
Department of Environmental Health (DEH) Director Richard Simms told CNS recently that the current operational area of the landfill has the capacity for about four more years of garbage at the current rate of dumping. After the previous government allowed Dart to begin capping the landfill, the space left was calculated based on the assumption that the waste-to-energy facility would begin operations at the beginning of next year. But even if the talks concluded this week, it is very unlikely that the project would be completed before 2029.
In the most recent comment to CNS about the state of the dump talks, government officials said, “Negotiations for the ReGen project between the Cayman Islands Government and the Dart Consortium are continuing. The Ministry of Sustainability and Climate Resiliency is working towards sharing more details on updated timelines for the project negotiations in the coming weeks.”
The release about Ahearn’s new job said it was part of the ongoing efforts to modernise the civil service. In the new role, she will be responsible for facilitating strategic initiatives to integrate sustainability into all aspects of the CIG’s business operations.
“She will have oversight of the organisation’s operational policies and strategies, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to promote a culture of sustainability across the civil service while ensuring alignment with the civil service mission and values,” the release stated.
Manderson noted that Ahearn had been instrumental in building the Ministry of Sustainability and Climate Resiliency from the ground up. “Ms Ahearn’s twenty-plus years of experience in various leadership roles across government, combined with her relevant experience and expertise, make her ideally suited to take on this role and support the civil service on our continuing journey to enhanced sustainability, efficiency and service excellence,” he said.
“The appointment of the chief sustainability officer serves as a tangible demonstration of our commitment to sustainable working methods. This role will not only facilitate harmonising our operational strategies and service delivery with sustainability principles and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, but also fortifies our competitive edge and resilience in an ever-evolving world.”
While it’s not clear how involved the new sustainability minister, Katherine Ebanks-Wilks, was in pushing for Ahearn’s removal from her ministry, she congratulated Manderson on establishing the new role. “I look forward to collaborating with the deputy governor, Ms Ahearn, and the wider civil service as we work together to make the civil service the most sustainable and climate-resilient employer in the Cayman Islands,” she added.
Meanwhile, Ahearn, a 27-year veteran of the public sector, said she was optimistic about her new “critical position” and was committed to contributing to the positive evolution of the civil service.
She said she was looking forward to helping “chart the course for an organisation with enhanced reputation, cost efficiencies and heightened stakeholder engagement, while ensuring there is a balance across the economic, social, and environmental pillars that are the ‘triple bottom line’ of sustainability”.
Ahearn said nothing about the reason for her change in jobs but thanked the staff at the Ministry of Sustainability and Climate Resiliency for their support.
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Category: Environmental Health, Health, Politics
she was also the responsible person when she handed the HSA contracts to Canover, without proper due diligence, and then couldn’t recall…
In the meantime why hasn’t the chief officer from the Protocol office who was suspended to appease the arrogant sycophant minister about two years ago, been reinstated? Franz don’t you realise that she has been treated horribly and you are doing her an injustice by continuing to leave her out there in limbo? As the saying goes ” what is good for the goose is also good for the gander! She deserves better just as Ms. Ahearn does.
CO from the Protocol Office??? I thought Protocol was under the CabSec?
Nepotism in Government is outrageous and out of hand Family members making financial decisions solely for the benefit for and to siblings and protecting them in corruption and unlawful and on ethical situations thats what Franz has been covering up and trying to dismiss these very serious concerns.
The problem is the Chief Officers are more knowledgeable and efficient than their respective Ministers and they can’t deal with that fact. They (Ministers) cannot comprehend that the COs make them “look and sound ” intelligent but they can’t grasp that. Anyone who knows who the MInister is will clearly understand this situation.
Tell me please somebody tell me why a person who is so knowledge endowed failed to notice the discrepancies in the HSA scandal with Canover , and is still around as if she is the best thing since Island Taste patties. The half thats not yet been told needs to emerge Madame Premier.
Now all the MLA’s with conflicts of interest, that have not been disclosed need to removed.
How can the DG simply create roles like this?
Either pay out huge sums or transfer the person to an equal job. Her husband is a lawyer and I am sure she had good advice.
Isn’t this the second time Ms. Ahearn has been shuffled around. Didn’t it happen under a previous Minister who disrespectfully referred to her as ” driftwood”? No one is safe with these small-minded, brainless, hate-filled wannabe dingbats!
If one has problems working in different apartments in the work place. It seems like that one person is at fault. Is the one right and ALL the others wrong ?. What do all of you folks think ??
More money spent on Civic Service, how long can these small island keep up spending and more spending ?
Meanwhile, CUC, the energy monopoly, is attempting to tax EV consumers with pay-to-play utility rates 3x normal meter rates. They are running ads in the Camana Bay Cinemas that they are switching from burning diesel to burning LNG, a still dirty fossil fuel generating harmful NOx. Even the Biden administration is killing planned LNG distribution in the gulf. When will the greenwashing and CIG sanctioned exploitation of Cayman consumers end? A sustainability ministry has to be credible.
There are Caymanians living in cars or in tents on the beaches and you complain about things like this.
So we ga 4 years of dump space left, it’s projected to be completed in 5, but this Cayman so make it 10 years.
Lol business as usual. Looking forward to the fireworks at the end of the GT vs BT ciwil war when the “move the dump to BT” clash re-ignites.
Only 2 years left on the dump.
Anything further on her role with the spending of unapproved funding for genetically modified mosquitos?
There was a lot of buzz around that at the time.
Dart lost the bid on merit grounds. The PPM signed an agreement to agree without any material detail to rely on. That’s at least irresponsible, and possibly far worse. Notably, no investigation by ACC in the time since.
Dart didn’t lose any bid.
Was she not the CO of the Department, when the former Director of the DEH was forced into early retirement? What I do not understand is, who was actually responsible for the authorization of the overtime for the personnel to collect the garbage.
If a CO’s conflictsjustify this, Stran Bodden should be next! He sits on CAL’s Board and also CIAA’s Board. Guess where he stood when CAL owed CIAA $10m in unpaid landing and parking fees? He sided with CAL and resisted the payment to CIAA!
Also sits on PACI Board with his father!!??
Kenneth Bryan’s StepandFetchit.
Unlike Aherne , he sees no conflicts and dare no question his minister’s questionable behavior.
But it’s ok, his father doesn’t say Anything or express Any opinion, thereby fulfilling a safe seat warmer role for the Brac representative slot.
Franz the Political puppet & muppets Master!
waffle….and no real answers to anything.
don’t worry we can follow up an next cig press conference……ooppps…
I don’t know Mrs Ahearn, however from the outside she does seem to have a habit of upsetting people.
In doing so she seems to get moved around to senior roles without being fired with the support of the senior people in government ie the (former) Premier at the Ministry of Sustainability and now the Deputy Governor.
Would it be wrong therefore to deduce that Mrs Ahearn is actually very competent and valued and the problem is with the people she upsets not liking being held to account or people doing their job properly.
from what I understand she has the problem of wanting her ministries to actually a accomplish something.
can’t have that, ministers can’t campaign on problems that have been fixed.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head.
You hit the nail on the head.
She is very intelligent, very competent and hold people accountable.
Politicians don’t like that.
I sympathise with Mrs Ahearn – all those years having to “wuk wit” “f##k wits”.
8:10 she’s no different from the rest of us over the last 40 years who have had to wuk wit those people you so eloquently describe. It goes with the job.
One has to wonder if we should just eat humble pie and directly request assistance from the UK for support on fixing this dump situation.
It’s absolutely clear at this point that CIG does not have the experience, knowledge or spine to be able to come up with a solution in a timely manner whilst this national disgrace continues to poison us all.
I say eat humble pie, go cap in hand to the FCDO and beg them to fix it for us as something close to a national emergency.
Have you seen the state of the UK!? They arent fairing any better. It doesn’t matter which party is in power. Tories and Labour are just different cheeks of the same a$$. They arent going to help us.
Surrendered your passport yet?
I mean, for all the UKs problems, the majority of the country gets their bins collected on time and efficiently, they heavily recycle and they don’t have unlined piles of waste leeching into the peoples drinking water.
Perhaps you should check up on the water situation in UK!
England you mean.
Time for Franz to be reassigned too into retirement mode. Ring master of the circus
Juju strikes again
Third world only wants to work with third world. If you can’t be trusted to be corrupted then you can’t be trusted. Everyone knows this is what’s up in Cayman Islands.
Woman knows how to get to the top and stay there, sadly Franz would not fight this hard for a born Caymanian!
5:58 nailed it
Dear CNS.. now that we’re on the topic of Chief Officers that are appointed to these different posts in the Deputy Governors office…. What exactly does former chief officer cetonya cacho do? She’s seems to have disappeared since the last election and the education ministry still has an acting chief officer since then? This practice by the deputy governor is crazy for such highly paid civil servants that we the public pay a lot public money to do what exactly? Work from home? Do special projects???
She probably does the same as ex Chief Officer Mary Rodrigues and ex Chief Officer Christen Suckoo. Not sure what that is, of course.
Looks like he gets all the messy ones, the ex DPP landed a job there too- not one that was ever advertised for anyone, including caymanians, to apply.
Not advertising the job prevents qualified Caymanians from applying. Even the former director of DCI was transferred to DGs team ….wonder why.
DG Franz collects pets in his play pen on the 5th floor. It appears he answers to no one.
5K supposed to be lit this year though yo!
Chief Legal Advisor to the DG’s office. Yup
What was bad about the agreement that was signed? Do elaborate.
Read the latest post made at 1:29pm
Read it, nothing of substance noted.
Dart largesse recipient.
Is it just me or is everyone forgetting that this same Chief Officer has been “demoted” to the DG’s office previously? That she’s had run-ins and “conflicts” with at least 2 other ministers. Seems to me the writing is on the wall. She’s not meant for the CO role. Let her organize the annual DG 5K….that’s what she’s getting paid the big bucks for after all.
People don’t learn and get better at things?
Yes, 7:21, you’re right. Her run in with Ossie, the then Minister who abused her verbally, was because she dared…Jesus, just imagine….to get him to pay for his phone bills run up on his government phone.
…and the hospital?
Everyone involved in the Carepay mess should’ve been fired including her. The lack of accountability in government …
There is nothing world class about the leadership of the civil service, the DG, the Chief officers and majority of staff in it.
She should have been fired after the scandal with Canover Watson and Care pay at HSA
7:25 am Exactly!
Where was the declaration of the conflict of interest then, given her marital status at the time?
She stood up to Ministers , and they don’t like that, especially if you’re “driftwood”.
Ossie’s wife is driftwood by her own admission 😅
Or maybe that she doesn’t pander to the politicians. And they don’t like her for that.
The chief officers generally are more educated than the ministers……that’s certainly true with this government , which apart from Andre, has ministers who can hardly read, write and put a sentence together.
Well done, Mr. Franz; Miss Jennifer’s talents are to rare and consistent to waste.
Where’s the “Laugh button” when you need it, because I am assuming this is sarcasm!