Hew eyes premier’s job as he takes on PPM leadership
(CNS): Joey Hew told a crowd of the party faithful at the Progressive National Council Meeting at the weekend that he didn’t plan to “get too attached” to the job of opposition leader as he believes his party will be returned to government after next year’s election. Although Hew, who represents George Town North, was ‘anointed’ by the party leadership on Saturday night, he is expected to be voted in as the official leader during the party conference in January.
In his speech, Hew said he would deliver “stable government and… collaboration over conflict” before going on to tell his own story and why he believes he can take on the country’s top political job. After criticising the current UPM administration, Hew made a number of broad policy commitments without going into great detail, particularly how the party plans to “prioritise environmental stewardship without halting development”, an issue that many believe led to the Progressives losing support in the 2021 election.
“There is much to be done, and I am determined to get started,” Hew told the Progressive members. “We must win the election next April to make this vision a reality.”
The new PPM leader’s confidence has been buoyed by what the party believes is early polling in their favour. Based on a sample of 700 local registered voters, the PPM said the poll, which was paid for by the party, found 56% of respondents prefer a candidate from a political party to be their MP, compared to just 20% who favour an independent.
However, despite ongoing and persistent criticism of the current UPM Government, the sample of the electorate still gave it a 53% overall approval rating. This, coupled with the first-past-the-post system, means that the goal of returning enough Progressive candidates to form a government outright will remain an uphill struggle.
But the Progressives also said the poll found that, of those who have already decided who they would vote for, 61% indicated they would support a Progressives candidate, compared to 39% who would back another candidate. The poll found voters in most age groups favour a PPM candidate. Examining voter intent across different age ranges, there was a preference for the Progressives across all age groups except the youngest voters in the 18-24 age category.
The party has committed to running PPM candidates in all 19 constituencies and not making way for independents who might be more supportive of a PPM administration, as they have done in the past.
It’s not yet clear which of the current PPM team will step aside at the next election. Although he has handed over the leadership to Hew, Roy McTaggart has said he will be running to retain his seat in GTE. Both Sir Alden McLaughlin (RED) and Moses Kirkconnell (CBW&LC) have indicated their intention to retire, though neither has officially confirmed this.
In his speech handing the reins to Hew, McTaggart said there was a “solid foundation for the road ahead” based on the polling, even though the party could be seeking another 15 candidates to run on the PPM ticket. McTaggart said that the “PACT experiment of assembling a dozen so-called independents and hoping for a coherent, cohesive, and capable government has failed”.
The outgoing leader said the current government’s “chaotic approach to governance has not delivered the progress our country deserves”.
See the speeches by Hew and McTaggart and details of the voter poll in the CNS Library.
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Category: 2025 General Elections, Politics
It should be illegal for Lodge members to be MPs.
It is a huge conflict of interest.
How?
No, Who?
Joey may have put in his time waiting for the top job but the reality is that the vast majority of the voting population do not see him as a Premier that would act in the interests of Caymanians and therefore the PPM is not electable with Joey as leader.
The status quo
Joey complaining about this Government doing nothing about the Dump. His government was the ruling government for 8 years and did nothing about it.
We need to start having district meetings now and encouraging educated young Caymanians with a history of public service to develop policy manifestos and to stand for election.
The developers choice.
Developers only develop because the planning regulations, and CPA permit it.
You’re ignoring the massive cash flow to government coffers from all strands of development.
Easy to blast developers forgetting that’s who provides NAU recipients with their hand outs while they have jobs in tourism..!
delusional rubbish – developers – who all demand concessions and contribute nothing to infrastructure produce a massive net drain on the economy. We would be better off without any of them.
Funny thing about the majority of comments is the fact that PPM candidates were all re-elected. Independents signed agreements to form the government with them and ended up forming PACT. Many were first time politicians that demanded to be made Ministers.
Wayne Panton is an educated professional who could not lead them despite his best efforts.
They are responsible for over development, uncontrolled inflation, rising population (permits all time high) stagnant wages and uncontrolled spending.
These are all facts.
Can anyone say that their lives are better off now under the failed PACT and UPM?
Think carefully and attend political meetings to make an informed and educated decision before going to the polls next year.
Oh my the developers are walliwing in champagne and caviar again even before a win. Will tecords of concessions granted vs deliverables be kept this time if you win ppm?. Do you promise to be truthful to the people if you win ppm? Will you allow your MoS to hold outside jobs ?. Will your people in parliament be more active and contribute to parliamentary debate. Will you stop giving out CUC and water company stipends to people for their votes throughout the year. Will you stop buying votes in general PPM.
Sick sick 🤢 if we elect da crowd again , They stink. Serious.!!!!
Funny the little rhetorical tricks PPM supporters use to lie by omission or by assuming people are too dumb to know better
What you actually mean is that: All of the formal dyed in the wool party incumbents* were reelected – which is different from ‘PPM candidates were all re-elected’. The PPM lost two of its incumbent MPs who had pledged to govern with them and who ran alongside them in 2021
Austin Harris: part of the ‘Unity Gov’ for the entire term, ran with the PPM in 2021 – lost his seat
Alva Suckoo – part of the ‘Unity Gov’, ran with the PPM in 2021 as an incumbent MP – lost his seat
While we are on the topic of their loses, they also lost 2 challenges handily both of which were some of the largest margins of victory in the entire election
Frank Cornwall: PPM candidate in GTC – lost to Kenneth Bryan (Bryan won by 74%)
Vincent Frederick – PPM candidate in BTW – lost to Chris Saunders (Saunders won by 59%)
And before you try claiming that Alva and Austin were just running as independents – they are literally on the PPM 2021 manifesto, if you are going to claim you can have your face printed on a manifesto and be happily smiling next to people but are not actually running with them I have a tower in Paris to sell you
Hi Diogenes,
Thank you for pointing out the obvious. Yes, I did run as an Alliance member. I chose not to take the safe route by waiting until after the election to declare my intentions and affiliations. Instead, I decided to be upfront and transparent to avoid any confusion.
I also wanted to highlight that a loosely assembled group of independents is not the solution. Effective politics requires a common agenda, a structured approach, and certainty. Running as an unaffiliated independent would not have provided that foundation.
Yes, I lost the election, largely because Newlands did not agree with my decision, and I have accepted that outcome. However, my stance remains unchanged. To be effective, you must unite with others around a shared agenda, and that group must have an agreed modus operandi. Operating as a lone ranger, hoping to make deals and compromises at every turn, is not a viable strategy for delivering on promises.
Alva
Alva,
I will say for what it’s worth – I respected your choice to be honest about your intentions going into the 2021 election, I may not agree with the PPM or your choice, but you were straight with people and that is admirable. You make fair points about what is required to govern in any Parliamentary system, and it is a lesson I fear may others are still refusing to learn. I do wish that you had gone another way in your decision to try to form a solid group of candidates to run with but what is done is done.
If we had more politicians in Cayman were honest and straight with people we might not be in the state we find ourselves in today and often, as I think you have seen for yourself, we tend to punish the people who are forward and let the charlatans and turncoats continue selling lies.
We as a people need to work harder to ensure that persons who are elected are at the very least honest about what they support and intend to do as a basis.
You were one of the people who at least from what I saw – took your role as an MP seriously even where I disagreed with you. You may have lost but you lost honestly.
All the best
Well said sir, we need more politicians with integrity, that’s sorely missing in this current Government.
Exactly…whatever Joey Hew’s shortcomings , he is still a better choice than any of our current uneducated unemployable self serving fat-cats with criminal past and Jamaicanisation ambitions ….Andre excepted.
This is an outright lie. In fact, an empty seat is better than a seat that votes to give up more power (and concessions) to foreign developers and greedy out-of-control utility providers. Not to mention that he is 100% on board with the destruction of our marine environment to satisfy FCCA and their underhanded dealings that are directly responsible for putting our Caymanian watersports operators out of work since they are not the cruise lines “preferred” operators – they only get slim pickings after the cruises already pre-sold excursions and reap most of the profits themselve. We can all clearly see that any and all votes for PPM and their capitalism-at-all-costs brainrot ends with the destruction of the one thing our island has to offer tourists: our beautiful natural environment.
CIG must cancel its cleaning contracts due to a massive conflict of interest.
Re-tender the contracts to save the Cayman Islands money.
Same with the security company.
Only difference between the UPM and PPM is one is wearing Frock !
Give me Ezzard or Arden any day! I hope they come out of retirement.
said in the house his glee for 20 story buildings, cruise line pier, cargo port in breakers, 250K population, regen bank breaker is clear as mud. Don’t believe his shit doesn’t stink!
We love you Mr Joey, you are great man. PPM-PPM-PPM we love you
CNS- you need a fall down laughing dead emoji 💀
Please can we have someone decent running in GTN, we are up s**t creek without a paddle if it is Joey and Johann running against each other )if Johann is running again). That gives us no viable option to vote for
Neither are the right choice, but Moxam over Hew is an easy choice nonetheless.
A stunning return to form for the PPM
Alden was made leader a few years after the smashing success he led the country into: 60-million-dollar schools that actually ended up costing around 200 million.
Roy was never going to be Premier, a blind man could see that, and Alden only stepped down in the first place because he was term limited by the constitution, so they basically just made Roy the figurehead because Alden had no interest in exerting himself while in the opposition and just wanted to relax as a backbencher.
and here comes Joseph Hew – the man who as Minister of Infrastructure and Planning from 2017-2021 shares a good chunk of the blame for massive infrastructure failures like trying to force the Cruise port deal through along with Moses Kirkonnell, and the disastrous dump deal along with Dwayne Seymour – and who could forget the East West Arterial project where he basically spent the entire term in office spinning his wheels in the mud.
A stunning display of precisely the issue that haunts Cayman these clowns are constantly failing upwards in politics, whether its Alden or Mckeeva or Joseph Hew, they have no plan, have no credibility and have horrible track records and still because our democratic system is so infantile they are promoted well beyond their station – its all about waiting your turn and being a yes-man for enough years to get a turn at the top
Now they are going to run candidates in as many constituencies as they can get people to run in because their ‘alliance’ from last election went nowhere fast because people had virtually no interest in electing ‘independents’ who had already pre-committed to work with the PPM and God help us all if they manage to convince a few independents to get them up to 10 seats
A few points to remember Cayman:
-Despite what the PPM says about independent MPs incompetence they have not gotten an outright majority since 2005 (in 2013 and 2017 they relied on MPs they did not run for their majorities)
-The PPM has struggled to win seats outside of George Town and the Sister Islands since 2017
-The PPM has only lost seats since their peak in 2013, and even after claiming ‘successes’ in government regularly loses members and collaborators in elections (Marco Archer and Osbourne Bodden in 2017, and Austin Harris and Alva Suckoo in 2021)
They set up the Hon Marco Archer to lose by having him run in GTC instead of GTW. Majority of people in GTC did not vote based on competence and integrity of the candidates.
Come on Caymanians. Unna gotta stop supporting this wutless rass! Man gone from running the cleaning business that mommy and daddy handed to him, to running the country?? When are Caymanians going to stop thinking that because someone ran a family business they can run our country? I mean the guy ran a cleaning company for crying out loud!! How does that qualify him to lead us??? Caymanians wake up!!
More qualified than a convicted drug dealer…
Please tell us what qualifies Joey Hew to run our country.
He drinks good wine and knows what Foie Gras is.
Poor lil joey is not very good at anything he does in business, politics or acting. All the vids are shocking
Yeah, his acting definitely comes up short.
This video of his lies and misdirection defines Joey as a politician. He cannot be trusted simple
https://caymannewsservice.com/2024/08/ppm-dismisses-responsibility-for-regen-disaster/
From the looks of the people in attendance, it appears the Pines had a field trip. Ppm same old rhetoric and nothing of substance or new to offer the people of the Cayman Islands.
It is past time for Caymanians to wake up and realize ppm is all about self interest and power hungry.
DO NOT VOTE FOR THEM
Just like Mac years ago, his campaign is proudly sponsored by Dart but you won’t see that on the back of his red T-shirt. ACC you are hereby notified to pay close extra attention to this one and the goings on before the next election.
God help the Cayman Islands, he has done absolutely nothing for his constituents this term.
What an embarrassment Joey has turned out to be as a MLA. No chance he should become Premier. Vote him out in 2025!
Mr. Hew is not qualified to be the Premier. The Cayman Islands needs an educated, professional grade and experienced leader with a proven track record of success outside of the political arena. These core competencies he does not possess. We need a person that understands what makes the Cayman Islands successful and will continue to make pertinent decisions for the country thrive for all not just a select few friends, family members, rotarians and others that will provide a slice of the pie.
I have seen how Mr. Hew operates with his circle of friends or business partners that all benefit from the schemes. At this rate, we will end up like the Turks & Caicos islands given the unscrupulous behaviour that has gone on in the past and will only get worse if characters like Mr. Hew were to ever assume power.
If given the choice between Mr. Hew, Sir Alden McLaughlin and Mr. Andre Ebanks as a future Premier it is obvious to many that Mr. Hew is not in the same class or character. The choice for the masses would be simple and thankfully it would not be Mr. Hew.
What a pile of crap. Will he fix the dump? Enforce the Standards In Public Life legislation? Raise the minimum wage to something approximating sensible? Disqualify criminals from becoming Members of Parliament? Come down hard on nepotism and entitlement? Crack down on the exploitation of workers who have to pay for their own permits and don’t get pensions paid by Caymanian employers? No, he won’t. He’s just another nest-feathering politician who is out to get what he can. Same old, same old. And it will NEVER change until the rules surrounding eligibility are fixed.
No he will not do anything but help out Dart and the rest of the rich developers. That is the way the PPM operates! Watch for Ju-Ju and Jon-Jon to be joining up with them.
The JLP of Cayman.
He is Cayman’s ‘Kamala’.
I assume you are Cayman’s “Don Jr.”.
He intends to “prioritise environmental stewardship without halting development”. Well, that’s an oxymoron!
So is he!
Minus the oxy.
This is encouraging. I hope Joey brings on board some young educated professionals to form the next Government. I am not concerned with previous posts about family ties and his reltionship with Dart. Name one politician who doesnt have similar ties. Cayman is a small place and most people are connected in some way shape or form. With recent legislation and regulaitons that demand transparency and accountability from those in Public Office, it woudl be fool hardy for any elected person to run the risk of exposure and corruption. Its just not that easy anymore.
go Joey we got ya back!
PPM all the way!!
“With recent legislation and regulaitons that demand transparency and accountability from those in Public Office” – seriously???
No politician has ever been investigated let alone charged let alone convicted of corruption despite many notorious episodes of free condos and other ill-gotten gains. And that was before our unused anti-corruption legislation was more or less gutted not not many months ago to make it virtually impossible to convict any corrupt politician.
PPM-PPM-PPM Dart-Dart-Dart DUMP-DUMP-DUMP STINK-STINK-STINK
They all come together in one sweet package so when you get Joey Who that is what you will get, a lot of stink!
Is there any possibility of a group of educated young Caymanians forming a new party/coalition that will actually work for Caymanians? That party I would support and quite possibly join.
No because Dart will not let anyone but his stooges and lackeys get elected.
How do you know they would actually work for cayman? Panton’s bunch promised to and see what they did.
Very few in ‘Panton’s group’ were young and only 1 or 2 are educated in anything other than self-interest
How are these guys still allowed to be in operation after all the years of procurement and accounting fraud? Where is the ACC on the ReGen award and Balance Sheet scams? Shall we go down the list of shams underwritten by PPM ambassadors?
Cayman gets the representation it deserves. Buying votes in the poor areas is the game that has been mastered. Too many voters don’t want honest MP’s they want people that give them money and handouts XXXX so buying and selling votes is common in all districts.
Then those same MP’s or Ministers thru negotiations with special interests and their financial backers will continue to give away millions in concessions to those that are willing to pay to play. The sweetener is the contracts for services that are provided in exchange to the Public Official’s various pecuniary interests.
These actions merit full investigations and criminal charges for “abuse of office” as per the standards in public life provisions and the Anti-Corruption legislation.
It is the only way to stop the overt corruption that exists for all to see. A blind man can see it.
Oh for crying out loud, really? Joey Who? How about we just let some newbies have a go rather than the same old same old? Isn’t it great how these career politicians simply black out their past efforts and hope you’ll forget that they had the chance to do what they’re saying but didn’t, but this time will be different!
this guy is pure Dart/CUC. If you want transparency, it aint here.
This country is way too small for party politics. Its small enough to be ran as a corporation actually, and we the public as shareholders. Be better than the past 30 years.
joey hew…the man who banned uber in cayman…the man who said building more roads is not the answer(but only built more roads)
direct rule instead please.
do-nothing-ppm are slightly better than current shambolic government but their record in power in the previous 2 terms should make them umelectable.
They have direct rule back home. Feel free to go back there if that’s the shitshow you are looking for.
So by calling for Direct Rule you would like the Cayman Islands to be in an even bigger mess like in the UK? No Thanks!
Anyone voting for this absentee MP to be premier has to be borderline braindead. He literally has the closest ties possible to the big dog at CUC. You think he wants to make things better for us, at the expense of his immediate family?
He also is fully on board with allowing FCCA to ruin the rest of our marine environment, and continue to strong-arm our Caymanian watersports/tour operators out of a living since the cruise lines work with their “preferred” operators, which are only the biggest companies that can afford to kowtow to the cruise lines and offer them lower prices than many of the original Caymanian operators can.
He is a terrible choice even if you don’t consider the fact that he is bought and paid for by Dart, to the point of virtually signing a blank cheque (at our expense) for Dart to be responsible for WTE, even though they have no expertise and had no actual plan developed, and couldn’t even finish a contract to confirm what work was expected etc.
Since he was pivotal in those farcical Dart/WTE “agreements” being signed, where has he been? Anyone seen him around? People in his constituency say they can’t hear from him. He has barely participated in our democracy (he is absent from our increasingly-rare parliament sessions more often than not), and we are supposed to entrust him with the direction of our country?
I only hope that when he comes around trying to buy your votes, that you will make the smart decision and run him off your front porch.
People forget this. “Blood is thicker than water” it is that simple. His IMMEDIATE family, not extended Cayman uncles and aunties stuff but IMMEDIATE family ties are with Dart and with CUC amongst others.
There is no way on earth this man will take bread off of his and his own table for ANYBODY else on these Islands. HIS comes first, everyone else second.
That’s a natural thing to do so we can’t blame him for that. But that is not premier material.
One thing for sure as that he will have a lot of financial donations to his campaign fund!
Nothing is free in life especially Cayman’a politics. Donations equals you do my bidding and in this case they have a proven commodity in Mr. Hew who is the definition of a sellout.
He’ll need them!
This comment projects the very opposite of the Hon Joey Hew I know, who cares very much for the less well off in his constituency, doesn’t look out for his own pocket (he doesn’t need to), listens carefully to all people before making up his mind as to the best direction for all, and when last responsible for it, did more to move a solution to the dump forward than anybody in the current administration.
We saw his crazy video before the Auditor General’s report on ReGen. That alone proves he is unfit to hold any office!
Joey Who and the regressives are having a horrible week and left a political legacy of incompetence, poor decisions and mismanagement. Cayman cannot afford to have that lot leading our country that much is certain because the cannot be trusted.
😂😂😂 How much did you get paid by PPM to write this fiction?
Joey has proven repeatedly that he’s a clown and ill equipped to lead the party much less this country. Yet those failings will make him the perfect leader for the PPM. He is better off as full time employee for Dart and the developers that help to keep him elected as a MP.
Drop the red polyester shirt or at least get a bigger size. You can’t lead a country in that!
It ends up in the ever growing Dump anyway…so much for sustainability and waste management ♻️
as always, make sweeping policy statements with the promise to reveal it all once in office, only to do nothing but enrich themselves and their associates.
Looking forward to a PPM government led by Hon Joey Hew!
Yes it is clear that throwing a bunch of independents together is not a good thing for the Country; each only interested in pushing their own personal agenda – pure chaos. Worst bunch Cayman has ever seen – thanks to Wayne Panton – he must be the only one didn’t see his own downfall coning when he so confidently formed his circus government 🙄
but ask yourself this … why did the public vote for the awful independents?
The answer is because they realised that anyone was better than the party that would have bankrupted the country with the cruise ship dock plan.
And secondly we saw the true colours of PPM when it fought tooth and nail to prevent the cruise ship referendum and then sought to gerrymander the result with the proposed question and conditions.
PPM is anything but progressive.
‘for every crisis there’s opportunity’ – somebody, anybody help..
Joey Hew as Premier would be the nail in the Cayman Islands’ coffin.
He is a poor choice to lead anything much potentially these islands
Yawn!
Thank God for Andre Ebanks, then.
Leave that guy off rubbing beads please!