More UPM cracks emerge into full public view
(CNS): The continued disunity and disagreements among the UPM caucus and its inner circle came into public view again this week when MPs and ministers played out their differences on the government-owned radio station. Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly made it clear she didn’t support the fee hike proposed on the Credit Union, and McKeeva Bush called in to say he didn’t support the proposed cruise berthing referendum.
The government appears to be divided now on a catalogue of issues, from disagreements over proposed amendments to the National Conservation Act to implementing the recommended minimum wage. Both the UPM caucus and the Cabinet are struggling to find common ground on almost anything.
While the ousting of Premier Wayne Panton was supposedly based on his inability to lead the divided PACT government and because of his opposition to the developers who were influencing his Cabinet colleagues against his sustainable agenda, it appears the UPM reshuffle led by Juliana O’Connor-Connolly is doing no better.
The premier publicly called out her deputy, André Ebanks, when she called into Radio Cayman yesterday, claiming she knew nothing about the proposal to introduce a $200,000 fee on the Credit Union, even though it was part of a proposed package of fees she outlined in her budget speech last year.
With a general election expected as early as April, the cracks in the UPM caucus and Cabinet are now plain for all to see. On Wednesday, McKeeva Bush, who called in first to For the Record, said the proposed fee on the Credit Union had not been discussed in caucus. He also said he didn’t support the “current construct” of government anymore, even though he gave his support to the group at the beginning as the best way to form a government.
However, Bush, who formed and led the first political party in the Cayman Islands, the United Democratic Party, and remains a proponent of party politics, illustrated the divisions in the UPM when he implied that this coalition hadn’t worked because it lacked organisation.
“I don’t support this position. You have to have some organisation… that holds you as a member accountable and that you work together on a common aim,” Bush, who is still part of the UPM caucus, said. He added that while there has been a common aim among UPM coalition MPs, people are still going their own way. “In this make-up of government, members go where they want.”
He said he did not support the referendum on a cruise port, and he was not the only one. He said it was a waste of money to spend $1.2 million on a referendum to tell us we need pier facilities for cruise tourism. Bush has long backed developing cruise piers and feels there is no need to ask this question.
But he said the caucus voted for the costly referendum, even though many of its members, including members of government, don’t support it because the money could be better spent elsewhere. He said there were many things that were happening that were not benefiting the people.
Bush also stressed the lack of support from him and other caucus members of the UPM for the fee on the Credit Union, which fuelled an immediate backlash. He said the minister should have brought this proposal to caucus first. Bush said he believes that it is part of a raft of fee increases that have been proposed but that the consultation on the white paper should have taken place after members of the UPM had all agreed on which fees should be proposed.
However, after speaking with senior ministry officials, CNS understands that the purpose of this consultation is to gather all of the necessary information so that an evidence-based policy proposal relating to these fee hikes, which are expected to be rolled out next year, can be put to the caucus and Cabinet based on real data, information and analysis.
When the premier called into the same show, she made it clear that she would not be backing this proposal. She said she was not “throwing her deputy under the bus”, but the fee increase for the Credit Union was not going to happen.
O’Connor-Connolly said she had established that there was no support for it among the caucus. She said that since she sets the Cabinet agenda in her role as the premier, this proposal would not go before the government’s front bench, as she effectively pledged that there would be no $200,000 fee imposed on the Credit Union.
The premier said the Credit Union is very different to commercial banks, and she would not be supporting the proposal — illustrating the significantly different policy positions and even ways of making policy between the Cabinet members less than six months before the official election campaign begins.
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Category: 2025 General Elections, Policy, Politics
In other countries there would be protests in the streets. Not happening here, ever.
Numerous guilty convictions these past years even immediate weeks of children being sexually molested, very minimum sentences passed down and, the Sexual Harassment Act being stalled plus Poinciana having no empathetic resolve in sight, have all happened and no public, private nor governmental outcries about these. All issues which destroy the seams of our children and society.
#AllIssuesAreImportant
And convicted drug dealers as well as police and women abusers are allowed to be lawmakers. Your point?
Once Ken Ken gets his Central Park all is good!
Kenneth Bryan is good at wasting money.
1.5 million on a wishing well behind funky Tang.
200,000 kyd on Public Transport study then move the department to a new ministry and do nothing.
300,000kyd airport
redevelopment study.
2 million for a supposedly tourism training school will no tourist.
1.5 million referendum. kenny you and Stran the milo man
ever heard of survey monkey.
you could have save the
country 1.5 million.
Is this why Regen got stopped because our wonderful MPs couldn’t agree that we need to deal with our trash?
The last 12 years nothing was done for the West Dist. of the Brac, where is the MP ?
and here come the piano man being sponsored by big money dan & wayne
collecting rent from all the government departments like, police,cinco,credit union.
he is too busy to ask for new government buildings because he will loose too much rent money
Cayman bracker that the representative you wanted.
Pigs at a trough gouging each other to protect their own self interest.
And when they cannot decide on matters in Cabinet they blame civil servants. The dunciest set of politicians ever with Jay and Kenneth leading the pack with their offensive personalities.
Ghetto!
Divided they fall! What an example for their constituents.
If JuJu isn’t throwing her deputy under the bus, why does Andre have tyre tracks on his back?
The Cabinet agreed to general revenue measures in Dec 2022. That woman knew of the proposals for increase. Andre please keep your head. Rebuke that woman
If you don’t know by now there isn’t a single government who can hold it together, put aside personal views and work for the betterment of the country instead of their own ego well………open your eyes people. It is just that
I am really getting confused about our government. Are they a caucus or a circus. Please advise.
Well , for all intents and purposes, to be honest it’s a mix between a psychiatric hospital, a kindergarten, a rehabilitation facility, a driver education center, a laundromat that never saw service in 25 plus years and a circus all set close to an artificial toxic mountain of trash powered by consultant’s reports which are never going to see the light of day ever again !
But, yes if you get past the constant cacophony of statements if you prick your ears, you can still hear the background music 🎶 that was the hallmark of sideshows in the early 19th century!
Cayman Finance are you paying attention! Who do you think is going to bail out this colossal 2024/2025 budget and debt burden?
The eyesore that is the dump continues to pile up together with traffic and poor public transport, while high schools, highways, anirports and cruise pier agreements we cannot afford are built on vapour.
Stop the madness!
Colossal..?
Just wait until the $200,000,000.00 resort prison starts construction so that our criminals, local and imported, can be made more comfortable…at our cost.
Who in Government can seriously consider this additional load on our debt burden..?
This government circus needs to understand when you keep increasing fees, we the regular Joe public gets a direct hit to our pockets. Whilst you all want to raise revenue for your increased salaries you are taking it from us, the public.
Businesses will either pass these costs onto their customers or close.
Can you please stop!
‘Please’ is not a word they would understand.
The longer this shit show goes on, the more I think the call for direct rule by resspresentatives from the UK is going to be the best move. Our brain dead ‘leaders’ jump from one policy and opinion and ‘bright idea’ to the next, depending on which pays more into their own bank account or allows them to continue feeding at the trough of public money.
Please make this stop!
Please try to come up with a different song. The U.K. Is not interested in bailing out Cayman or any other overseas territory. Why would they? Right now they are planning on austere measures to balance their budget. Their newly elected Prime Minister is already on shaky grounds What is needed is for the Cayman’s voting public to vote and hold on to the educated, honest articulate ones among us who wins an elected seat instead of going for the one (s) who can give you $25.00 on a Friday afternoon. Too many on this Rock believes that their work is done once they get elected. All their promises are thrown to the winds, their only focus is “becoming the Premier. Some can hardly read a two line statement but they want to be Premier, they have no experience and have never been elected but they want to be Premier, they have oodles of money friends in high places so they think that makes them qualified to be Premier! They become Premier and quickly realise they cannot do the job so nothing gets done, the crap goes on and on.
Caymanians need to stand on their own feet, UK is in it’s own dire straits, stop bowing, worshipping and stop taking ‘favours’ from these idiots who are destroying. and robbing Cayman.
Juliana’s picture above speaks volumes, she looks like a deer in headlights (or goat/cow, take your pick).
More Out of Touch Politicians.
Our elected “representatives” in government are so far removed from the reality of most the people they “represent”. Many of them over the last several years have never been in a situation or no longer are in a situation (prior to getting $12/14 thousand+ per month salaries) where you have to choose between food (such as less amount to be able to buy/quality) or pay the electricity bill (hi CUC) and water bill(s) (hi WAC & CWA). Not to mention other utilities like mobile/phone & Internet.
How about the anxiety that comes with even looking at your bank account when you know there is one week left until it’s the end of the month and you and your family need to eat, pay home rent/mortgage/car loan/healthcare/school fees, dtc, etc, etc.
And don’t look to the banks for relief, because banks do not like to lend to folks who live from pay day to pay, even though many are honest and hard working folks. Our Banks need to be investigated and new/updated regulations need adding.
For example, one local bank was charging .30 cents on each transfer you did between your own, same bank accounts! However, that extortion was apparently discontinued at the start of the year. Shame on them and their greed. They cut at our accounts and take bit by bit, like a hot knife thru… 🤬
Anyway, these “representatives” make decisions that have never and will never effect them. Gone are hardships, it won’t be a burden at later stages of their lives. Good for them I say, but many have lost touch with their constituents. I’m sure if these “representatives” had to live off of the minimum wage for 3 months they would think twice about half the shit they come up with!
Dan Scott for Premier. Time to get some professionalism in government.
First sentence no. Second sentence yes.
Government does NOT need more revenue. They must drastically cut wasteful spending and vote buying now! Imagine, they are collecting over $2 billion in revenue per year and looking for more? Absolute madness!
No group is perfect but the PPM was/is far ahead of the bunch of numskulls who are in charge now. They are a hot mess.
The pejoratively entitled and so-called; One Man One Vote (“OMOV”) has been an unmitigated disaster for these islands. It should never have been put in place.
Poor, inexperienced and insular leadership with an under and un-informed electorate thought this was the (only) way to curtail the Lord of West Bay (West) and his political sycophants. “Baby” and “bathwater” come to mind.
OMOV and Single Seat Constituencies (“SSC”) or the more correctly characterised “winner take all”/”first-past-the-post”, Westminster style electoral political system with but a small number of votes needed to get elected in each Cayman Islands’ SSC promotes a “race” to the bottom. Here, all “politrics” is truly “local”. Politicians are laser focused on their own hermetically sealed and silo-ed SSC where turkeys and TVs are the currency of (re)election. Choice of representative for (would-be) voters is reduced to the lowest common denominator as all but few of those with the requisite intellect, vision and drive necessary to really “do the state some service” wish to be dragged into the quagmire of this fundamentally flawed system of clientelism.
We must cast aside the shackles of Single Seat Constituencies, which promote the West Kingston(Bay??) garrison effect and all associated harm.
We need Multi-Seat Constituencies.
We need Proportional representation.
We need proper political parties based upon ideas and not personalities.
We need both district 3,4 or 5 seater constituencies complimented by an islands’ wide “super constituency” also with 3 or 4 seats.
Candidates could stand in either the local or islands’ wide constituency and voters to vote in both (if they so choose). At least this is a way to promote maximum choice for voters – both at the micro and at the macro level. Ideally, states-women and men have a better chance of election in the island’s wide constituency where scale itself will mitigate the penchant for purchase of votes.
What we have currently are a bunch of headless chickens who are worse than just completely incompetent.
Preach, sister!
The true enemy of Cayman is math! A tiny parliament of tiny men in tiny constituencies is a recipe for small-mindedness.
A landslide by any other country’s standards would still be knife edge in our tiny house, creating minority rule by a tiny band of venal kingmakers. Ask yourself how the politicians with the least ability and integrity have somehow won plum roles in every government we’ve had for the last 20 years (McKeeva, Ju Ju, Kenneth etc).
Because here in Cayman, ability and integrity are nothing but a handicap. The most powerful role in cayman is not Premier but kingmaker. From this position, you can obstruct anything you and your sponsors don’t like and even bring down entire governments. Developers and special interests will line up to line your pockets. Colleagues will bend the knee to get your support, knowing that your support will never be won on merit or principle but only bought with the right price. Just remember to keep feathering the nest in your constituency.
The reason they don’t make good decisions for the country is that it is literally no one’s job to make good decisions for the country. The voters of West Bay South don’t give a $h1t what Andre has done for the financial industry. The voters of Cayman Brac don’t give a $h1t that Ju Ju can’t balance the books. The voters of Bodden Town whatever-it-is don’t give a $h1t that John John hasn’t fixed the mess at immigration, or that he drives his donkey into diggers. Making good decisions and working hard for the country are more likely to get you voted out than re-elected.
The only question our politicians have to answer is from their own few hundred voters and the question is this : “what have you done for me lately?”.
When the system has proven itself incapable of producing decent politicians/governments/policies, it’s time to blame the system and change it.
upm….proof that direct rule is needed in the cayman islands
You already have direct rule, the dictators you keep voting in!
Thank you PPM for single member constituencies. Hope your time running the country was worth it.
…you mean “ruining”….the country….
We need a general election right away and it needs to be supervised by the UK. Forget this gutless Governor we now have as she won’t do a dam thing except play her fiddle while Cayman burns down. The UK needs to suspend the whole government immediately, completely audit the financial position we are really in, then allow observed and supervised elections to prevent vote buying and undo influence from outside sources. Also investigations into the Dart deals and the dump fiasco, Seymour’s various accidents and no test for DUI, this Brac school deal among other very questionable activities by the government officials. People need to be held accountable including the highest positions. These may seem drastic but the actions by the whole bunch gets worse every hour.
Oh what a wonderful world..
You voted them in, you suspend the government, stop relying on others to wait and serve on you when you cannot get your own government to do it. Get some backbone and do something about it yourselves!
The voters chose SMC’s.
The voters chose McKeeva (repeatedly), the voters chose “FlatTop”, briefly, the voters chose a radio talk show hots….teh voters made a plethora of bad choices, overt the long term.
Voting for SSC was another.
Your point?
Very little to do with SMC and much more to do with the persons involved and their lack of respect for collective responsibility amongst other things. A significant number of voters wanted Independents so that’s we got for the majority of our MPs. Those of us eligible to vote collectively determine the outcome regardless of the electoral system and regardless of whether we vote or not.
Juju is the Permier and Minister of Finance. What a fing joke.
She learned well at the feet of McKeewa. How to screw the country over.
I wonder if our Minister of finance is going to approve the $200,000,000 …Yep Two hundred Million dollar new prison resort being pushed by ‘consultant’ with a lot to gain, while we have a lot to lose.
Gotta stop this madness UPM…
Maybe if it is built in Cayman Brac
$200,000,000.00..?..Why why why..?
A 5 or even 10 million upgrade to Northward would fix the problems …but I guess that wouldn’t generate enough fees for those pushing for this waste of funds.
$200m??? You just plucked that number out of thin air! There is no way on earth that such a facility would cost that much. If you had said half that amount then that would be much nearer to the truth.
The current prison facilities in Grand Cayman are a disgrace and a blight on our international reputation and an affront to human rights. The staff, prisoners and the public deserves better and the sooner that happens the better.
We can build the most secure prison in the world BUT we still need to address the matter of immigration.
Freedom Of Information should supply the public with statistics of crimes and nationalities of the criminals. The Cayman Islands attract many people to for work and residency, but I believe the immigration process is made far too easy for bad characters to have access to these shores.
I am tired of our elected officials making promises and not even attempting to keep them. However, we Caymanians are to blame for the state of our Islands. No one else. We have created the mess by our poor choices come election time and our silence after election. Every morning I drive to work and every evening I drive home from work in this ridiculous traffic, I dislike McKeeva Bush a little more.
As a civil servant I am expected not to publicly voice/write my opinion, but God knows the day is going to come when I will remain silent no more…..after all it only takes one voice to start the conversation.
Well , if not for one thing the present circus staff will instill coulrophobia for generations to come ! When the court’s jester sit on the King’s throne, don’t be too surprised if the palace turns into a circus , Politics in Cayman has long left the shores of rationality (even before the Pandemic for that matter) !
Not new, turned into to a circus long time go!
Implode, implode! 💣
How do the people call for a vote of no confidence in all members.
Andre, grow a pair and do the right thing.
You will be reelected as you are a smart dude. but not if hang around with these Idjiots
You’re right, but there are only the same usual suspects running for election. That’s the problem. Voters need to care enough to change the Elections Law criteria, designed by UDP/PPM to maintain this restrictive self-appointing career politician landscape. André proves that outsiders can bust into this shallow school-leaver pool, with a whiff of calibrated sentience.
Just vote the lot of them out and start refresh. The new fruit might be a bit sour but it certainly wont be rotten. These lot are a circus and embarrass themselves on a weekly basis. If you dont vote them out then the shame rest with Caymanians in general.
Where else can a ‘leader’ with 266 votes have such a powerful position?
You can win fewer votes than your opponent and still be President of the USA.
And look how that’s going for them!
Right? These clowns pay themselves more than just about every other PM and president on the planet too!
“claiming she knew nothing about the proposal …. even though it was part of a proposed package of fees she outlined in her budget speech”. So what are we to conclude? That the Premier either didnt understand the contents of her own budget, or that she flipped immediately there was any pressure from interested parties?
Exactly. This is reflective of the repercussions of members voting in Parliament without actually READING what theyre voting on first!. Wait till we see the repercussions of the Digital ID Register – lots of fees and actions “to be determined”
There’s no honour amongst thieves!
Mr. Bush , who formed and led the first political party in the Cayman Islands. Where do you think he might have been when the fee, for what possibly was the first one, was 6pence. Our history is being rewritten.
Sums it all up in most appropriate saying.
Is PPM the lesser of two evils here? I hope to god I won’t have to vote for them next year & new candidates will emerge. This current government has to go and PPM should be right behind them.
the pact/upm circus continues…
when will people realise…pact/upm were never elected… they had no common agenda or manifesto…they just grouped together for their own selfish needs.
that’s what you get for voting in small minded, small town independents.
Definition of Banana Republic
Anyone who supports this government or the past one needs to rethink in 2025
Although I agree with you, our elections are usually a matter of choosing the best from a bad bunch.
What do we expect from crackpots?
Is this why the Premier is always covered in swathes of wallpaper?
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Talk show government. If only we had politicians capable of doing their jobs instead of conducting performative politricks on the phone over a plate of lunch.
Can we please have a referendum to do away with the “honorable” titles for those that do not deserve it and replace it with “odious turd” where warranted. It would really help the public understand who stood for what as part of our democratic process.
We could even have a referendum to decide who gets which label.
“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.” Proverbs 29:2
This will tell you precisely what kind of people we are dealing with.
Independents coming together is not the problem for UPM (formerly PACT). PPM would not have been good either.
The problem is the MPs themselves. Need better quality persons that are intelligent, honest and hardworking.
Simple fix with responsible voting by the Caymanian electorate at the polls next election. Vote responsibly.
Part of the problem is the slate of candidates – when you get to choose between an idiot, a crook or an incompetent (or some combination!) its not really a simple fix.
I fully agree, but will respectfully throw in the variables that the electorate is woefully uninformed, under-educated and basically could care less. The few that may be active and stay informed are not enough to change the tides of ignorance.
It has to start from school. It’s a shame that there isn’t a Cayman Politics class in school. The only way to get rid of the ignorance is to start from a young age. The dumbing down of the population was done deliberately.
For who, exactly?
Who do you suggest?
Beyonce with her baseball bat sooon put the lot of them in their places!!
Beyoncé is not Caymanian.
9:39, “vote responsibly” for whom? We usually have a high percentage of brainless duffusses who have failed in business and/or at being civil servants and/or have had serious brushes with the Law. In our tiny pool of eligible candidates, the best brains go into law or banking or accountancy and do very well so they can live in gated communities like the expats. Or, as is happening increasingly, they leave the country and give their talents to other countries. Can’t blame them.
Majority of “Caymanians”do not want educated persons to run for election, their only criteria is if they can push their hands in their pockets and pull out “a couple dollars to buy something” or plywood to board up their houses in hurricane season. Only God knows what happens to it from year to year. Oh, before I forget they might want a load of fill too.
The Education Mininster of the last decade, can’t read.
One might expect that reading and familiarising oneself with your own party’s policy initiatives before presenting them in parliament would be a pretty low performance bar to achieve. Considering how many caucus members are unwilling to execute this basic reading comprehension duty in reviewing their own draft policy, it’s little wonder there is discontinuity. We have the same problem in our Strata HOA. You gotta do the homework when it’s assigned. Let’s just hope the wider electorate understands what these MPs are confessing to them: “do not vote for us, we disqualify ourselves through our own admissions of ineptitude”. We should believe them.
She read it. Just didn’t understand the backlash it would get from the civil servants voting block. As soon as it became apparent t would be unpopular, over the side it went, along with Andre.
You’re being too generous in those assumptions.
Why is Andre staying with this ship of fools led by a fraudster from the Brac?
Slim pickins. He’s gotta work with whoever thinks they are in charge. Hopefully it’s him next time.
Whichever government we have, Andre needs to be in it!
Andre?
And Marco
And Winston
And Wayne
And Dan
Cayman has the people it needs. We just need to elect them.
Munch of Nascissistic ego maniacs! Each one believes they are the smartest person in the room. None of them knows the common persons struggle, they woudl simply legislate for the rich and forget about the poor.
Nope. And they usually are the smartest people in the room.
Wayne “Peter Griffin” Panton? Blew his chance as Premier. He needs to take a break also.
Why would Marco give up his $200k salary for doing what? to become an MP again?
Because he likes the pay package!
Nice of JuJu to confirm she doesn’t listen in meetings or read documents. How we gonna pay for that school on the Brac.
Maybe get CIFEC sorted out first!
Is Juju losing her mind?
“The premier publicly called out her deputy, André Ebanks, when she called into Radio Cayman yesterday, claiming she knew nothing about the proposal to introduce a $200,000 fee on the Credit Union, even though it was part of a proposed package of fees she outlined in her budget speech last year.”
Being able to read and able to understand are two different things. I think she reads well enough, after all she was a teacher. The problem is that she does not understand the finances. Perhaps she shouldn’t be the Minister of Finance but with that incompetent group there wasn’t much to choose from. We are in dire straits here.
You have to have a mind to lose first!
Premier Juliana is being fast and loose with the truth on this one and simply playing to the public gallery.
All financial and potential revenue related matters are her responsibility as Finance Minister. She and the ministry team that work on the budget and revenue projections would have known about this at a minimum twelve months in advance when preparing the CI government budget.
More crack than West Bay.
And Watering Place
Poor decent educated Andre just finding out that when you lie with dogs, you get covered in fleas.
Surely Andre, a man of your integrity can see that you (and Wayne) don’t belong with these self serving low life.
Oh holy Wayne and Andre can do no wrong huh? Just wait for the truth to come out on a number of recent issues!!!
Why is Wayne so silent on Heathers development in Newlands?
Why is he so quiet on the Landfill fallout fiasco?
Nonsense
Honestly, we as a jurisdiction need him in government regardless. The more useless the rest of them are the more we need him there! There are others too but most of them are not even MP’s.
Bruh, Wayne assembled them, Andre went along with it.
Don’t kid yourself as he knew all along what he was doing. Same with Marco Archer, they are in it for what they can get for themselves. Just look at the sweetheart job Archer wound up getting. Andre Ebanks is getting for Andre Ebanks. Power & money are a very strong drug.
Mac wants the cruise pier…no surprises there.!
His friends CHEC will be pleased to hear this.
Perhaps there’s a doctorate degree in it for him, or a casino cage line of credit?
Why do you need an increase in fees if CIG is supposedly running a surplus in its current budget? Or do we need it to fund Kenny’s Kitchen, the turtle farm, Cinico, the Brac HS and other CiG money pits🤔🤔🤔
Dear Juju, Mac, John John, Joey, Roy, Chris, Kenneth, Barbara , David, Bernie, Alden , Sabrina,
Thank you for nothing. Now please do yourselves , ourselves and the country a favor and don’t run again as we need leaders who have the best interest of the people at heart
Why ask them not to run ? why not ask the stupid fools NOT
to vote for them.