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
There’s no honour amongst thieves!
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
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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?
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