Public purse set to lose $38M over failed dump deal
(CNS): The latest minister to take over responsibility for the dump was tight lipped about the current situation regarding the talks over ReGen – the failed dump deal with Dart, this week, when he was asked about the issue in parliament by the previous minister. Kathy Ebanks-Wilks MP (WBC) wanted to know why the notice of termination had been extended to the end of the year and whether the government was effectively still on the hook for some $38million but she got very little information.
Dwayne ‘john-john’ Seymour said the direction to terminate issued by the Cabinet to her as the minister responsible for the project, in early June 2024 was to find a mutually agreeable way to exit the project by October. “No progress had been made towards this so it was extended to remedy this situation,” he said.
Pressed about discussions on defraying what she said was “the $38million” with land swaps or concessions, Seymour said he didn’t understand the question and asked her to rephrase. In response Ebanks-Wilks asked if the arrangement to find that mutually agreed way to exit the deal still “looked like a cash payment on termination” or did it look like something different.
Seymour then refused to add more stating that the discussions were ongoing and he was not able to comment further.
Meanwhile, the opposition leader Joey Hew whose party was originally responsible for signing the deal just weeks before the 2021 General Election asked if the cost to terminate the contract was $38million. At which point the speaker, Alden McLaughlin who spearheaded that deal intervened and suggested it was a difficult question for the minister to answer given that the $38million had come from the former minister.
In response Hew inexplicably withdrew the question leaving the country still wondering about another significant pay out from the public purse as a direct result of the poor decision making by this and previous governments in relation to this extremely costly deal to take care of the country’s waste-management.
Following the meeting Ebanks-Wilks posted her concerns on social media that the government was now deviating from the original termination terms that had been agreed by Cabinet and reported to parliament this summer.
“When asked if the termination costs were going to be paid in cash or settled with land swaps and concessions, the Minister would not answer,” Ebanks -Wilks posted. “The people deserve to know what discussions are being had and what potential land swaps and concessions are being discussed.”
In response to her posts Seymour made an angry short statement in the House Friday morning that still left the public without any answers about the price it will be paying for the catalog of poor decisions surrounding this deal from its inception. He said the former minister should have been well-aware of the situation relating to the deal as she was involved in the termination deal. He said it was ill-advised to discuss the specific details at this stage and the government’s objective was that the best interest of the people would be protected.
But this appears to be far from the case. Government has already admitted to the loss of more than $16.5milllion in relation to the project for various consultancy fees. The apparent loss of another $38million brining the total to over $54.5million will be a significant hit to the public finances.
It is also understood that the poor decision making on this may not be over. There are now added concerns that the country could lose more crown beachfront land to Dart as part of the termination. Seymour was also understood to have been engaging in sideline talks with Dart, separately from the official government talks led by Ebanks-Wilks, apparently sanctioned by the premier, before Ebanks-Wilks departed from the UPM in October alongside André Ebanks, Sabrina Turner and Heather Bodden. This would make it difficult for Ebanks-Wilks to be aware of what is actually going-on.
While the details of those sideline talks have not been revealed there was some indication that this was an effort to save the potential deal despite the grave concerns about the excessive costs. The price of continuing with the deal, CNS understands, could have put the country at real danger of falling foul of the public management and finance law and the inevitable intervention, again, of the UK government in local public finances.
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Category: Local News
There are not words to express how detrimental this party has been to Caymanians. They are the threat to within. How many small businesses have been destroyed by there idiocy. I came name many. But, hey…give yourself an award and a big bonus. You have no decency nor accountability.
So disappointed by the lack of any accountability, integrity, or basic understanding of anything regarding the people’s needs or Econ 101 (Or really any understanding of anything at all). They have destroyed George Town, crippled businesses, spent money like Hunter on a crack binge, and given themselves bonuses.
Any betting line that Dart’s land swap is wanting the public beach near their 2 hotels? Maybe he’ll give the country the land north of the Kimpton(former Kaboo site) in exchange.
Seriously? More of Caymans money going down the swanky soon then. This guy couldn’t organize a night out
Kathy pulled the plug knowing what the cost would be now trying to pass the buck? She must be friends with Sabrina.
Lose more beach? How? FFS
Seymour isn’t fit to run a bath let alone a government department.
Dum Dum Seymour needs to exit on the donkey he rode in on (Mac).
Why didn’t Kathy tell us about these fees. She is so far out of her league.
What a @#&%*^ waste. It is still my belief that once the selection of the Dart organisation to undertake this project was made, it was destined to fail. They simply did not want the waste processing solution next to their property. So they will win twice: get paid a lot for not much AND get the solution located elsewhere as the present location will likely be out of space before a replacement solution can be arranged.
When will our leaders learn that they are not really a “friend”. That is a facade. That organisation will always be looking after their interests first, regardless of how good the deal/agreement appears.
while I agree with the first part of this, what else are they going to do? They’re dealing with an inept government and of course they want something that’s going to benefit them as well. The problem is the government doesn’t know what they’re doing and dart keeps reaping the benefits because Jon Jon, juju and felon kenny are in charge and they are all way to stupid to understand how to run a country.
Government should have bailed the minute the Dart financial ‘negotiations’ started to go south and to have gone back (per the Bid terms) to the 2nd Preferred Bidder (CNIM + WM consortium with more experience with this stuff than Dart) and closed the deal with them. At the very least, the whiff of C that has pervaded the Dart bid from time, would have been dissipated…
“Shambles” is the politest term I can think of to describe this mess we are in.
Time for our MP’s to give themselves another raise!?
SMH!! f*$king disgrace!!!
We only get what we pay for. Perhaps if voters increased the salaries and benefits of our Ministers, we would get better results from them.
Yeah, right…
Where is the Anti-Corruption investigation into this disaster that involves PPM, UPM, the Civil service and Dart?
Dumb Dumb strikes again BTE must be so proud of him
Jon Jon has been a disaster as a Minister in every govt and position he has held. Time for him and Juju to go back to ppm and help Joey finish destroying that party
You’d never know he’s supposed to work FOR THE PEOPLE — not for himself.
That’s what the lampost and crane said, to no avail! Nobody listened!
The Minister for Wellness, Mr Seymour, has packed on an awful lot of pounds in the last few years he has been an MP.
Guzzle, guzzle, why the personal trainer not sort him out! Only after the wifey! Paid from our money during lickdown!
They refunded us?
Seymour is a real donkey’s ass, how in the world could this person be doing side deal talks with anyone let alone Dart’s vultures.Alden & Hew still trying to protect the deal so they can still suck up to Dart. What a fiasco, oh well it is only money so they can just raise some more fees to pay for it. Here is a better deal, just trade the current government & Governor to Dart and call it even.
just another day in wonderland where absolutely nothing makes sense.
time for class action lawsuit against the incompetence of the civil service and cig.
shambolic….i hope dart take cig to the cleaners…
Cayman citizens, residents and UK should take Dart and CIG to court, they not paying with own their personal money, they are reaping ours!
Just go back to a conventional, sensible, properly-lined modern landfill at the originally proposed site in the Bodden Town district (which was far north from the town of BT itself). Financially and logistically, this makes more sense and is more realistic.
As well, it would be more centrally located on the island and away from the dense population and traffic in its current location (so garbage trucks will be going away, rather than into, the current dense location).
The waste-to-energy proposal is needlessly complicated and has effectively stalled this at square one.
How sad it is that we do not have the sense to hire the expertise of people with knowledge to advise us on this type of negotiation. Tell me something did they or is it just cavalier mentality that has managed to get the country to this losing point. THis apart from the individual and collective unadulterated lack of common sense and knowledge of the 3 Ministers who have laid their hands on the wheel of this project.
Come on people now we cant let this political charade continue with we the public being the losers while they the politicos i.e. collect their pound of flesh every month off of us while we suffer and they spend and indeed lose our money.
vote not just your like in 2025 but vote with some semblance of order for people who we can hold to the oath of truly working for the people by the people and with the people. Enough of these smooth talking baby face no knowledge money grabbing politicos.Our collective future depends on better decisions at the polls.
Just wait for the disclosure on how they “paid” DART for the shortfall.
Gross mismanagement at its best. These clowns really cant manage anything. Just contemplate for a moment if we didn’t have a billion dollars in revenue mostly from the FS industry and WP fees. We would be in major trouble.