FOI seeks details on speaker’s charity donations

| 28/03/2022 | 54 Comments
Cayman News Service
Speaker of the House McKeeva Bush

(CNS): A freedom of information request has been made by an anonymous group of people to mark International Women’s Month seeking details of the payments that Speaker McKeeva Bush has made over the last year to women’s charities.

Part of the deal cut with the MP for West Bay West by the fledgling PACT group following the general election was that he would donate a percentage of his salary to the Crisis Centre to smooth over the issue of his conviction for assaulting a female bar manager in 2020.

Shortly after Wayne Panton, who led the negotiations for the group of independents that was to become PACT, announced their decision to include Bush, as he too had been successfully elected on an independent ticket, the now premier outlined a number of conditions.

One of those was that Bush would give 10% of his earnings to the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre. However, the charity issued a statement soon after indicating that they were unaware of the agreement for Bush to make the donation, but in any event, they would not accept the money.

It was then never made clear if the money would be donated to another charity.

The anonymous FOI submitted to the premier’s office last week asks for the amount that has been donated to date, which charity is receiving the funds and the oversight on how it is being paid.

The requesters reminded the premier that it was him who made the announcement that the donation was part of Bush’s “penance for his crime” in relation to the assault at the Coral Beach bar, along with his apology and agreement to sign the Parliamentary Code of Conduct, which has still not been voted on.

A Ministerial Code of Conduct has been implemented for Cabinet members and the MPs Code of Conduct is expected to come before Parliament at the next meeting.

Although there was significant public pressure for Bush to resign from his position as speaker after he was convicted, the veteran politician refused and then premier Alden McLaughlin claimed that his refusal spurred his own decision to call an early election last year.

Despite his conviction, Bush has continued to imply that he was defending himself and has refused to accept culpability. Since joining PACT, not only has he retained his role as speaker, but with the newly evolved independence of Parliament, his job now involves full oversight of the Cayman Islands’ seat of democracy.


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Category: Politics

Comments (54)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    The only shocker would be an audit trail of a single dollar being booked to another gender cause, let alone a 12 month pattern of regular 10% earnings.

  2. Anonymous says:

    This system of government is basically a Mafia.
    He ain’t paying sh*#.

  3. anonymous says:

    Its a sad day for this country that Panton’s need for power is more important than the needs of the people that built this country. He says he left PPM because of Bush, then turns around and uses Bush to form a government. He sees blatant abuse and corruption brewing with his XXXX, yet turns a blind eye. He says there is a code of conduct – but no-one has seen it and people hear its a complete JOKE as it may have even been written by the Speaker. Panton and PACT will destroy this country if they continue! #leggewasright #sheIs NotSupported

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  4. Anonymous says:

    Anyone in the service industry knows that it’s difficult to have the speaker of the house commit to a bar tab yet alone charity payments.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Cayman takes the cake for the whole world when it comes to foolish stupid voters.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Fish gonna swim. Birds gonna fly. Baby Trump gonna Baby Trump.

  7. Frustrated Caymanian says:

    I believe that McKeeva spearheaded the one man one vote ultimately sealing his position in government. This was a disaster. A disaster that will keep Kenneth Bryan in power for many years. As a voting Caymanian I think that I have the right to determine who governs my country not backroom horsetrading. I can honestly say with certainty that McKeeva would not be in the political arena at all…let alone the speaker of the house. If not for the one man one vote. Put all of them on the ballot.A referendum should be called to abolish this political atrocity.Enough of the madness already…

    • Anonymous says:

      Actually it was the opposite. McKeeva wanted his constituents to continue to use their multiple votes to keep him in place. OMOV signalled the death knell of the UDP.

      CNS 11 Sept 2014: “Without the changes the two members abstained from the vote, which was carried by the 12 members of government with just Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush and his West Bay colleague, Captain Eugene Ebanks, who had previously voted with the independent members for their OMOV motion earlier this year, voting no”.

      https://archive.caymannewsservice.com/2014/09/11/omov-passes-through-la/

    • Anonymous says:

      28 @ 1:42 pm – As far as I recall McKeeva Bush was against OMOV? Is my memory correct?

      However, I agree it is a disaster but I was one who voted for it then, on the premise that it was the norm in most democracies.

      It does not work here in these small constituencies!!

      But the problem is not necessarily OMOV. It is the populist nature of our politics. Popularity gets you in and keeps you in – not ideals, or general deliverables etc. Hands-outs and favours to enough constituents and special interests keep you popular!!

  8. Anonymous says:

    There will be no chance of the FOI being supplied. There will be a confidentiality clause or some excuse. There is no way he has done anything to charity. Remember when the charity law came in, he closed his down as he couldn’t deal with the red tape. Or the oversight. He is an embarrassment to Cayman every time he takes that chair, and lords it around public events.

    • Anonymous says:

      And he keeps getting re-elected. The electorate is to blame for this disgrace.

      • Anonymous says:

        Wesley Howell still hasn’t posted the results from last 2021 election on the elections.ky website, but it was 458 McKeeva to 431 Mario…it all came down to just 458 people voting the wrong way, and 14 Mario votes would have retired the abuser from all relevance and continued interference.

        CNS: The link to the 2021 results is on the home page of the elections website. It hasn’t been added to the menu bar yet but it’s easy enough to find it.

  9. Pohan says:

    The Civil Service has a program Called CIG Cares which allows civil servants to donate a portion of their salary to a charity. Has the Speaker signed up?

  10. Anonymous says:

    I thought the last pay raise they awarded themselves included a monthly penance allowance for all MPs.

  11. Anonymous says:

    Remind us why again Wayne. Or maybe just clink the link to see for yourself. https://caymannewsservice.com/2020/03/panton-finally-quits-ppm/

  12. Anonymous says:

    The sad thing is that the people currently in power agreed to have him in their mix..and then added some other criminals to Boards etc.. Shame on Wayne, Chriss and all the currently elected officials …..I will never vote for anyPACT again and encourage anyone to do so.

  13. Anonymous says:

    Cayman elected him over, and over. Shame on us!

    • Anonymous says:

      It is the illiterate uneducated constituents of his West Bay district that keep voting for him.
      The rest of Cayman has to suffer the indignities and shame he brings to all of us.
      Don’t expect any better from Chris and Kenny, but Wayne’s association with this man is a real disappointment.

  14. Anonymous says:

    Sunday morning he the first one in church. Holding up hands praying

  15. Anonymous says:

    I would bet McBeater has not paid a single cent to anyone.

  16. Anonymous says:

    He’s a pig!

  17. Anonymous says:

    Great FOI. Mac would never think to advise on his own. Likely because he has not done anything.

  18. Anonymous says:

    Haha this should be good. Getting my popcorn ready …

  19. Anonymous says:

    No surprise! Disgusting!

  20. Anonymous says:

    What a terrible example to be setting you can assult a woman and then buy your way out of any consequences/punishment absolutely insane.

  21. Anonymous says:

    Unneh na see the price of oxtail gone through the roof ?

  22. Acting Anon says:

    Nil

  23. ThIs WrItInG Is VeRy IrRiTaTiNg says:

    This will probably be the same as when he took cash advances on his government credit card in casinos. I’m guessing he hasn’t done a thing and will try to smooth it over now and hope everyone forgets about it. He needs to go far and stay long.

  24. Anonymous says:

    Just an odious individual.

  25. Anonymous says:

    I’ve often wondered what favorite board games would correlate to the path of our ministers success, failures, and maybe describes their character traits, here goes,

    Chess, – not a chance

    Twister, – yeah sure, just for what the name implies, the game though, nope, again not a chance

    Checkers, – we’re getting closer

    Jenga, – I’m sure there’s many and vastly experienced.

    Hungry Hungry Hippos, – not many that aren’t expert players

    Boggle, – they play it every day

    Cluedo, – still has the cellophane wrapper on it

    Monopoly, – they have played it but constantly cheat taking out the “go directly to jail” cards before the game even starts.

    And finally,

    Mastermind,

    (deliberately left blank) 🤕

  26. Anonymous says:

    What a complete (bad taste) joke – this man should never have been allowed to hold a position of power years ago let alone in this current omnishambles of a government. It’s an open secret the type of behaviour many of our esteemed leaders have/are involved in and the people that suffer the most are those that elected them in. Its wrong to not look for positives but when it comes to Caymanian politics there are so very few. There are moral men and woman out there that have the best interests of the community at the forefront of their ambition but they aren’t currently in government.

    • Anonymous says:

      I agree, but the electorate has repeatedly elected this disgrace. So who is to blame?

      • Anonymous says:

        Agree wholeheartedly. I can only assume those down voting the comments on this article are McBeater and his little entourage of paid security that have to be around him 24/7 when he leaves West Bay. Rarely has a man who did so little for so few for so long been despised by so many.

  27. Anonymous says:

    Honorable men of character and morals. Not.

  28. Cheese Face says:

    Just looking at a picture of that man (and I use that term extremely loosely) makes me vomit in my mouth a little bit. Disgusting excuse for a human being.

  29. Anonymous says:

    PACT is nothing more than a FARCE. Shame on them and anyone associated on a political level with this rag tag bunch of independents led by a desperate power grabber.

  30. Anonymous says:

    If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas.
    shame on panton and roper.

  31. Anonymous says:

    I am going to hazard a guess and say $0 was donated until this story was published and now all of sudden…..

    Kind of like $0 being paid back on his credit card until he got called out on it.

  32. Anonymous says:

    If he’s being paid full salary, plus high office freebies, with casino discretionary, consultant fees, developer compensation while also collecting pension, then we might ask who is theoretically paying this disgraceful mea culpa, and would he feel it at all? Seems like the financial equivalent of one of his single losing hands at the Seminole Hard Rock. Money should go to his victims fund and they can pass it on or not.

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