McTaggart blames premier for delay on MHF
(CNS): Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart has taken aim at Premier Wayne Panton in the fallout from the resignation of Dr Marc Lockhart from the Mental Health Commission over the lack of movement on the mental health facility by the health ministry. The Progressives leader said that the situation was “unacceptable and should be an embarrassment to” Panton, Health Minister Sabrina Turner and the entire Cayman Islands Government.
Making political capital out of the situation, McTaggart said the circumstances that led to Dr Lockhart’s resignation should concern everyone.
“His frustration is over the plodding pace the government is taking to address what has been called Cayman’s mental health crisis,” he said in a statement. “Despite the premier’s propensity towards dithering, I would have hoped he would have pushed his minister to get the mental health facility opened as planned.”
McTaggart urged the minister not to let the project “fall by the wayside”, as he compared the problem to the situation at the George town landfill and the stalled talks between the government and Dart over the terms of the deal for the ReGen project.
“In that instance, Minister Turner seemed so out of her depth that Premier Panton took over responsibility for that project in October 2021. Regrettably, the premier has not done any better moving forward with the waste-to-energy project or, indeed, with the overall management of the landfill,” he said.
The previous government signed a last-minute preliminary agreement with Dart just weeks before the general election that PACT has said contained inadequate and unfavourable terms, which is believed to be the reason the WTE project has stalled. In the case of the mental health facility, Dr Lockhart has made it abundantly clear that the delay to the opening of the centre lies firmly with the senior bureaucrats within the health ministry and not the elected minister.
The facility was due to open in March this year after it was delayed from its original opening date in 2021 by the COVID pandemic. The opposition said that despite the additional time, the ministry had failed to plan for the opening and deal with basic issues.
“It is concerning that there is still much work required to recruit and train the necessary staff for the facility, to work with families and clinicians on plans for the safe return of patients from overseas, and to develop the necessary community mental health services that will support the effective operation of the residential facility. This is unacceptable and should be an embarrassment to the premier, Minister Turner and the entire government,” McTaggart said.
The opposition leader thanked Dr Lockhart for his contributions to mental health provision and for developing the business case for the facility, which he said had the potential to revolutionise mental health care for Caymanians.
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Category: Health, Mental Health
Hey, Roy question for you. Why didn’t the PPM get this done when you losers were in power? I will wait!
same ole refrain from Roy, blame Wayne.
Next he will blame Wayne coz it was too hot yesterday…
Summary of this article:
Roy is attempting to blame PACT for delays and issues caused by PPM-era senior government workers.
Why does Roy not blame himself for not doing the things he should have done, instead of dumping on other so-called leaders? Loss of memory, perhaps?
Public Works Dept and general contractor are the ones that should be in the crosshairs. Frankly, the PWD has so much undone to explain…
do-nothing-ppm or no-plan-pact?????….neither thanks.
direct rule for 2 years while a new raft of political candidates are selected/vetted based on qualifications, experience and integrity. then we have new elections.
Truth. It is so typical of Cayman to point fingers at everyone other than those in the mirror. Many parties from 20+ years ago are complicit. But the current reluctance of accepting past defaults when in control is just so appallingly typical. #Caymandontblameme whenI had control.
Dream on, man, dream on!
Go to hell in a basket you
OK. Roy needs to sit down and STFU.
He should just retire. Nobody wants him to be Premier, least of all his salivating colleagues.
Yes, he should have ridden off into the sunset after his first effort.
Is it too late ???
Is it too late?
I agree.
I’m no fan of the PPM, but isn’t this kind of the opposition’s job? To highlight government failings? Are you suggesting that everything is fine? For once, Roy is doing the right thing – of course he’s going to make capital out of it, but that doesn’t make him wrong.
He’s deflecting blame for his past failures. I have no sympathy – he as well as his entire generation of ministers XXXX have sold out our country and history will not be kind.
That’s true. He should know that belittling others will not make him any better.
If it were the current government’s failings, yes. But the current government is trying to remedy the failings successive administrations over the last two decades, and many of those failings lie at the feet of Roy and the PPM, so all this blaming and finger pointing now is both hypocritical and embarrassing.
Yes, It certainly is. And not too smart, either.
the point of the opposition is to be the check and balance to the party in power. Roy has perverted his purpose and turned it into an obstructionist shoe box from which he can campaign from.
it’s disgusting.
Yes! It is!
VERY disgusting!
No, JT….. That ain’t the right thing. It is WRONG!
He should study the flow chart of civil service and ministries if he hopes to lead it all one day. Outbursts like his should give voters enormous pause, at his implied level of understanding. It’s disqualifying, not self-promotional.
He should never be allowed to be in position of influence again. His day has come and gone and it is not with a positive result.
Yes, it’s very hard to dispute that!
The mental health facility has stalled because CIG refused to compensate contractors for construction materials increases and delays in getting these materials. They openly give pay raised and free money to their own people yet refuse to compensate the GC for materials and labor overruns due to COVID on this critical project. Also who came up with the idea to put this 1hr outside of town with no public transport links. It’s literally 15 mins off the main road in the middle of the bush.
It’s located where it’s at for a few reasons, I’m sure some are;
Safety for immediate surroundings areas.
A quieter location as to not trigger senses that may have an issue with noises
Avoid public snooping, so located to make it as private as possible.
And of course there’s the NIMBY factor for sure played a big part in location for the facility.
Wouldn’t it have made sense to build the new prison in EE and build the mental Health in Northward on the government site?
Sorry, Mister Ironhead, but we know you are just blowing smoke!
We really need this mental health facility. Parliament is already at full capacity with 19.
HEAR HEAR!!!!
Does reading Dr Lockhart’s quitting letter, and then blaming Premier, qualify Roy for early admission, or will he still need a doctor’s note?
Roy did nothing! He is as complicit as the rest. The past 30+ years of CIG is repugnant (that means ‘unacceptable’ for those current Ministers with Cayman education).
Oh my, truth that will not be understood or accepted.
It’s shocking how Roy McTaggart continues to outshine the collection of Joey Who, Moses K and the man we know we cannot trust Sir Alldone in the credibility rankings as party leader. It is sad.
PPM are a dying party full of untrustworthy people desperate for power. God help the PPM and Cayman
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The story goes, that in the end, God can’t help the unrepentant sinners. There’s a Book on this somewhere.
Please keep your religion out of this discussion. You can worship as you wish, but don’t promote it with the issue at hand.
You don’t want free speech?
Who appointed you to decide what they can say?
It goes along with free speech.
Roy McTaggart please retire you have become a national embarrassment.
Piss Poor Management by the ppm in opposition who invent stories to try to stay relevant. This latest disaster with Dr. Lockhart’s resignation is all on the expensive mess that DG Manderson refers to as the “world class civil service”.
Senior Civil Servants in the Ministry of Health are to blame for this chapter of incompetence not the Minister of Health or PACT.
What will the DG do about it?
Will any civil servant be held accountable?
The silence from Governor Roper is deafening.
Chief Officers run the show. Elected officials are the stooges who think they are in charge.
Roy you are losing the respect of the people by willfully being Sir Alden’s puppet.
It’s embarrassing please stop and do not run again in 2025 you have lost the plot.
PPM are the definition of desperation and hypocrisy considering the were the party in power for eight years 2013-21 and now complain about everything they did not achieve when in power. They again prove with every attempt to gain relevance that they cannot be trusted due to their own actions and consistent misrepresentation of the facts to suit their agenda.
“The previous government signed a last-minute preliminary agreement with Dart just weeks before the general election that PACT has said contained inadequate and unfavourable terms, which is believed to be the reason the WTE project has stalled. In the case of the mental health facility, Dr Lockhart has made it abundantly clear that the delay to the opening of the centre lies firmly with the senior bureaucrats within the health ministry and not the elected minister.
Never forget why there were replaced as the government. Why PACT came together and that the PPM led by Roy, Alden, Joey, Moses or KT can never be trusted again to lead this country.
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They have finally realised they have become irrelevant. Roy pointing fingers at anyone other than himself and his PPM cronies for everything that they left others to fix is just a joke. Do we really have to keep re-electing these people? What a sad state of affairs.
For once, McTaggart is right that this is Panton’s failure to own.
Re-read Dr Lockhart’s letter and believe him.
you didnt read Lockhart’ letter did you…
Does Roy do anything else other than ironically point fingers? The blockage is with senior civil servants that apparently can’t be named or fired. They date back to PPM times.
This problem goes back to PPM & Jon Jon when they decided to break the job all up into smaller multiple contracts so “little guy contractors” could do individual pieces instead of hiring one reputable major contractor to handle it. It has turned into a joke show, very similar to the Turtle Farm fiasco. Of course PPM loves to throw the blame around just like the sweetheart dump deal signed in the “midnight hour”.
PPM is to blame for allowing Jon Jon to be Minister of Health for two terms, which surely did not help progress on the mental health facility. PACT not doing much better.
PPM and Sir Alden are the greatest leaders we ever had. Please lead us forward!
Sir, or Madam, or whatever you choose to be, should call and see a neurologist immediately! You definitely need help.
OMG. This has been in process for years, when I believe that PPM was responsible. So please stop with this finger pointing. Not saying PACT is perfect, but dig the speck out of your own eye before critiscing others.