Mario’s ‘primary objective’ to oust Mac
(CNS): Mario Ebanks
Mario Ebanks: Candidate for West Bay West. Chief Human Resources Officer at the Cayman Islands Airports Authority. Biography: • Eighth generation Caymanian, with great-grandparents from... is running in the April elections in order to oust McKeeva Bush
McKeeva Bush (CDP), West Bay West MLA Speaker of the LA, Leader of the Cayman Democratic Party. Biography: Bush is the longest serving member and... from his West Bay West seat. At the Chamber of Commerce Candidates Forum in the district on Wednesday evening, the former public servant was unequivocal as he outlined his reasons for challenging Bush in this election after many years away from the political hustings.
Although the incumbent was not there to hear him, Ebanks stated that he was running because of Bush’s track record and his primary object was to remove him from the House of Parliament, having already been removed twice from Cabinet (formerly the Executive Council).
“I don’t how many times he expects to breach the public’s trust and to get re-elected,” Ebanks said, but he believed integrity, character and decency were all on the ballot.
Bush declined the invitation to answer questions alongside his challenger, handing him the forum floor. But while he had a clear primary objective for entering the race, Ebanks also set out a number of policy ideas for dealing with particularly topical issues, such as over-development and beach access.
The COVID-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for Cayman to reset, he said, and laid out a policy plan to draw up a national vision for Cayman 2050, along the lines of the much touted but never adopted Vision 2008. He pointed out that there was no point in reopening the economy and continuing on in the same way as before, because pre-COVID Cayman was reaching breaking point.
It was clear that Ebanks had come prepared to engage with Bush and was keen to set out the differences in their positions on important policies, especially when asked about development concessions.
Ebanks noted his concerns about the fees that are being waived which should be used for infrastructure, and said the framework for dealing with development agreements needed to be structured in regulations. This would prevent closed-door talks and sweetheart deals that the public only get to hear about after the fact when they learn “so much money has been left on the table”, he said.
Given the amount of construction underway, he said, these developers should be contributing to the economy and giving sweetheart deals now at a time when the country could be selective was “irresponsible and reckless”, he added.
Ebanks is running as an independent but said he does believe in the party structure and was an early member of the PPM. However, he did not think the current party had worked so he left more than a decade ago. In this election, he said, there were people he wanted to align with but it would be based on ideology and common policy positions.
He said he felt that some of the current independents running were not only capable of forming an alternative government but a superior government, adding that discussions had already begun among the independents, which he was going to pursue to the fullest.
Asking the people of WBW to vote for him, Ebanks committed to upholding the principles of the Constitution set out in the preamble, and said it was time for a new but a prepared and experience candidate that the constituents can be proud of and who “will not embarrass you”.
However, Ebanks is facing one of the toughest battles in the 2021 elections. He ran for a seat in the West Bay district as part of a West Bay Alliance in 2005, when he came sixth in field of twelve for the four seats, with around 31% of the district-wide votes.
But while this is a different political landscape, Bush still has a solid base in the new WBW constituency. In 2017 he polled 605 votes, which was more than 71% of the 849 votes counted, or around 50% of the 1,225 people on the voters list at that time.
According to the latest draft list, which will be confirmed on 1 April, there are now 1,272 voters on the list. Therefore, to stand a chance of beating the incumbent, Ebanks will need a fantastic turnout, with of all those who failed to vote last time voting for him. He would also need to take all the votes that went to Bush’s challengers last time, as well as chip away at Bush’s own base.
Bush’s recent conviction for a violent drunken assault on the female bar manager at the now closed Coral Beach Bar appears to have done little to diminish his support in the WBW constituency. The veteran politician has spent the last few months doing a complete U-turn on the admissions he made in court, which had led to his reduced sentence.
He had pleaded guilty to the charges but claimed he was utterly intoxicated and had very little recollection of what had happened. At the time he accepted the evidence presented by the prosecutor, based on a clear video in which Bush, who was clearly drunk, had fallen over, had been assisted by staff and then launched an attack on the woman, a series of events that was supported by several witnesses statements.
However, since then Bush has told a number of different stories but in each revision he reduces his own culpability and effectively denies the convictions and admissions he made in court, reversing all the claims made to the magistrate, who took him at his word when he expressed his remorse.
Although some local straw polling has indicated that some female voters are less supportive of Bush, who has been a representative in West Bay for three decades, overall the conviction appears to have done little to damage his strong base.
Watch the Chamber Forum for WBW below:
Category: Uncategorized
