Tara Rivers
Tara Rivers (IND): West Bay South MLA – NOT RUNNING IN THE 2021 ELECTIONS.
Minister for Financial Services and Home Affairs.
Biography:
Rivers made history in the May 2017 elections when she ran and won as an independent, supported by Coalition for Cayman
The Coalition for Cayman (C4C) was a political grouping, which claimed it was not a political party, formed to run in the 2013 General Elections.... More (C4C) group, in the UDP stronghold of West Bay, becoming one of the four MLAs in the district. The PPM, under the leadership of Alden McLaughlin
Alden McLaughlin (PPM): Red Bay MP, Premier, Minister of International Trade, Investment, Aviation and Maritime Affairs (MITIAMA). Biography: McLaughlin has been a member of the... More, had a very weak majority coalition and Rivers was offered a Cabinet post to strengthen the new government. Rivers accepted and served in the 2013-2017 administration as Minister for Education, Employment and Gender Affairs.
However, following the election John Hewitt, the husband of failed UDP candidate for West Bay, Velma Hewitt, filed a petition claiming that Rivers was not qualified on two grounds: she possessed and used an American passport, which was an indication of allegiance to another power, and because she lived overseas for a significant part of the seven years prior to Nomination Day and so did not fulfill the residency requirements set out in the constitution.
In his ruling delivered in August 2013 Chief Justice Anthony Smellie found that the petition failed on both grounds.
Rivers ran again as an independent in 2017 for the West Bay South seat and won a second term. Although she has not joined the PPM, she continues to caucus with the party and is seen as a reliable ally.
During her time as financial services minister, the industry has had a rocky time. In February this year the Cayman Islands was added to the European Union’s “blacklist” of non-cooperative jurisdictions regarding tax issues due to the tardiness in passing a crucial piece of legislation and missing a key deadline by a matter of days.
Prior to her election, Minister Rivers was a structured finance and corporate lawyer, having practiced law at a firm in the City of London (UK) as well as at a leading local law firm in the Cayman Islands. She was one of the youngest recipients of the United World College scholarship at age 15.
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