Taking a stand wasn’t quitting, say ex-UPM members
(CNS): The four MPs who resigned from the UPM government on 31 October say their departure from Cabinet was about taking a stand, not quitting. André Ebanks
André Ebanks (WBS incumbent) is the leader of The Caymanian Community Party. He has served as financial services minister 2021-2024, and deputy premier 2023-2024. More, Katherine Ebanks-Wilks, Sabrina Turner and Heather Bodden are seeking to dispel the narrative that they quit. Rather, they say, they were unable to remain part of a malfunctioning government that had lost sight of the fact it was elected to “represent the will of the people, not the will of special interests”.
Ebanks, Ebanks-Wilks and Turner were all ministers at the time. This meant that, because of Cabinet’s collective responsibility, they would have had no choice but to go along with Cabinet’s majority decisions if they had stayed part of it. Once the UPM majority began to act inappropriately, this became impossible.
The three former ministers and Bodden, who was a parliamentary secretary before she resigned, are now part of The Caymanian Community Party.
Speaking to CNS on Nomination Day, Ebanks, who is now the leader of the TCCP, said, “When you see a malfunctioning government, when you see things that have a long-term negative consequences, and… when you see wasteful spending, it is the duty of those members not aligned with those activities to step away.”
He said that by resigning from Cabinet, they were able to raise their concerns and highlight its dysfunction before it was too late.
Given the constitutional requirement that Cabinet acts as one body, no minister can go against the majority and significant disagreements cannot be resolved by remaining in the inner circle. Any member has a straight choice to make in such circumstances: either be complicit in wrongdoing and remain silent or resign.
Since Cabinet deliberations are secret, they have not revealed the full details of what happened in the weeks that led to their departure. However, in a statement released recently, they explained that, given the decisions being made, which were wrong in a multitude of ways, they could not choose complicity over integrity.
“Quitting would have been accommodating side deals being made by members of Caucus without the knowledge or approval of the minister with responsibility for the subject matter. Quitting would have been going along with decisions that were completely different than what had been previously agreed in Caucus,” the former UPM members stated.
They said that these things would have amounted to quitting on the people who elected them, on themselves and their values of honour and objectivity.
“There are those who suggest we put the reputation of the Cayman Islands at risk by resigning, but
there came a point where we viewed what the UPM government was proposing as a bigger risk to the
country.
“They were proposing to do things for which there was no mandate from the public and, in
fact, would have had long-term negative effects on the quality of life of our people, on the country’s
reputation for good governance and on the natural and built environment of our three islands,” they added.
“It was obvious that these decisions were driven by special interests. We could not blindly support
those decisions and since three of us were also members of Cabinet, constitutionally bound by
collective responsibility, we had only two choices: either stay and silently support decisions we
determined were harmful to the Cayman Islands or step away so a minority government could not
proceed with its clandestine, irresponsible agenda and unabashed wasteful spending of public funds,” they said.
Once they resigned, all four of them were freed from that collective responsibility and were able to talk about what was happening and the potential consequences for this country.
“Contrary to the narrative of some, we did not ‘quit’ our jobs; we stood up for what is right. We moved to a position where we could best protect the interests of our people and the country. This wasn’t ‘quitting’; this was taking a stand for right versus wrong, for accountability and transparency versus side dealings in the dark; it was taking a stand for good governance that serves the majority of the people versus a government who prioritised special interests,” they stated.
They noted that “staying silent and going along with a government run amok would have made us a part of the problem”.
Ebanks, Ebanks-Wilks, Turner and Bodden added that the best way to serve the people of this country was to step away so that they could escalate the fight for good governance in the interests of the people and not for the special interests who might help politicians get elected.
See the full statement here.
Check out the CNS Election Section interactive map to see who is running in each constituency.
See the list of candidates and their party affiliations here.
Category: Election News
“Enough is Enough”? Come on, think about it what they have let us suffer, they all do the same foolishness and back stabbing their necks that it’s best NOT to vote them the same problem
Especially Sabrina, she got a next thing coming up from our mouth against her words and nasty attitude that she will laugh and like you said to the audience “You’ll be sorry!”
Andre is not the problem in TCCP. But is he strong enough to carry the rest of his crew through 4 effective and useful years? Not really convinced of that. And TCCP can’t be claiming to save us from PPM years of mismanagement and have Wayne and Ozzie who would have been part of some of the PPM governments they are critising.
All I will say is this. If Sandra Catron likes something, stay as far away from it as possible. She been well and truly bought and paid for. She shared a video recently asking why no politician wants to go on her garage podcast news station. If she doesn’t know the answer to that by now, she is even more crazy than we all think.
Anyone who goes on that show should not be in government.
First they blamed Wayne for not doing his job and had him ousted, then they blame Julianna and Kenneth for them leaving our government in a shambles. Now they are blaming PPM for calling them quitters. They need to look in the mirror, assume some responsibility and admit that they were in over their head from the start and would be again, if by some miracle they were voted back in. When Sabrina gets beaten in Prospect, the HSA will be celebrating like crazy.
They got rid of their leader, then quit when an election was coming up. They aren’t fooling anybody. Their whole party was a joke to begin with and is still a joke now. Andre is the only one who would bring anything worth while to a government. The rest are useless.
Question: Will PPM take McKeeva to have 10 to form a Govt?
We already know Wayne will.
Heck NO! And they don’t need him.
Of corse they will . Mac was front and Centre at their meeting and Kenneth, Juju, and Dumdum were overjoyed to have their leader there.
If you believe TCCP or CINP wouldnt take Mac if they need him to get a majority, you are mistaken. Wayne already did it with PACT after he swore he would not work with him. PPM are the least likely to need him in all honesty as a few other independents have already said they are more than willing to work with PPM over the other parties.
They need to explain why it took them so long to quit? Things didn’t look out of sorts long before you quit? This detail is important for us to really assess your culpability for the last 4 years. It looks way too convenient to take a stand in the last stretch.
Not sure why there is sympathy for the quitters. Are you all forgetting they were in power and were ministers for more than 3 and half years. They quit because they thought that the 4 of them walking would bring down the government, but alas they were fooled because the country carried on without them.
Why is Andre up on the podium criticizing the wild spending, traffic and immigration when it was him and his government who was responsible for doing nothing about these things for the last 3.5 years? Now that is foo foo!
We all know the closer Cayman gets the faster special interest MPs drive the train towards derailment … perhaps these TCCP past Ministers were being more inundated with the madness before they resigned. There is always this big haste to push through legislation, policy and projects in the 9 mths before parliament dissolves for elections
This “quitting” stuff is PPM propaganda plain and simple, its meant to distract from the fact that PPM has welcomed multiple PACT and UMP members back to their ranks after lambasting them for 3 years as inexperienced corrupt failures and the source of all of the nations woes.
To make things worse they were left with the dregs, the bottom of the barrel, Jon “that digger just jumped out in front of mw” Jon, Ju “My new school might as well be built with gold bars” Ju and Kenneth “gimmie your land for my cruise port” Bryan.
They need to paint TCCP as quitters and ner’ do wells as they were the only members with even the shred of decency needed to step back and refuse to take part in gutting the NCL. That’s not to say they are without sin, I firmly believe that if the issues were great enough for them to step down then they were great enough for the public to be made aware of that we entitled to know the full details and extent to which the corruption was present and the failure to do so is a black mark they will need to explain in full, but a half step forward is better than 2 steps back which is what the PPM want.
To 2:15pm: Whether they like it or not, once a candidate becomes an MP, they are sworn to secrecy. They can suggest, let on, intimate that something smells rank, but they cannot come out and say “there is a dead dog over there”. They simply can’t. Worse, as long as they sit in Cabinet they cannot publicly disagree with whatever underhanded business is going on. They have to go along with it unless they resign. That is politics, for ya. Sadly, the same thing happens with civil servants. That is why funds are mismanaged so badly and we only find out once the damage is done.
Really?! TCCP had been labeled the quitters long before the UPM members were announced by PPM. If you think it’s just PPM calling you the quitters you are sadly mistaken and out of touch
When Alden is talking about “the quitters”, is he referring to Julie and Dwayne for when they quit PPM in 2021 to join PACT?
Typical Alden and PPM tho, pissing in the wind. Or in the case of Julie and Dwayne, going number 2 in the wind
What a buffoon
Any party that distances itself from Mac Kenneth Juju Saunders and Seymour has my support.
Shame on PPM for soiling their hands and ethics so low as they have done… for the sake of the personal rewards , not for the sake of Cayman.
And you can add Fancy Pants Joey to your list because he’s not only Dart’s stooge, but also the complicit ringleader of that sorry sack of humanity.
More and more we can see PPM is now the party of Jamaicans for Jamaicans.
I was shock to see the Bodden Town Jamaicans dancing and carrying on at the PPM meeting.
Caymanians, SAVE Cayman, DON’T vote PPM.
What a discriminatory statement. Jamaicans, Hondurans etc. who have Caymanian Status call Cayman their home and have a right to vote.
Saving Cayman is voting for PPM who do not discriminate and represent all. I know Jamaicans who are more patriotic and loyal than people born and raised in Cayman.
Stop the hate!!
True that!
Jamaicans are so patriotic , to Jamaica, that they have imported crime, drugs, social disorder and breeding habits to turn us into another Jamaica.
Open your eyes to what they are doing to Cayman .
Let’s not forget that you didn’t take a stand until less than a year to go so you are fully to blame and must take responsibility for 3 full years of crap management. To shy away from that is to take us for fools
3.5 years.
They should be applauded for not taking the easy path. Commended for standing up for what’s right, not sticking their head in the sand and pretending not to see what was happening around them.
“If you want to be successful, you must be willing to do the things today others won’t do, in order to have the things tomorrow others won’t have.”
In my view leaving the UPM was not quitting.
My only complaint would be that they should have left sooner and taken the government down so that we could have had an early election. The PPM kept the UPM Rump going after the 4 left and that Rump caused a lot of damage to Cayman in the past few months.
Earlier elections would have likely facilitated another PPM-misled government. Then again, it may not have made much difference since UPM and PPM have the same goals: sell out what’s left of Cayman and her people ASAP.
The PPM stepped in and kept government afloat. Do you realize what they could have done if they really wanted to?
Remember when Andre threatened to resign when he claimed members of Cabinet were mistreating civil servants? Remind me why he’s happily running with Sabrina and Ossie.
Remember when Wayne said that she was supported?
Sabrina treats civil servants like dirt. I know because I am one of many who has dealt with her. She acts like the Queen of Cayman.
Plenty of things they didn’t resign over but never mind that…
This post is for the PPM Posse and their blind followers:
At least ten of your group have attended Finance Committee and been a part of Cabinet since the late 90s, so you all knew very well that:
• the Financially Secretary’s balance sheet did not show the post-retirement amount
• that the healthcare cost for seniors and indigents kept climbing out of control
• that a moratorium on work permits was urgently needed to rein in Caymanian unemployment
• that the Planning Board was approving plans that were well below the high water mark on Southern 7-Mile Beach
• that the Yolanda Forde report called for social reform in order to rein in crime, child abuse and eventual disenfranchising of our youth
• that a moratorium was urgently needed on selling land to adequately address what (in the early 2000s) was a looming housing crisis
And now you are telling us to “trust your experience”?
Look ya, you had three or four administrations to use your plucking experience. You did not need to pay millions in consultancy fees — Caymanians could have told you what the problems were, and suggest practical solutions, for free! But you all are too full of unna selves! Too wrapped up in only God knows what, to stop and really listen to people on the ground!
You all knew from around 2014 or 2015 that the number of homeless Caymanians had increased significantly from the three or four well-known addicts or mental health cases, and you kept getting re-elected, and the problems kept growing, under your watch, so do us a favor: all of you board a boat, head out to 12-Mile Bank — and fling unna selves in, without a life jacket!
And if you plan to say that you could not I’ve reach past civil servants, then why did you not say something while you are were out campaigning administration after administration and push for reform?
Whoever votes for the bunch of you, is part of the problems I listed above. Move from ya!
Which 10? Please name them. You whole book is wrong from the get go
5:02pm: If the PPM was government for two administrations, then it follows that at least ten of their people sat on the left whether 100% ppm or as a coalition, so they were well informed that the $h** was hitting the fan.
They cannot escape the fact that when things got challenging they quit. This could have been their golden moment to shine. True leaders turn challenge into opportunity.
Sorry guys no vote for you. Andre I’m voting for a talk show host. That should tell you a lot.
It mostly tells the rest of us that you’re an idiot and/or bought and paid for.
And that they do not understand the simple concept of collective responsibility.
If you think that they left when things got challenging then you have not been paying attention or listened to what they have said. To me it is obvious that they tried their best to correct issues from inside of that government but eventually concluded that their suggestions/reasoning would not be acceptable and so left to preserve themselves and to make us voters aware.
Yes, we all know how well all the radio talk show hosts have done when elected. You might not agree with everything Andre does, but if you can’t see the difference in qualifications, then you’re part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Clearly you did not read or did not understand the actual article
shine how? do you not understand the as a Minister you are sworn to secrecy and required to move with the majority no matter what??? If the majority are moving towards $h!t-creek – you have to go too or get out! You cannot say ”no”, I am not peddling this boat with you. When you are a Minister, you are no longer just the ”MP” or your own personal self…
Once you become a Minister, resigning is the only way you can blow the whistle. If you stay, you have to keep quiet, which makes you their accomplice; then people say “they stayed for X long, and never said anything, so they’re just as bad.” Intelligent voters understand.
unqualified candidates
If ‘qualified’ references any of the other candidates we’ve seen then good riddance to stinking bad rubbish, only place they belong is Mount Trashmore.
Sour grapes 🍇
please explain?
If I had to sit in meetings with a drunken buffoon , a convicted drug dealer , an idiot who can hardly read and write, and a Bible thumping maniac, I would walk out as well.
They did us all a favor by exposing the kind of people we’re governed by.
Why hasnt Andre called out the “Drunken Buffoon”? Ill bet he wont mention hsi name until the election is over.
“Straw” and “camel’s back” come to mind.
They chose to align themselves with those people, knowing full well what they were doing, all in the name of power.
Cayman Catron Party had their chance. Enough was enough.
#novotesforyou
Says a PPM follower… 🥱
Time for change. Enough of your self serving BS.
And these people represent change? Boy you fool though.
you know you can just say that Roy pays your salary. You dont have to hide it.