PACT/UPM

| 13/03/2025

PACT (People-driven, Accountable, Competent and Transparent) was a group of independent MPs who came together after the April 2021 General Election to form a government. The initial members, announced on Thursday, 15 April 2021 (the day after Election Day) were:

  • Wayne Panton (NEW)
  • Christ Saunders (BTW)
  • Jay Ebanks (NS)
  • Kenneth Bryan (GTC)
  • Isaac Rankine (EE)
  • Bernie Bush (WBN)
  • Katherine Ebanks-Wilks (WBC)
  • André Ebanks (WBS)
  • Sabrina Turner (PRO)
  • Heather Bodden (SAV)

It was announced that Panton (the main force behind the coalition) would be premier, and Saunders would be deputy premier. Alric Lindsay, who had unsuccessfully run for George Town South, was to be speaker of the House.

The group’s policy positions included curbing excessive over-development, prioritising the environment, introducing a universal single-payer healthcare system, consumer protection and fair trade, among other goals to improve the lives of ordinary Caymanians.

However, that same day, Rankine and Turner both dropped PACT and signed an agreement to join the PPM-Alliance group to form a government. Jay Ebanks’ name was also on the agreement document but he had not signed it. According to sources close to the backroom horsetrading, Rankine and Turner were subjected to pressure from campaign donors not to support PACT.

Then-PPM leader Roy McTaggart issued a short statement late Thursday evening confirming that the PPM had an agreement with ten elected members to form the government with him as premier.

Rankine, Turner and Jay Ebanks were reportedly offered a number of inducements, including Cabinet positions. However, there were also reports that non-political, wealthy and powerful individuals who were banking on the PPM-Alliance remaining in power went out on a limb using various proxies to ensure that pressure and persuasion were used to get the numbers for McTaggart.

By Friday evening, Turner had returned to PACT in response to pressure from her constituents and people across the islands who had voted for an independent government. Jay Ebanks recommitted his allegiance to the group, which now had nine members and was therefore not a majority. Rankine was still indicating his inclination to go with the PPM-Alliance.

Over the weekend, 17 and 18 April, the horse-trading continued. However, on Monday, 19 April, it was announced that McKeeva Bush (WBW) was joining PACT, giving it the numbers needed to form a government. His reward was to be made speaker of the House again for the next parliament. Panton would be premier, Saunders the deputy premier, and the other ministers would be Bryan, Turner, André Ebanks, Katherine Ebanks-Wilks, Jay Ebanks and Bernie Bush.

However, a few days later, Juliana O’Connor-Connolly (CBE) left the PPM-Alliance and joined PACT, giving it a more secure majority. Rankine followed her lead and returned to PACT the same day. While he had reportedly previously demanded the premier’s job to support PACT, he then had to settle for a place on the government’s back-bench. O’Connor-Connolly returned to her ministry position with the education portfolio.

In November 2021, Dwayne Seymour, part of the PPM-Alliance, crossed the floor of the House and joined the PACT government following invitations to do so by Jay Ebanks and Saunders. He brought PACT’s numbers up to 13.

In October 2022, amid yet another cloud of scandal, McKeeva Bush resigned from his position as speaker. Bush had been accused of assaulting women while drunk at the Caribbean Tourism Organization cocktail party in September 2022, which he denied. Both the government and the opposition accused the other side of the House of being hypocritical in dealing with Bush.

Deputy Speaker Katherine Ebanks-Wilks became the speaker, and Bernie Bush became the deputy speaker.

In March 2023, Chris Saunders, the deputy premier and finance minister, resigned from PACT, which he said was a result of “differences that are material to” him and Panton working together. This resulted in a Cabinet reshuffle in which Dwayne Seymour became a minister, taking on Saunders’ portfolio for border control and labour, and O’Connor-Connolly became deputy premier.

In September 2023, Seymour resigned from the PACT Government and from his position as the labour minister, crossing the floor for the second time in a single administration.

On 9 November 2023, McKeeva Bush MP (WBW) resigned from the PACT Government, just before he was due to appear in court for a case management hearing relating to his indecent assault case the following month. This left PACT with ten members: nine on the House floor and Speaker Ebanks-Wilks, who would be able to give the deciding vote if necessary.

This was followed by months of speculation that PACT was increasingly divided, with calls by the opposition for Panton to step down and rumblings of uncertainty within the party. Finally, in mid-November 2023, Panton was ousted as premier by his Cabinet and replaced by O’Connor-Connolly.

PACT was renamed the United People’s Movement (UPM). In the new Cabinet, André Ebanks became deputy premier, Ebanks-Wilks resigned as speaker to take up the former premier’s sustainability and climate portfolio. Seymour rejoined the group, crossing the floor for the third time, to retake his position as border control and labour minister.

Bernie Bush stepped down from Cabinet but assumed the responsibilities of parliamentary secretary in the reshuffled administration, as did Heather Bodden and McKeeva Bush. The new Cabinet lasted less than a year.

On 31 October 2024, Deputy Premier André Ebanks, Ministers Turner and Ebanks-Wilks, and Parliamentary Secretary Bodden announced that they had all resigned from the UPM Government. Ebanks said their position had become untenable after months of dysfunction, disorganisation and a lack of professionalism within the UPM.

It later emerged that among the reasons for their departure was a disagreement over a particular high-value transaction. Other points of conflict were the dump, the cost of the Cayman Brac school and conservation issues.

Bernie Bush did not resign from the UPM but was not part of the lame-duck government that was left. The UPM administration now comprised just six members: five Cabinet ministers and McKeeva Bush as parliamentary secretary.

Because it lacked a quorum, the PPM said it would prop up the minority government to allow it to deal with important business but not “contentious legislation” until the elections.

Three members of the UPM — O’Connor-Connolly, Bryan and Seymour — have since joined the PPM to contest the 2025 General Election on 30 April.

See the full line-ups of the various PACT and UPM Cabinets in the CNS Library.

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.

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