POLITICAL PLAYBOOK OR CONSTITUTIONAL CONUNDRUM

By Staff Writer

Fresh debate is swirling in the wake of two significant developments which have rocked political circles and the wider Cayman community over the past few days.

In the first case, the sudden decision by independent MP McKeeva Bush to break ties with the ruling PACT coalition of Premier Wayne Panton has set off a chain reaction creating a vacuum of political uncertainty. It was the third defection from the PACT team so far this year.

Secondly, the main opposition People’s Progressive Movement(PPM/Progressives) has now confirmed that it has formally submitted a request for an urgent meeting of Parliament to move a motion of no-confidence against Premier Panton and the remainder of his administration.

This came on Friday after Premier Panton rejected an ultimatum by the Progressives for him to resign by 3 pm the same day.

The PACT coalition is precariously poised with just a one-seat majority in the 19-seat Parliament. It now commands only nine seats in what is effectively a hung Parliament as the Speaker Katherine Ebanks-Wilks is a member of the PACT coalition.

With Premier Panton’s PACT seemingly hemorrhaging support among its elected ranks, it’s understood that delicate political negotiations have been taking place on both the government and opposition sides.

After Mr Panton disregarded the Progressive’s resignation ultimatum, the leader of the opposition party, Roy McTaggart, announced that he had proceeded to submit a formal request to the Speaker of the Parliament for a special meeting scheduled for Tuesday November 14th to move the no-confidence motion.

“We, the undersigned, being duly elected members of the Parliament of the Cayman Islands, do hereby requisition the summoning of a meeting of the House for the purpose of moving and debating a motion to be brought by the Hon. Leader of the Opposition and seconded by the Hon. Deputy Leader of the Opposition, that the Parliament should declare a Lack of Confidence in the Government. We request that such meeting be summoned for Tuesday, November 14, to commence at 10 am. “

According to the Progressives leader, “that letter was signed by a sufficient number of elected members to effect a meeting. Those signing included members of the Progressive Opposition and the three independent Opposition members.”

Significantly Mr McTaggart also said “We are satisfied that other members will also be signing the letter,” and added, “Both the Letter Requesting a Special Meeting and the Motion of a Lack of Confidence in the Government was accepted by the Hon. Speaker.”

A copy of that document distributed to the media shows the signatories at the time the letter was submitted and officially stamped.

They are the members of the PPM/Progressives along with independent members Chris Saunders and Dwayne Seymour.

Caymanian Times can confirm that by then, two other members included in the stamped letter had not signed. They were McKeeva Bush and Juliana O’Connor-Connolly.

Caymanian Times can also confirm that subsequently, another letter of similar content to that submitted to the Speaker by the Progressives on Friday had Mr McKeeva Bush's signature. However, his was the only signature on that document and it did not include the stamp of the Office of the Speaker.

It's been observed that both the original stamped letter (signed by the Progressives, Mr Saunders and Mr Seymour) and the subsequent document with only Mr Bush’s signature also included the name of Mrs O’Connor Connolly. However, by the time of Caymanian Times publishing and posting this article, she had still not signed.

It has been indicated that the current situation raises questions of both a political and constitutional nature.

Among them; politically the inclusion of Mrs O’Connor-Connolly’s name on the list requesting the motion of no-confidence but without her signature, especially as she is currently the Deputy Premier and Minister of Education in Premier Panton’s PACT Cabinet.

Another factor being highlighted constitutionally is the validity of Mr Bush’s signature on the second but unstamped document and whether or not the letter meets the parliamentary criteria and Standing Orders.

Caymanian Times understands that urgent talks are being held this weekend which could determine the fate of the intended motion of no-confidence, and ultimately the future of the PACT coalition.