PROGRESSIVES SAY DEPUTY SPEAKER HAS BLOCKED THEIR NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION IN THE SPEAKER

PROGRESSIVES SAY DEPUTY SPEAKER HAS BLOCKED THEIR NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION IN THE SPEAKER

Statement by Leader of the Opposition Roy McTaggart on the Deputy Speaker’s refusal to accept their motion of no-confidence in the Speaker.

This afternoon I received a notice from the Clerk of Parliament notifying me that the Deputy

Speaker of Parliament disapproved the motion on “Lack of Confidence in the Speaker” filed by

myself and seconded by Ms. Barbara Conolly the Parliamentary Representative for George

Town South. This motion was to be tabled in the upcoming sitting of Parliament on Friday

October 7, 2022.

Despite calls for the resignation of the Speaker of House from various individuals in the

Cayman Islands, including the Premier and the Governor, no reason was given for not allowing

this important motion for debate.

I, along with my colleagues, believe that this motion deals with a matter which is of grave concern to all those who are resident in the Cayman Islands, but also to those who do business here.

The motion complies in every material respect with the Standing Orders of the House, and it is

therefore surprising and alarming that it appears to have been disapproved arbitrarily as no

reason was given.

This action in my experience is unprecedented. As a result, we have written to the Deputy

Speaker, Mrs. Kathryn Ebanks-Wilks, requesting her to provide the substantive reasons for not

accepting the motion on “Lack of Confidence in the Speaker”.

The Cayman Islands over the years has been a sound democracy. It should be noted that in the

Westminster Parliamentary systems an official like the Speaker should remain in office only

so long as he/she enjoys the confidence of the majority of the elected members.

(PREVIOUS STATEMENT ON MOTION OF NO-CONFIDENCE IN HON. SPEAKER MCKEEVA BUSH FILED BY THE PROGRESSIVES ON FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 30th 2022)

Leader of the Opposition, Hon Roy McTaggart, advised today that he has filed in Parliament a motion of ‘Lack of Confidence in the Speaker, the Hon. McKeeva Bush OBE, JP’. motion was seconded by Ms Barbara Conolly, MP for George Town South, and supported by the entire Opposition.

“It has been increasingly obvious to me over the past week that despite his letter demanding the resignation of the Hon. McKeeva Bush as Speaker, the Premier does not appear to have any intention of acting to ensure the removal of Mr Bush from the post”, Mr McTaggart said. “The most recent confirmation of this is the Premier’s excuse that the Opposition’s filing of a motion of a Lack of Confidence in the Government somehow complicates his handling of the matter of Mr Bush and he went on to question the Opposition’s priorities.”

“But given the Premier’s failure to act despite the deadline given to Mr Bush having passed, and Mr Bush refusing to step down, I now have to ask the Premier what are his priorities? I suspect that they are all about desperately trying to keep his government intact,” he added.

The Opposition leader indicated that if the Premier insists that he will dither on this as he does on everything else, then it becomes his responsibility to do what the Premier is afraid to do.

“I remind the public that it was the Premier who took Mr Bush into his Government following the last election, and it was the Progressives who decided that it was better to be in Opposition than to again form a Government with Mr Bush”, he concluded.