GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, CMC – A special meeting of Parliament has been called for next Tuesday to debate a motion of no-confidence in the government.
The meeting was triggered after all nine members of the Opposition signed a letter to the SpeakerSpeaker, which was hand-delivered by Joey Hew, deputy leader of the group, Friday evening.
“We, the undersigned, being duly elected members of the Parliament of the Cayman Islands, do at this moment requisition the summoning of a meeting of the House to move and debate a motion to be brought by the Hon. Leader of the Opposition and seconded by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, that the Parliament should declare a Lack of Confidence in the Government.”
A sufficient number of elected members signed the Letter to effect a meeting.
Those signing included members of the Progressive Opposition and the three independent Opposition members. We are satisfied that other members will also be signing the Letter.
The Speaker accepted both the Letter Requesting a Special Meeting and the Motion of a Lack of Confidence in the Government.
“As I indicated on Thursday, it is our duty as representatives of our people to act to restore stable and effective government to these Islands. We are carrying out that duty. May God guide the actions of each of us elected to serve our country and our people. God bless these beloved Cayman,” the SpeakerSpeaker noted.
According to opposition leader Roy McTaggart, the resignation of McKeeva Bush MP (WBW) from the PACT Government on Thursday has left Premier Wayne Panton without a viable government, and he should step down.
The government referred to as PACT “People-driven, Accountable, Competent, and Transparent.”
McTaggart added that Panton could only secure a quorum with opposition support with a hung parliament. There are now nine members on the opposition benches, three former PACT independent members, six Progressives, and nine on the government benches. While Panton can depend on the Speaker’s casting vote, he will need at least one opposition member to support a call for next month’s budget meeting.
“Premier Panton’s PACT government of independents has been unstable from the outset. But now it is constitutionally unviable,” McTaggart said in a Thursday evening statement.
“With the 2024/2025 budget now overdue for presentation, the premier does not even have sufficient members in his PACT group to form a quorum to hold a meeting of Parliament. A quorum requires ten elected members in addition to the SpeakerSpeaker.”
Bush is the third person to resign from PACT, which McTaggart said “continues its slow but inevitable process of disintegration.”
“The constant infighting was bad for the country, and Bush’s resignation was the final straw,” McTaggart added.
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