From Office of the Leader of the Opposition

The Leader of the Opposition, Hon. V. Arden McLean and the elected Member for North Side, D. Ezzard Miller, filed a Motion of No Confidence seeking to remove McKeeva Bush as Speaker of the Parliament.

The motion comes after the Speaker was recently given a suspended custodial sentence for assault of a female and the refusal of the Unity Government to take action against their colleague.

Arden McLean, Leader of the Opposition, said:
“The Speaker of the Parliament is one of the most esteemed role an elected member can hold under our Constitution. It was the hope of many Caymanians that the Speaker, Honorable McKeeva Bush, would have done the Honorable thing and resigned in light of being convicted in a court of law. While it came as no surprised that Speaker Bush refused to resign despite his criminal conviction and suspended custodial sentence, I am surprised that Premier McLaughlin, as the leader of the Unity Government, refused to demand his resignation or take the necessary steps to remove him. It was my hope that Premier McLaughlin would have exercised the same moral conviction, integrity, and leadership that he displayed more than 8 years ago when he moved a No Confidence Motion against McKeeva Bush after he was arrested and charged.

The actions of McKeeva Bush and the inaction of Premier McLaughlin demonstrate contempt for our democratic principles and will only further serve to marginalise women in our society.”

Ezzard Miller MP, Elected Member for North Side, added:
“The refusal of Speaker Bush to resign coupled with the inability of Premier McLaughlin and his Unity Government colleagues to do the right thing and remove him displays the highest level of dishonor and disrespect to our women and every single person that calls the Cayman Islands home.

We are better than this!

Both our Court of Law and our Court of Public Opinion have found Speaker Bush guilty and it is not right that a convicted criminal should hold one of the highest positions in our Parliament. I am also saddened that no member of the Unity Government, especially the women MPs, have chosen to remain silent on this issue where a woman was assaulted, and the perpetrator was found guilty in our courts. What message is this sending to women and the community?

This Motion of No Confidence in the Speaker should therefore not have come from Opposition members.  But this is what happens when Politicians decide to worry about re-election and how it will go down with the people who support Speaker Bush. This is shameful!”