Cayman's opposition leader plans parliament boycott should Bush remain as Speaker

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, CMC –Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart, says opposition legislators will boycott the Parliament should the Speaker, McKeeva Bush, fail to demit office even though he has reportedly submitted his resignation.

“Over the past week the entire country has witnessed first-hand what can be considered a government that has become increasingly desperate and heavy handed and willing to ignore proper procedure and rules,” McTaggart said in a statement flanked by several opposition legislators.

“We are concerned that the Speaker has resigned and is expecting to continue in the chair and is being enabled to do so by the Government.

“Regardless of any purportedly effective date the fact is that Mr Bush has resigned as Speaker and must demit the chair immediately and the Deputy Speaker sit as the presiding officer as required under section 4(1)(b) of the Standing Orders,” he added.

McTaggart, who had filed a motion of 'Lack of Confidence” in Bush, said that not only has the government “banded together” to prevent the motion being debated “but they have done so on a false premise.

“This refusal of a valid motion is inexcusable and a violation of all democratic principles of Parliament,” he added.

In his motion, the Opposition Leader said that Bush, who was elected Speaker following the April 14, 2021 general election, had prior to the polls “pleaded guilty” before the Summary Court on December 3, 2020 to two charges of assault and one charge of disorderly conduct and was sentenced to two months' imprisonment, which was suspended for two years.

McTaggart said that the incident led to “an investigation by the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, and has been reported in the local and international press” and that even the Governor, Martyn Roper, had "publicly called on the Speaker to resign from the role”.

“I regret to say that under this Government we are rapidly becoming a 'kangaroo parliament'. We take our oaths seriously when we swore to serve the people of the Cayman Islands in the House of Parliament.

“We would be abdicating our duty to the country to participate in the sham that today's meeting of Parliament has become,” said the Opposition Leader, who had earlier said he had hoped that the motion of no confidence which he had also field against the premier would have been dealt with when the Parliament met on October 5.

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