Cayman Islands, May 29, 2017 – George Town – The decision of who will be the Premier of the Cayman Islands and form the new government has been rethought and announced three times since the general election, last week Wednesday. This third time might be a charm.
Today, it was announced that the Premier will in fact be Hon. Alden McLaughlin and Speaker of the House McKeeva Bush. This was the initial announcement that was made last week, following a meeting with both parties where the People’s Progressive Movement (PPM) and the Cayman Democratic Party (CDP) agreed to work together in the interest of national unity.
Shortly after that announcement was made, news broke that the agreement fell apart and the Premier would be CDP Leader, McKeeva Bush. The decision of who will govern is now back to it’s initial agreement, and this one seems to be final.
The two long-time political rivals met with Governor Helen Kilpatrick to confirm that they would be forming a coalition government of “national unity” for the next four years.
Mr. McLaughlin put together a 12-person government consisting of all seven elected Progressives party members, including himself, all three elected Cayman Democratic Party members and two independents. The independent members were Prospect MLA Austin Harris and West Bay South MLA Tara Rivers.
Progressives Deputy Leader Moses Kirkconnell was confirmed as Deputy Premier.
Mr. McLaughlin said he was seeking cooperation from two additional independent members in joining the government, but has yet to receive confirmation from those individuals.
“I’m still hopeful we get on board a couple more of the independents so that we truly have a government of national unity,” Mr. McLaughlin said. “I didn’t want four years of battling over nonsense and personality clashes.”
The Legislative Assembly is to meet Wednesday morning to swear in its new members, namely Mr. Bush as Speaker of the House and Mr. McLaughlin as Premier.
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