Those who wish to demean our values are suggesting that we – the four former UPM government members who resigned on 31 October 2024 – quit. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, standing up for what is right is the opposite of quitting.

Quitting would have been remaining a part of malfunctioning government that had lost sight of the fact that we were elected to represent the will of the people of these islands, not the will of special interests.

Quitting would have been accepting decisions we knew were wrong in a multitude of ways, choosing complicity over our own integrity.

Quitting would have been accommodating side deals being made by members of Caucus without the knowledge or approval of the Minister with responsibility for the subject matter.

Quitting would have been going along with decisions that were completely different than what had been previously agreed in Caucus.

Doing any of those things would have been quitting on the people who elected us to represent them, and it would have been quitting on ourselves and our own values of honour and objectivity.

There are those who suggest we put the reputation of the Cayman Islands at risk by resigning, but there came a point where we viewed what the UPM government was proposing as a bigger risk to the country. They were proposing to do things for which there was no mandate from the public and, in fact, would have had long term negative effects on the quality of life of our people, on the country’s reputation for good governance and on the natural and built environment of our three islands.

It was obvious that these decisions were driven by special interests. We could not blindly support those decisions and since three of us were also members of Cabinet constitutionally bound by collective responsibility, we had only two choices: either stay and silently support decisions we determined were harmful to the Cayman Islands or step away so a minority government could not proceed with its clandestine, irresponsible agenda and unabashed wasteful spending of public funds.

Only after we resigned were we freed from collective responsibility so that we could shine a light on what was happening and the potential consequences for this country. Contrary to the narrative of some, we did not “quit” our jobs, we stood up for what is right.  We moved to a position where we could best protect the interests of our people and the country. This wasn’t ‘quitting’, this was taking a stand for right versus wrong, for accountability and transparency versus side dealings in the dark; it was taking a stand for good governance that serves the majority of the people versus a government who prioritised special interests.

Staying silent and going along with a government run amok would have made us a part of the problem.

Our best way to serve the people of this country was to step away so that we could escalate the fight for good governance in the interests of the majority of the citizens of the Cayman Islands, and not for the special interests who might help politicians get elected at the price of this and future generations safety, prosperity and quality of life.

Andre Ebanks, MP for West Bay South
Heather Bodden, MP for Savannah
Kathy Ebanks-Wilks, MP for West Bay Central
Sabrina Turner, MP for Prospect