(CMR) Well placed sources have confirmed that Minister of Finance and West Bay South representative Tara Rivers will not be seeking re-election but instead has been offered a job by law firm Walkers. Whilst none of the official parties have confirmed this rumor it appears to be extremely solid.
In fact, the rumor has it that polling was conducted on behalf of Rivers and the results were extremely low making it likely that she could lose the election by an embarrassingly high number. For some time now the talk on the marl road has been the Rivers has disappointed those well connected to the financial services industry after the Cayman Islands got blacklisted by the European Union in February 2020. As a result, many of her financial backers are no longer supporting her.
Instead of falling from grace by losing her third term in office, a plan was devised to allow her to exit the political arena “with her dignity intact”. Rivers was contacted for comment late Monday but has been silent thus far.
Elected in May 2013 to her first term in office she became the first woman elected to political office in West Bay in over 20 years and the first female West Bay politician to hold a Cabinet position. She was also the first female Cabinet Minister responsible for education. Having served both of her terms as a government minister she also disappointed many supporters as labor and education minister with her “inefficiencies” including the passage so the $6/hr minimum wage.
In an interesting twist, they were not prepared to allow newcomer to the political arena, Raul Nicholson-Coe, to go unchallenged by someone of a lesser yoke so to speak. This is where the plotline thickens a bit and in enters Andre Ebanks. There have been rumblings about Ebanks entering the political area for a number of weeks but CMR was only able to confirm that his resignation was tendered this weekend.
Some political sleuths found it peculiar that Ebanks would give up such a prestigious job in the UK working for the Cayman Islands Government. However, the rumor continues that Ebanks, who is a former employee of Walkers, has also been assured that regardless of the election outcome he can rest in the assurance that Walkers will be taking care of him as well with employment opportunities should he not be successful in West Bay South.
This arrangement appears to have the blessing of some others running for political office.
Nicholson-Coe for his part has indicated that he remains focused on the campaign road ahead regardless of what is taking place on the marl road. He has been canvassing and meeting with constituents.CMR – Your Election Headquarters
CMR remains committed to being Cayman’s election headquarters and this means bringing you the news and rumors behind the scenes. This means at times we have to delve into rumored stories but will only report reports that have a solid foundation. As things go in the world of politics – it’s not always possible to get an official source to comment. Nonetheless, the people deserve to know precisely what is happening and what deals are being negotiated in the background!
This will be an election to watch!