Mario Stays Put

Mario Ebanks

Friday, August 20, 2004

Despite prevalent reports that he has different intentions, Mario Ebanks said on Wednesday that he remains strongly committed to running for a Legislative Assembly seat in the upcoming elections as part of the four-man West Bay Alliance.

Mr Ebanks denied reports that he was considering withdrawing from the election and that he might have been considering applying for the vacant Director of Tourism post, suggesting that the speculation might have been “planted” by political adversaries.

With regard to the latter, Mr Ebanks admitted that he had heard the rumour and that several people had suggested to him that he would be good for the top post at the Department of Tourism since it became available after the resignation of Lania Rittenhouse earlier this year. “It’s something I think I would be good at, but the deadline was today and I haven’t applied,” he said.

However, Mr Ebanks said he agreed with the sentiments of a recent Cayman Net News editorial. “I believe that the post should really go to a good, qualified Caymanian,” he said.

Since being dismissed from his human resource management post at Deloitte last year for criticising the current government in the press, Mr Ebanks said he had thought a lot about what to do next. “Over the last year, I have wrestled with the decision on what the best course of service for me would be,” he said. “I decided that my goal is to serve the public in a way that steers the Cayman Islands government back to the high moral ground where it used to be.”

Mr Ebanks said he had no plans to pull out of the district of West Bay election race. “I remain solidly committed to the Alliance and to our ambitions of winning the elections. I plan to keep at it until that objective is achieved.”

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