Charles Clifford Explains Resignation Decision

Charles ‘Chuckie’ Clifford

Monday, August 30, 2004

In a lengthy letter to the editor of Cayman Net News, Charles “Chuckie” Clifford explained the reasons he resigned abruptly on 31 July as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Environment, Development and Commerce (see full letter).

Central to Mr Clifford’s decision to resign and seek a Legislative Assembly seat as an Opposition People’s Progressive Movement candidate is his concern with “the very dangerous path that the country is currently on.”

One of Mr Clifford’s main concerns deals with the new Public Management and Finance Law, which created a much higher level of accountability for Permanent Secretaries. “I realized that if Permanent Secretaries were not afforded the level of support that the law assumed they would have, that the system would begin to disintegrate.

“The creation of this situation, inadvertent though it may be, lends itself to widespread corruption and improper influence rapidly entering into the government at the very senior level,” he said.

“I am very concerned that if this is allowed to continue, then we can begin to write the final chapter in democracy in our country. This must not be allowed to happen, and I certainly intend to do my part to ensure that it does not.”

Mr Clifford said that with the checks and balances in the public service now in question, our best hope is to elect politicians who respect the public service and the public servants of our country, and politicians that are prepared to respect the laws, regulations, rules and processes which they establish. “I believe that those politicians are members of the PPM,” he said.

As for this abrupt resignation, Mr Clifford said that it was in accordance with Cayman Islands General Orders in that he was allowed to pay one month’s salary in lieu of one month’s salary. He pointed out that he had 33 days of annual leave outstanding for which he was entitled payment.

Regardless, Mr Clifford said he was certain that the Leader of Government Business, Hon McKeeva Bush, would have been uncomfortable for him to remain in his position while serving out his one-month notice. “The LGB would have been the first to request of the Governor that I proceed on leave immediately following my resignation, so the result would have been the same,” he said. “In other words, I would have vacated office immediately whether I had given one month’s notice or not.”

One misconception Mr Clifford was eager to clear up is that he had been a United Democratic Party (UDP) member that switched to the PPM. He pointed out that Government’s General Orders prevent civil servants from being members of political parties. “I was not, therefore, a member of the UDP as some seem to believe,” he said, “I was simply the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism during a UDP administration. If I had not resigned from my post and the government had changed to a PPM administration, I would have continued as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry.”

Mr Clifford says he remained loyal to the government until his last day of civil service. “ I am convinced that our country is heading in a very dangerous direction, and in these circumstances, my loyalty is and will always be first and foremost to my country, and I make absolutely no apologies for that.”

Back...

Click here for reader comments...