Media members in the Cayman Islands were denied the opportunity to pose questions to the government about the sudden resignation of Deputy Premier Chris Saunders.
Saunders resigned from the PACT government in a surprise move on Tuesday, citing differences with Premier Wayne Panton.
Hours after his resignation, the media was hastily called to a ‘press briefing’.
The advisory came via WhatsApp approximately one hour before its scheduled 5pm start.
While representatives from Cayman’s small press corps scrambled to ensure attendance, a media advisory sent via email advised in a note to editors that questions should be sent to the media team at the Office of the Premier “for responses following the briefing”.
When prompted by several members of the media about this change from a press briefing to an ‘address to the nation’, no answers were forthcoming, and no clarity was provided on why the media would be prevented from asking questions.
In a Facebook post, the address was subsequently referred to as a “special live video event”.
Opposition Leader, Roy McTaggart, has called on the PACT government to honour the ‘T’ of its acronym and tell Caymanians the reasons behind Saunders’s sudden exit from the government.
