One of most popular guests at Thursday’s swearing-in of Prime Minister Andrew Holness was former Premier of the Cayman Islands William McKeeva Bush.

Bush attracted huge attention at King’s House, despite the presence of the current Caymanian Premier Alden McLaughlin, primarily because of his frequent trips to and closer ties with Jamaica, his many friends on both sides of the local political divide and a Jamaican lineage which includes his two grandfathers.

Bush’s United Democratic Party (UDP) lost power in 2013 to McLaughlin’s People’s Progressive Movement (PPM), after a much publicised corruption case in which he was eventually cleared of all charges. However, during the trial he was removed as premier and replaced by the Cayman Island’s first female premier, Julianna O’Connor-Connolly.

He insisted that his presence at the swearing-in was not a sign of closeness to Andrew Holness or the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), but a closeness to Jamaica which he has nurtured over the years.

“I have been close to the Jamaican people. For more than 20 years now I have made friends on both sides of the political divide, including Portia (Simpson Miller), Mr (Edward) Seaga and Mr (Bruce) Golding. I have good connections with the Jamaican Diaspora in the Caymand Islands and, in fact, my grandfathers on both sides are from St Elizabeth and Westmoreland,” he confirmed.

Bush said that he met Holness as a young man in the 1990s and respects him as “a great friend of the Cayman people”.

“I pray for the success of his government and for the benefit of the people of Jamaica. I have looked at the plans on both sides and I think he has a good platform, and I am praying for him and for Jamaica. He certainly has my full support and the best wishes of the people of the Cayman Islands,” Bush said.

But there is certainly a lot Holness could learn from the Caymanian leaders who were here for his swearing-in, including how to survive a full term of office with a razor thin majority.

Having cleared his name, Bush is once again Leader of the Opposition in the Cayman Islands and looks forward to returning to power at the next general election.

On the other hand, McLaughlin’s PPM, although doubling its seats in the 2013 election, ended up with the same number of seats as the Opposition, which includes smaller parties and independents in the 18-member Legislative Assembly, yet it was able to create a partnership with several independents in the assembly which, he hopes, will survive until 2017 when the next general election is due.

Incidentally, the bell is one of the symbols of Bush’s UDP, while green is one of his party’s colours (blue is the other) .

Bush had some suggestions for Jamaica’s political parties:

“I believe in the party for the sake of organisation of government. I don’t believe that parties in our small islands must be to the extent that we are so voiced against one another that we get nothing done. I don’t believe in that and I do not operate my party that way.

“I am Opposition, but not to the point that I will hamper my country’s growth in any shape or form that would hamper the advancement of my people. That was done to me by the present (Cayman) Administration, but I cannot do that.”

Bush said that he expects to be returned to government when the next election is held, but admitted that he admires the policy of the current Government to continue with plans originated by his party.

“I am happy that they have the sense to follow what is a good plan,” he stated.